Nerve Testing

[green]

Hello,

My doctor wants me to have a nerve conductance velocity test because after he diagnosed me with POTS he asked if I ever have any tingling or numbness in my arms or fingers. I have, so I said yes. Thus, the test was recommended.

Well now, I have been reading a little bit about nerve damage, and I get the impression that the symptoms of neuropathy are fixed - the nerve is damanged 24/7, so the tingling or loss of sensation never goes away. I, on the other hand, have only had transitory tingling and numbness. This makes me think that the doctor maybe should have asked some more questions before he ordered the test.

Furthermore, I have read that neuropathy can be specific to autonomic nerves. Someone can have autonomic neuropathy without motor neuropathy. So I wonder, does an NCV test check the different kinds of nerves?

One last thing, the doctor is a six hour drive from where I live, he knows that it costs me about 2 days to visit him, but wouldn't give me a prescription and send me to a local hospital (which is what we did for the MRI). Does anyone think this is strange? The only reason it wouldn't seem strange to me is if the NCV tests are easily botched, and the doctor places his trust in the competency of his staff.

Not a question but a remark expressing frustration: This diagnostic process is really difficult. And I am making it more difficult - by not asking more questions of my doctors. But I am fighting brain fog all the time - during a visit there are so many things I want to say, ask, but I forget, or even when I don't forget I run out of mental energy trying to follow the doctor's answer and respond to it. Then later, I can never get ahold of the doctor to ask follow-up questions. Sometimes I talk to them through their nurses, and have to fight through my deep-seated reluctance to discuss my health with a stranger. I resent myself for being unable to push through these things, but I can't get over it. I wish I had someone who I could "program" with my world-view, (that the only way to resolve this thing is to find the underlying cause) and then bring with me to doctor's appointments. I would love to talk to someone about whether my conception of how to approach the disease is prohibitively costly, or otherwise infeasible, but I can't manage to do it myself.

[potsgirl]

Hi Green,

I know that I do the same thing about remembering what questions I want to ask the doctor when I'm there, so about a week or so before my appointment, I start a list of questions. I keep a pad of paper handy and whenever I have a thought or read about something I'd like to talk to the doctor about, I just jot it down. This seems to eliminate a major part of that problem for me. Hope this helps. Also, having a friend with you during the appointment can be very helpful, or even to think of questions to ask.

Cheers,

Jana