I don't know if I mentioned it already(I've been kind of loopy lately)but I saw the new neurologist a week ago Monday. Now I am fully untangled from that crappy health system. rah.
She didn't know this other neurologists name so she thinks he is a resident....a doctor with training wheels as it were. That would partly explain him never answering my messages through the patient portal or the many phone calls logged into the Neurology Department. He's too busy being pulled to here to there like all resident students. And it would explain him calling me in the evening from his dorm or whatever his housing situation is.
Anyway, I now have a full fledged Neurologist who knows her shit AND can be reached if needed. I watched as she went through the 50 pages of my neurological medical records the other healthcare system sent over(remember, this is the same system that gave me to a Pediatrician when I went seeking a Primary Care Provider)and she was circling stuff and marking through stuff, while shaking her head and I might have seen a few eye rolls too.
Basically Mr. Resident was woefully under medicating my Essential Tremor! New Neurologist DOUBLED one medication dosage and increased the other by a quarter. She also told me if this wasn't enough to control them fully, she would add another medicine that is often used with my main medication, as those two sort of work in tandem to control ET.
I also let her know I was going to Virginia to possibly have FUS(Focused Ultrasound)procedure and she was all for that. 8-))) Even if I get the FUS it will only help my dominant hand and I'll still need medications to control the other side. After 9 months to a year patients can have the other side of their brain done if needed but I don't know where we will be a year down the road. I can still go back to Virginia to that particular Neurosurgeon if I want. I probably will because if we relocate to PA the closest one now to that part of Pennsylvania who does this procedure is in Philly and we won't be as close as staying with my brother in Virginia would be.
I've been to a couple of webinars on FUS and ET with Neurosurgeons and they both say there is no way to know how long the FUS procedure is effective for(your experience may vary). I may end up back with the ET on the treated side a number of years down the road but I feel it's something I need to try. I hate being on all these drugs and if this gets me off them or at least lessens how many I need I am all in.
I'll leave you with a nice sunset we had the other evening. The sun sets at the back of our property.....
All the trees back there obscure the whole view but it's nice anyway.
Tomorrow maybe I'll talk about my return to the creepy eye doctor's office too. That was a royal cluster but what can I say.....I am being held hostage in Louisiana and what passes for competence here. lolz
Sluggy
So glad you found a good dr. .We went to husband new dr. as of now no med changes. She is sending him for a brain mri. Also she dose not think its parkinson. But has not ruled it out til mri and blood tests are done. Joyce
ReplyDeleteHappy to hear about your new neurologist. Thank you for the lovely sunset pictures. We are currently under very gray cloudy skies. :( SuzInWA
ReplyDeleteGlad you have a doctor that 'participates'. Best of luck to you.
ReplyDeleteWow. I live in Mississippi and just thought some of the healthcare here was unhinged! I am so glad you've gotten in with someone good and competent! A pediatrician?!? Lawd, bless! Whatever you end up deciding, I sure hope it will help you to feel better.
ReplyDeleteHubby takes Metoprolol Tartrate for his tremors. No treatment for his cause due to nerve damage when he was in high school. He wears vibration gloves with mowing, trimming, running saws cutting wood and on motorcycle when we had one. They help some.
ReplyDelete