Patients who are just coming to terms with an MS diagnosis often have no idea where to get help with MS. If they want help with multiple sclerosis treatment options and other aspects of living with MS, then there are a number of places where they can go to seek the relevant information.
Who can Patients Turn to for Help with MS?
The first stop for any MS patient has to be his or her doctor. It is, after all, the doctor who will have the patient do all the necessary tests to determine what condition he or she is suffering from. Without visiting a medical doctor, it would be difficult for a patient to determine that he or she was suffering from multiple sclerosis, and to ultimately get treatment for it. This is important to note because, at the end of the day, there are a number of conditions that present similarly to multiple sclerosis. Without the use of imaging to confirm the existence of the tell-tale lesions in the nervous tissue, how would these patients be able to confirm that they were suffering from MS, and not from something like Lyme disease?
Apart from diagnosing their patients and prescribing treatment, doctors and other medical professionals can give them other forms of help with MS. They can, for instance, give them information about organizations and groups that bring together MS sufferers and MS experts. Such information may come in handy to patients for a number of reasons. They may provide patients access to useful information that will help them meet their unique needs. This could be information about health insurance, about getting access to free or subsidized treatment, and about managing one’s finances when faced with the possibility of lost income (as a result of the progression of multiple sclerosis). MS patients who have been through these trials and have managed to come out of them intact can be the best sources of information for those patients who are only just beginning to face them.
Another form of help with multiple sclerosis that patients can get access to through various MS-focused groups and organizations is logistical help. Some groups and organizations bring together volunteers who can assist those living with MS and their families to get the ‘little’ things in life done. These may include such details as providing transportation to and from the hospital for medical treatment, assisting patients with their exercises, and helping with such things as housework, shopping, and babysitting.
