give me an I, give me an A, give me a T, altogether now what have we got...?

IATROGENIC

I got in touch with the British Vein Institute whilst trying to find someone who could operate on my wonky valves identified by ultrasound in glasgow but who wouldn't operate* even after seeing an issue (it's a new theory so there weren't many takers) the BVI put me in touch with charing cross hospital who'd authored a paper

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21803799 which introduced me to the word

i·at·ro·gen·ic

   [ahy-a-truh-jen-ik, ee-a-]  Show IPA

adjective

(of a medical disorder) caused by the diagnosis, manner, or treatment of a physician.

Dear Professor Davies/Academic Section of Vascular Surgery at Imperial

,

Philip Coleridge Smith recommended contacting you when i mailed the BVI this week asking if they knew of a vascular specialist with a possible interest in the venous anomalies which have been much trumpeted in the past few years.

I have MS and I am looking for someone to pursue further a potentially treatable vascular dimension to my illness.

I think I’m wondering if you know of someone I could contact who would be willing to perform an MRV or perhaps follow other lines of investigation?

The following is quoted from an evaluation of a Doppler ultrasound performed on myself in August 2010.

”...both [IJV] valves appear malformed. There is evidence of pooling of blood seen at the lower segments bilaterally with significant flow resistance.

Vertebral veins are patent and also demonstrate normal retrograde flow with no evidence of reflux.

Impression: The appearances are inconclusive of CCSVI. Suggest an MRV for further evaluation.”

This link http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21803799 kindly sent to me by the BVI shows your department see the fallout from overseas CCSVI treatment as noteworthy.

For this very reason, If possible, I’d like to avoid  going overseas in order to be in the same country in which i might receive follow up care.

Is this a realistic prospect?

I received an MS diagnosis 18 years ago and am just about managing to stay out of a wheelchair although walking is becoming a little challenging at times.

Thanks very much for your time and attention.

Foolishly, i was hoping that medical professionals were as interested in the patient as the patient's inner workings. There doesn't seem to be an awful lot of investigation into patients and how well or otherwise they're functioning except by people who appear to hold on to their own theories and merely look to back them up, consciously or not. 

when i mailed different members of the hospital that had authored the essay linked above who are, at this moment involved in looking for signs of ccsvi in a study they didn't seem open to this theory.

I know there's an awful lot more to it than that and they were very kind spending time replying to a couple of mail from some person off the street and they go to show the medical profession is made up of individuals. There are good and bad consultants and GPs just like there are good and bad bankers or teachers (how often do those two careers get mentioned in the same sentence nowadays?


I'm listening to myself bleating on and wondering what it is that I'd want any different? They're scientists proving or disproving a theory, that's how science gets done... Like CERN testing the faster than the speed of light particles that appeared to have shown up? They tested the theory instead of saying to someone keep your mind on the job and try and avoid typos - this stuff is important. They did science and tried to reproduce those findings.

i think this post doesn't necessarily come to any staggering conclusions except that curiosity is a really attractive feature in those who look after you and perhaps it's only been when it's absent that i've noticed how lovely it is.


* i'll discuss this in another post if i haven't already