Thanks, Thanks, Thanks Joan for you amazing commitment to helping us understand and have insights to our Health challenges!

I had an appointment with a Neurologist yesterday and he was unique in his approach which I have noticed is evolving in the Medical Industry.
It appears they have had training to deflect the reality that medical professionals are not what we were lead to believe.
He asked questions and listened to my story and my focus for going to the Medical Ombudsman and requesting help to be given answers from previous Neurologists.
I have been labelled as having 'mild RRMS' after 10 years of disability that has stopped me from earning an income and left me reliant on the Welfare system. Never had a relapse or remission and progressed from day one and my Mri's and other tests over time don't fit the model of MS, rather that I have a parallel or mimic of MS that could be caused by spine issues that are causing the lesions and disability. The Dr Rosa disc bulge insights and the infection testing I have had done paint a different picture and that line of inquiry is rejected by the 'Medical Professionals' I have been to in NZ simply because they didn't know about the publications and studies that show this can be a problem that mimics what is labelled MS.
The Neuro chose a moment in the appointment and framed a question to me, "would it matter if you have a name for what is wrong with you?"
This enraged me and I was fortunate that I was able to put my feelings on hold and take a breath or five before answering. I took time to ponder how I had been sent to a Psychiatrist a few months ago who asked the exact same question and then proceeded to tell me that I was psycho-somatic and spent way too much time on the internet and that I needed to have the net disconnected from home, I needed to get amongst real live people and stop searching for answers to problems that don't exist.
So I asked the Neurologist if he has a chronic illness? He said no, so I simply said he has no idea what my quality of life is like and that he has no idea what it is like to be a patient looking for a future and better quality of life when they have a chronic illness.
I explained that there have been things that I have learned from my own personal commitment to better health that have improved my quality of life, and I added that these things should have been questions from the Medical Professionals that I have seen in the last 10 years that were never asked of me. These things come from the ruling out process as well as basic medical history gathering to form an understanding of the cascade that has occurred leading to illness.

So I asked him do you think it will matter if I know what is happening in my body, if it is doing what it should be and that all the tests available have been done to give insights to my situation. And I asked if the basic test battery has been done?

I think he was hoping that a large hole would appear in the floor for him to escape!

Blaming a patient for being ill can be done so cleverly, putting a patient in a sub-human mind frame, where you feel I am not worthy of help, that I am not good enough and that I don't matter appears to be a new way in Medicine.

Thanks Joan for caring and helping people by providing knowledge, you make a difference! <3