thanks.. atleast i know what i have now.. but why did it take 3 years to diag it.. don

biggest thing I can remember from my nieces is that don't get over heat exhausted it can really waste you. There are lot of advances hopefully one day stem cells will help. I had a co-worker that had bone cancer 17 years ago. He went to Little Rock cancer institute and they did experimental stem cell junk (removed stem cells and cleaned them and replanted them) He just retired last month doing great.

MS

If you are not happy there, I am familiar with the
world's greatest MS authority and researcher at ucla.
I will personally help you get an appointment if you wish.

People do very well today with this, and I feel confident you
will too, given your presentation.

best,

Dr J

Not everything that can be counted counts, and not everything that counts can be counted.

There still is not a single test that can be run to give a positive diag. of MS. It would take to guess work out of it if there was.

right the doc i am seeing is a research doc from ohio state university. like he said the lesions i have and where they are located are the same as people with ms. then compiled with some of my symptoms. balance,motor weakness and the visual thing.he also did a blood draw to rule out a few other things.when i go back he is going to do a provoked sight test. they gave me several huge books to read.. thanks for all of the support and kind words.. i just hope that one of the changes i have to make in life is not the job. i am a surg tech andi can't be dropping things. don

these are my chices for m injections. i need to chose from hese drugs. avoex ,betaseron, rebif , copaxone. if anyone has any input about these please let me know. thanks don russell

My wife has a friend on Betas. My niece just went on it but it has an affect of sore muscles to start. She was on Copaxin for a while. It has less side effects. It is going to be trial and error.

Make sure you get second opinions. Don't go by one or even two mri's. They diagnosed my wife with MS almost 15 years ago due to some lesions that showed up on a scan. She lived her life fine up until 07 when she started having MS like symptoms. It was a bad deal all the way around until she had another scan. There were fewer "lesions" and the doctor said they were actually just bright spots that were most likely caused by a concussion she had received which had been the reason for the original scan. Turns out all her symptoms were caused by a hormonal imbalance brought on By para-menopause.

Obviously you don't have para-menopause, but sometimes something looks like something else, so don't just accept this diagnosis. Make sure. Rather than being wheelchair bound or immobile, all my wife had to do was take hormones. Rule nothing out. Good luck to you...

i have had 3 mri's. i have 1 lesion on(or called) dawson's finger. that is the only one that the doc was concerned with because it is same shape and size as others with ms,compiled with motor wealness,crazy fatigue,muscle soreness,balance issues. i just have alot of the symptoms. i did other blood tests to rule out a few other things,but he was confident that this is what i have. don

its been awhile..so,i have the diag. the blood test i also had to rule out the other autoimmune conditions came back neg.. did a evp(evoked vision test) it came back abnormal. i have choosen my drug. man this stuff is crazy expensive..$25k a year.. i hope my insurance pays alot of that.. my copays are $5,$20 and $60. i guess i am waiting for them(united health care ) to let me know if i can have it or not..its been a fight so far.. don

Let me know how United Health care treats you that's who I have would be good to know how they take care of their clients.

its like a fight to get a $600 drug. its almost not even worth it..they will pay for my avonex..1 way or another..

wow!i was finally down to getting the drug and they told me the cost.its $3000 a month!! i am responsible for 30%, $900..lol thats some good stuff there..i told the company that that simply would not happen. i got 1 free box. im starting my injections after work tomarrow. they drug company is calling me tomarrow with a "REDUCED PRICE". i was told that if they want you on the drug they will drop it down toa $50 copay to them and not even deal with the insurance company. im sure thats most of the problem there(insurnce company). don

I wish you well with 'United Hell Care' - I've had *lots* of frustration with those people. They'll pay a $15K bill without blinking an eye, but fight you for months over a $30 test, where they entered some bit of data incorrectly in their system - go figure!
I sincerely hope that your experience is better (since your probably stuck with them now).

"The helicopter is much easier to design than the aeroplane, but is worthless when done."

yeah,my wife carries our imsurance through our hospital(SHE IS STUCK THERE TILL SHE RETIRES). we are a private pay,but through uhc.its been a real pain. i got 'THE LIST" of thing that i had to get precerted for and have been getting other things precerted..so imgine a 36k a year drug.lol what a joke. the people from avonex said that since they are being such a pain i can buy through their programm.i am suppossed to get the drug for 2 years at $50 a month. i asked about what after the 2 years. they said if im still in the same boat i can redo the program as many times as needed.i told them there will never be a time i can afford $900 a month.i really have no problem with my condition,and i was not stressed untill i found out about how much this drug is. don

figured i would give up a upddate. since my insurance wanted to play hard ball with the drug company,i guess i qaulified for a reduced rate on the drug avonex. actualy im getting it for free for 2 years.all i have to do is talk to thier peole once a month about my symptoms.. better or worse..not to bad i guess. im on my 5th shot of avonex. th3e reactions really are not that bad. i get the chills,body aches,stiffness(muscle)for like 24 hrs after taking it.i go back in november for another visit with the neuro, then another mri. i still need to redo the evoked vision potential. my results were off the charts odd the doc said.lol.. as far as work goes im getting more sensitive to heat..and i work in a 62 deg operating room.. i have sweating issues. i have a newer symtom my colon spazes out kinda wierd. like a muscle spasm..but i can feel it in my stomach.i have only gotten shakey when it was really hot and i was doing to much.some times sides of my legs go numb along with different parts of my fingers..kinda wierd. i have not flown my 600 since i dropped it. but, i fixed it and thought of taking it back out.lol.. all i had to fix was the driven front gear and also fitted it with a 700 tail so i had more clearance. later.. don