02/17/2012
This week I had yet another appointment, and this appointment has stuck with me the rest of this week.
First, I want to apologize for not posting more recently than this. If you have CPM/EPM, you will find that your life seems to be full of the unexpected. You will find that there are days that seem normal and days that you wonder how will you be able to live the rest of your life in this manner.
It’s exhausting. It’s frustrating. It’s unfair.
It seems like everyday is chaotic and for someone who used to be so focused and moderately organized, this is driving me freaking crazy!!!
IT’S STRESSFUL!
SO, now I’m starting yet another category for my blog, but I still have to go back and add to hyponatremia, to CPM/EPM, and to my story!!! However, what I experienced this week needs to be addressed before I forget it, and it has really consumed me, so I feel I have to write about it.
C’est la vie!
This week I traveled 4 hours to meet with a neurologist who is a movement disorder specialist. I also had a MRI and something else….what was it. For real!! Another five minutes gone to trying to figure out what it was that I actually did while I was there. I only had three appointments. Oh, yes, the skin biopsy.
I thought I was going to go to the neurologist to get a TREATMENT for my tremors, jerks, shakes, twitches, spasms, etc. In other words, my neurological problems with movement.
I guess this is where I made my mistake. I had already met with a neurologist who is treating me for EPM, and she was sending me to get treatment for my EPM movement issues. She told me that she was sending me to a movement specialist neurologist for this purpose. I assumed that this was going to be the reason for the appointment: I was going to get medicine for my neurological issues related to EPM.
If I thought that I was going to be examined to determine on whether or not my movement issues were related to EPM, I would have been more prepared. I would have brought materials on EPM.
Here’s the thing: EPM IS RARE. CPM IS RARE. MOST DOCTORS HAVE NEVER TREATED A PATIENT WITH THIS INJURY, and it’s not that they are stupid or trying to be judgmental, they are purely ignorant!
This doctor was the same way.
I had no idea what the true intention for this appointment was, and this set me up for disaster.
This doctor did a complete neurological exam. He was pretty thorough.
After the examination, he told me: Well, you have an essential tremor and it is not related to your EPM. It’s fairly mild, but I can give you medication to treat it. I would also like you to test for Wilson’s disease. You don’t have any of the symptoms for Wilson’s, but it is a cause for tremors in a person who is younger. I don’t think you have it, but we’ll do the test as a precaution.
Before, having EPM, I would have just nodded my head and left. I would have spent the rest of the day biting my lip and waiting to say the things I wanted to say.
I don’t know what would have been better. I really don’t.
I literally started arguing with the doctor. He told me that because my MRI images were normal that the tremors weren’t caused by EPM.
Ok, folks, you know I’ve done research. I’ve spent the past 8 MONTHS researching this injury, and my first question to the doctor was: how many patients have you treated with this? His answer: ONE!!!
I then went on to say: My MRI still shows the injury (and it does). This is what my other neurologist has told me. However, if you were more familiar with EPM/CPM, you would understand that there is no correlation to the findings on an MRI and a person’s symptoms.
The doctor didn’t cotton to my pointing this out to him.
We literally started to ARGUE.
He basically told me that he wasn’t going to have me lecture him on this, but then I explained to him that I wasn’t pulling this information from WebMD. My information comes from credible medical research documents, and that I was preparing to go to medical school.
He warmed up a little bit at that point.
He tried to explain to me that the ONE patient that he’s treated with this disorder had the Parkinson’s like tremor that is associated with EPM/CPM. He told me that he had a video that he took on that patient. This particular person had both significant injury to the pontine region as well as the extra pontine regions AND that this person’s MRI still showed the injury.
He believed that my movement issues have nothing to do with EPM. He thought they were random.
He told me that I did not have Parkinson’s, and I did not have a Parkinson’s tremor.
Okay, so what’s wrong with what he was telling me, and how could I have better handled it? How could have this appointment gone better? What should I have done?
First, I should have been prepared. Really. I’ve been to hundreds of appointments. When you have something rare or not clearly understood, you need to come ready for everything. You need to have any research that you’ve found regarding your disorder. Make copies of your labs, of your reports, of research that you have found.
I had no idea what a Parkinson’s tremor was and how it was different from the tremors that I have. I will make a separate post on tremors and how they differ. Of course, with everything that is medical, there is disagreements on what is and isn’t a Parkinson’s tremor.
Basically, if you have a tremor or movements that impact one side of the body (at least in the beginning stages) that are present when you ARE NOT moving, they suspect Parkinson’s.
The tremor that the movement neurologist suspected is something called essential tremor. This type of tremor is usually found in both sides of the body. It generally becomes worse when you are moving. For instance, if you are trying to get food to your mouth or trying to get a cup to your mouth, but your hands shake so severely that your food falls off your fork or you spill liquids from your cup, they suspect essential tremors.
Now, I had no CLUE what the difference was. I had no idea that there was a difference. All I knew was that this issue became extreme when I developed EPM.
If I was prepared for this appointment, then I would have been able to produce information regarding my tremors. I would have also been able to represent the different types of tremors that are associated with EPM.
I did not know until after the appointment that this doctor really did not know what he was talking about: EPM/ CPM can have both, either, or neither…Parkinson-like or bilateral tremors.
In other words, my “essential” tremors, are probably caused by the EPM.
Furthermore, the doctor told me that there were no reasons to think that these tremors would not be long lasting if they were indeed caused by EPM. He believed that because the MRI images were improving then my symptoms would also improve.
I can not say whether or not this is true. I would have to point out to anyone who states that because your MRI images get better does NOT mean that your symptoms will improve. Further, if your MRI images DO NOT improve, that does NOT mean that you will not improve. The MRI, at this time, WILL NOT show anything more than that you had this injury.
The doctor also tried to state that symptoms will NOT get worse after the injury has happened. THIS IS TOTALLY NOT TRUE. DOCTORS DO NOT KNOW WHAT WILL HAPPEN WITH CPM/EPM!!! They do NOT KNOW. People do see a progression in their symptoms even AFTER 8 and 9 months.
There has not been enough research in this area to know with any certainty what will happen. I know of 4 individuals with CPM/EPM that had improvements, but after a period of 1 to 2 years, their symptoms worsened. I really believe that this is related to just normal aging.
I would compare it to my cell phone that I dropped in the toilet. (It was an unused toilet at the time). I made the mistake of turning it on as soon as I fished it out. Now, anyone who is familiar with electronics knows this was a mistake. It basically fried it. However, I did not want to go out and buy a new phone. So, I took it apart. I sprayed it down with electronic cleaner. I let completely dry out and put it back together. IT WORKED! 🙂 BUT, there were certain keys that did not work, the pound and star button. I was perfectly fine with that because I didn’t really use those buttons that much any way.
So, I was happy, but several months later, other keys started not working properly. Some numbers would repeat a dozen times when I pushed them once. Sometimes, letters wouldn’t show up.
And this is my point, truly the brain works in a fairly similar way. We don’t understand how it works completely. Medicine is really archaic in this field. However, we know as we age the body breaks down. They don’t work as well. This is true for the brain. So, if you already have an injury in the brain, yes, you are likely to see improvements, but it’s like my cell phone, you just don’t know how long those improvements will last, and you are most likely to see these areas degrade over time as your brain ages.
Getting back to my appointment:
I tried to explain that the delay in new symptoms is believed to be caused NOT BY CPM/EPM INJURY directly, BUT BECAUSE YOUR BRAIN TRIES TO REBUILD CONNECTIONS, and it is believed that these new pathways can cause the new symptoms.
Therefore, people have seen NEW symptoms months and EVEN years after the injury. The doctor I saw agree with this, but he felt that new symptoms would not be seen after 1 or 2 months after injury.
See this article for a description on how this isn’t true:
Journal of Clinical Neuroscience 19 (2012) 179–180
And this one:
Journal of Neurology (1995) 242:450-454
© Springer-Verlag 1995
Regarding the types of tremors that are experienced in CPM/EPM injuries, most are considered Parkinson’s like, resting tremors; however there are also studies that show that both types of tremors can be present, parkinson’s and tremors that worsen with movements.
Here is information from Wikipedia http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Central_pontine_myelinolysis:
Permanent disabilities range from minor tremors and ataxia to signs of severe brain damage, such as spastic quadriparesis andlocked-in syndrome.[14]
Okay, the following is what I have. I do have a bilateral resting tremor that gets worse with movement:
A 56-year-old man developed drooling and bilateral hand tremors 3 weeks after correction of hyponatremia from 103 to 125 mmol/L over 14 h. He had a prominent 6 Hz resting tremor which worsened with action and mild cogwheel rigidity. Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) showed changes consistent with central pontine myelinolysis and increased signal on T1-weighted images in the putamen bilaterally. His tremor responded well to L-dopa therapy.
I could go on all day quoting journals regarding tremors and EPM/CPM. Here’s another:
Rigidity was present in all four limbs, with orofacial dystonia and dystonic posture of hands and feet and with tremor in both hands.
If I had been better prepared, I would have been able to bring these things to his attention.
More importantly, I showed him two videos of my tremors. He believed these videos demonstrated that I indeed have essential tremors. And I cannot disagree with this statement. I don’t know. I’m not an expert in tremors.
That said, I only recently started recording my tremors, and more importantly, I have spasms and jerks in certain fingers, in my legs, or feet, but these jerks are fleeting. So, I will have three or four twitches in my finger and there’s no way that I can record those particular movements without making a video diary of my every waking moment. I never know when these movements will occur.
This is extremely frustrating because by this point in my appointment, there was no trying to communicate with the doctor. I was too emotionally involved and so was he.
His take away message was: you’re going to be fine. You aren’t going to get worse. You are going to get better. You should try this medication to help with the essential tremor that you have, and I am almost positive that your tremors are not related to EPM. Even if they are, the medicine should help them. You do not have Parkinson’s.
Now, this seemed to be a crux in the conversation that I haven’t hit upon previously. He kept stressing that I did not have Parkinson’s. He stated that he was an expert for Parkinson’s.
I really did not understand why he kept bringing up Parkinson’s disease. I DO NOT HAVE PARKINSON’s. I did not think that I had Parkinson’s. I believe that I have Parkinsonism. Now, I’ve previously discussed Parkinsonism. From the knowledge that I have, it is any tremor that a person has, along with dystonia, and dyskinesia, and possible issues with your voice. I am not an expert on this. I know what I’ve read, and I promise to research this further and try to post on this more when I post specifically on tremors.
What’s wrong with his message:
HE HAS ONE FREAKING PATIENT WHO HAS HAD CPM/EPM. He certainly hasn’t spent the past 8 months researching every possible thing you can find on it.
He made incorrect comparison’s: Parkinson’s and EPM. People with EPM/CPM DO NOT HAVE PARKINSON’s. They have a Parkinson’s like tremor, and that isn’t even true for everyone with EPM/CPM. He did not understand that there IS NO SET STANDARD for CPM/EPM. It’s like saying someone who has colon cancer will have the same symptoms and issues as someone with esophageal cancer. It’s like saying there is only one cause for heart disease.
He was unwilling to say: I DON’T KNOW. I will need to evaluate you further. Please spend time making more videos of your issues and feel free to contact me when your symptoms change or if you have a video of something different. He didn’t even ask me when I took the videos I made.
I tried to explain that my symptoms vary in severity from day to day. Truthfully, they vary from hour to hour. Right now, I barely have any tremor at all. However, an hour ago, I did. I have twitches and spasms even at night when I’m trying to go to sleep, at rest. They make it difficult to fall asleep. I don’t have this problem EVERY night, but probably three or four times a week.
So, what could I have done?
I should have made a journal of these things. I should be keeping a daily record of my symptoms, the times, places, how much caffeine have I consumed, etc. Doctors really like data. They like it when you have detailed information for them to look at.
I really haven’t documented my symptoms and when I have them. I should be keeping more videos. I feel embarrassed to pull out my cell phone or video recorder to make these videos in public places when I’m experiencing these problems. I believe that those localized spasms that I get in my fingers or feet don’t last long, so I shouldn’t bother trying to record them.
I AM MY ONLY ADVOCATE. NO ONE ELSE IS GOING TO DO IT. You really need to take this to heart if you are reading my posts.
No one else is going to go to bat for you, and if you are willing and able, you need to make as many records as you can regarding your situation. It can and will help you out. It might help your doctor more fully understand your situation. More importantly, you can post it here on my blog and help others with CPM/EPM.
I also shouldn’t have bothered correcting this doctor when I didn’t have access to the medical journals or very good videos of my symptoms. Now, this doctor has formerly based his opinion. He isn’t going to bother to do anything else with me. If I ever need to go back to him, I will have to have a huge collection of evidence proving him wrong.
Let me stress, it’s not important to prove him wrong for the sake of being right, but because I will not get help from him unless that happens. I also won’t get the correct medications for the types of neurological issues that I have.
It’s also important to realize that it’s important to realize when you’ve lost a battle. It’s your choice on whether or not you are going to waste your precious time and health on trying to bring this person up to speed on CPM/EPM.
As more and more records become easier to access, hospitals will become able to share information on your medical history. This means that this doctor may be able to pollute the opinions of future doctors that I see, even at different hospitals, in different cities or states.
So, you really need to make a decision on whether or not you are going to spend your time and resources on “educating” a doctor on your condition.
If you choose to, I think it’s really important to “educate” him on the first appointment. First impressions make the biggest impact, and this is most certainly true for your doctors.
In other words, you need to be prepared for EVERYTHING on that first appointment. You have to have research articles on the types of symptoms and issues that you have, especially when those symptoms are rare. You need to have videos and if at all possible, personal testimony from family and friends (hopefully someone can go with you for your appointment that can attest to your issues and their severity). It’s great if you have a journal of your symptoms from each day.
You need to ask your doctors questions like: how many patients have you treated or seen with CPM/EPM? And it’s important for you to make a decision on whether or not you are going to continue to see this person if the appointment does not go well. Be prepared. Don’t be afraid to ask questions.
I’m sorry if this post was a bit repetitive. I believe that when I have something that I feel especially strongly about, I tend to repeat it. I will try to edit in the future for those type of repetitions.
For now, I’m going to retire. and as always, please feel free to write me with any questions or your personal story.
Hyponatremia and Central Pontine Myelinolysis 