For one to become a family doctor, they need a lot of schooling. However, to learn a specialty like neurology, there is even more training required. Doctors go to school and go through a residency program for ten to fourteen years to become a primary care physician. Yet, to become a neurologist, you are looking at several extra years of learning in addition to the ten to fourteen years. Some doctors have no concerns about not staying in their lanes by giving incorrect information about medical subjects they do not understand or have not researched.
After my MS diagnosis, I doctor hopped from one to the next for several years, searching for an excellent neurologist. I received information about MS from each neurologist, and I assumed it to be accurate. I was a novice to the diagnosis of MS, so I did not research anything I was told. Instead, I studied diets, medications, and the success rate of both for those with multiple sclerosis. My searching also led me down a path to seek out what non-mainstream MS treatments were people following. For example, some MSers who live in Florida receive bee stings along the spine, no thank you, not for me.
I have heard about several MS patients who were given incorrect information about their multiple sclerosis. This situation disappointed me that a medical professional could make a statement definitively even though being wrong. I felt sad that one of my MS brothers or sisters would be given inaccurate information. MS facts alone make for a terrible day, and to be bombarded with Incorrect information that causes unnecessary worries makes life even more stressful.
Recently someone brought to my attention that some of the information I believed and shared with others is inaccurate. Some of the doctors I trusted apparently gave me some incorrect data in my early days, and I fervently shared it with others. For over a decade, I have passed out inaccurate info to everyone like water at a 5k race. I now need to cautiously learn what part of my information is correct and, more importantly, incorrect not to spread bad facts. Let me state unequivocally that only a portion of my knowledge is incorrect, and the rest is accurate.
Fast forward to today, I have now been researching all information received by doctors, friends, and reading material for accuracy before I pass it on. So to my MS brothers and sisters and anyone who has received inaccurate information from me, I am sorry. I will not be sharing any general MS info unless I have researched it myself and know it to be true. I will only talk about my story and how MS has impacted my life and forced me to change many daily movements. Sadly I will have to rewrite some of my past blogs to correct them and change them from fiction to facts. Thanks go to you, my friends and readers who share this journey with me, the good, bad, and the ugly.
And the truth shall set you free.
Scott's MS Life 