In general, the 1st phase starts with a visit to the emergency department following the sudden onset of symptoms such as loss of vision, pain in the eye, weakness in the legs, problems with balance and coordination, etc.
Note: If these symptoms are indicative of a chronic disease, you have just experienced the 1st episode, also known as the 1st attack.
Often, you will then see your doctor, who will refer you to a specialized neurologist.
This is where your management and care begins: the neurologist will ask you questions (in particular about your lifestyle and your medical history), examine you, and carry out all the necessary tests and examinations to understand what is happening, to establish a diagnosis and to propose an appropriate treatment plan.
This usually involves one or more hospitalizations. During hospitalizations, it is very common:
- To be scared by the number of blood tests needed.
- To never see the same healthcare professionals (nurses, interns, department heads, and doctors).
- To hear people talk about high-dose corticosteroids (depending on the severity of the attack), plasmapheresis or plasma exchange (which is a method aimed at removing autoantibodies that attack your body), lumbar puncture, magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and CT scans, to name a few.
We have all been through these frightening, shocking and confusing stages, which sometimes drag on for a very long time, but are necessary in order to reach the 2nd phase.
