Smeg, As usual I wasn’t very clear in my post. I know MS exists. My doubts are regarding so many cases of it popping up that seem to be either fabricated or just labeled by a Dr. trying to give a patient a label for something that they seem to be convinced is wrong with them.
I can sympatize with a Dr. doing this. Some patients just have to have a label on a disease for themselves.
That doesn’t have anything to do with MS. It might mean you’re surrounded by some weird people or drama queens.
Badger, as mentioned, you may be conflating MS and fibromyalgia. MS almost always has objectively identifiable signs including clear lesions in T2-weighted MRIs, the presence of oligoclonal bands in CSF fluid, and/or an increased IGG index. Plus, treatment doesn’t generally include any fun drugs. I believe the standard ABC drugs are used, and flare-ups are usually dealt with via corticosteroids.
Fibromyalgia can’t be objectively verified and is usually diagnosed via exclusion. Some doctors will prescribe pain medications including opioids. There is even a drug used to treat it that is essentially GHB, one of those pesky date rape party drugs. Some people do not believe this is a real condition. It is interesting that it seems to disproportionately effect women over 40 who are at least slightly overweight and either housewives or under-employed.
I kinda mispoke. A clinically certain case of MS has those objective findings. But, findings of specific, increasing lesions via T2-weighted MRIs, oligoclonal bands, or even an increased IGG index are almost always indicative of some disease process, so there wouldn’t be any real faking involved.
Dad’s a neuro-opthamologist who specializes in MS so I’ve learned via osmosis.
QFT.
I was diagnosed with MS in 1998 after extensive neurological, neuropsychological, and medical testing that took almost a year. I’d wager that on the whole there are more diagnosed cases because the technology to accurately locate and identify the characteristic MS lesions has improved. Prior to good imaging methods, one of the diagnostic tests was a spinal tap (still is in some cases, and I doubt that I’m the only one who refused it).
Doctors- quality doctors- don’t ‘slap a label’ like MS on people just to make them feel better, because then what’s the next step? Treatment. Expensive treatment. Expensive, often experimental treatment. What kind of doctor will put someone through that (and make either the taxpayer or the insurance company pay for it)? They especially wouldn’t do it when there are more convenient, similarly-presenting, difficult-to-diagnose, exotic sounding labels like CFS or fibromyalgia or Epstein-Barr to use.
A general profile of someone “mildly depressed, under appreciated and somewhat self absorbed”? Let’s see.. famous people with MS… Montel Williams, a former Marine and retired Navy Reservist in addition to the talk show, diagnosed in 1999. Jack Osbourne, son of Ozzy and a pretty talented music producer in his own right- just diagnosed at 26. Richard Cohen, diagnosed in 1977, Emmy-award-winning journalist who hid his diagnosis for years. Richard Pryor, diagnosed in 1986, spent the last few years of his life in a wheelchair. Teri Garr, who had symptoms for 16 years before her 1999 diagnosis. Annette Funicello, who also hid her diagnosis for years, and only came out with the truth in 1992 after people were gossiping about her being an alcoholic. Alan Osmond, diagnosed in the early 90s, and his son David, diagnosed in 2006. Oh, and Ann Romney… and Michelle Obama’s dad. I’m… not really seeing much of your general profile there.
Anything else I’d have to say likely mirrors Skammer’s thoughts, so I’ll keep them to myself.
Effect/affect what’s the diff, we’re all descriptivists here, right?
When you say you saw more of it, are you talking about 2 cases instead of 1, or 3000 cases compared to 2999?
Seriously, the numbers or at least orders of magnitude here would help. It amazed me that more than a few loons would fake it outside of prison, where as at least in prison you have psycopaths who will make shit up to get things.
Since my aunt died of MS, if it’s not real that was a hell of a joke on her.
Pretty sure my neighbour wasn’t faking it when his girlfriend callled because she needed help getting him back into his wheelchair after he slipped while she was trying to bathe him. She could have waited another 30-40 minutes for the health care service to arrive, but called me instead. Something about the apologetic, yet pleading tone of her voice persuaded me to drop what I was doing to go over there and help this petite woman lift her partner back into his chair.
Now that I think about it, maybe trying to keep his manly bits covered and preserve some dignity for him was just their way of being coy while inviting me for a naughty threesome.
Agreed. I’ve had the privilege of watching two family members fade at various rates thanks to MS. It’s a horrible, unpredictable, depressing disease.
MS is real. In order to make the diagnosis you need to demonstrate dissemination in space and time. In some cases, the diagnosis can be made by history alone. In most cases, however, you will want an MRI. Even in cases of relapsing remitting MS which are currently in remission, there are usually plaques visible on MRI.
If anything, however, MS is over diagnosed. There are plenty of dumbasses out there who see a white spot on a T2 MRI and call it MS. Whats that? A 1cm round poorly demarcated lesion in the parietal white matter? It must be MS! Except no… little ditzels like that are very common and don’t point to MS. Call me when you have a periventricular oval well demarcated lesion on T2 or black hole lesions or cervical lesions or optic neuritis or anything classic for MS.
Thats a fun conversation, telling someone they don’t have MS after they have a diagnosis. Doesn’t stop you from continuing their copaxone though.