I noticed the first clear symptoms in January 1997 – pins and needles in both feet that did not go away. Poor footwear, a back problem? I visited an osteopath a reflexologist and an acupuncturist. No luck. I seemed to get worse not better. The pins and needles were spreading upwards. A friend suggested a chiropracter who immediately said, 'pins and needles in both feet?' This would mean that I had two exact and equivalent problems on each side of my back, which was hugely unlikely. He referred me to my GP.
In May 1997, I went to see my GP of ten years standing. I had seen her a handful of times for flu in that decade. She looked up, told me to go away and take more exercise. OK… I felt like a fraud. Maybe I would shrug it off. Over the next couple of months, the pins and needles spread up to my knees and across my face. I had double vision when looking up and sideways. My walking problems became much worse – I was kind of flat footed and walking very slowly, as if I had a broom up my bottom!
My physical difficulties were becoming noticeable to my work colleagues. None of us understood it. I was not tired. Intellectually: completely sound. Just struggling to walk. I am in a cab with my boss. I say that I am worried I may have MS. ‘I had a girlfriend who was diagnosed with that,’ he says, ‘I had to leave her. She would have held me back. She was better off without me.’ No doubt!
I go back to my GP and insist on a referral to both a private consultant and an NHS one. In July, I get a letter from my local NHS hospital. They have no neurologist but are recruiting. I will be placed on the waiting list and, when they get one, I will be given an appointment; this is likely to be in one to two years!!!
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