Gait and Balance Webinar
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My Diagnosis
I was diagnosed with a Degenerative Cerebellum (ATAXIA) in May, 2002. This was verified by the picture produced by the C.A.T. scan, prescribed by the neurologist a month before. I had been worried about my inability to have a steady gait for about ten year before. I kept mentioning it to my family doctor - and I have had three prior to my present family doctor - who kept saying, "It is probably the inner ear". One doctor said: "It would be very difficult to find out what it is and once we knew, it would be almost impossible to do anything about it". Maybe so; but this did nothing to reassure me! Anyway, I prevailed upon my present doctor to get me an appointment with a neurologist, who diagnosed me shortly thereafter.
I had fallen down a couple of times in my home. I knew that something was wrong. Another puzzling thing was that upon going up stairs and rising from a kneeling or squating position, I would nearly faint and have to sit down until I regained my equilibrium. This was attributed to low blood-pressure. At one point, it was 60 over 40!
Concomitant with my ungainliness, were troubles of a urinary nature. It is not uncommon for senior men to have these problems. Unbeknownst to me, the M.S.A. (Multiple System Atrophy)was acting up. The doctors were of the opinion that my prostate was acting up. As a result, I had three surgeries done on my prostate: the first in November, 1996, the second in Alberta in January, 2000,and the third in Welland, ON, Canada in March, 2002. In fact, my urinary system was shutting down, as my colon is doing now. Thanks to M.S.A.
The first time I felt that something was wrong was in November, 1990. There was a dull pain just above my groin area, a little to the right. I had just become Provincial and I had to go to a Council meeting of the Congregation in Bangalore, India. I had decided to put off doing anything about it until I got home. The following January, I went a urologist. We danced around the "mulberry bush" until Nov. 1995!
Wanting a second opinion, I wrote an e-mail to a doctor at Baylor University, in Heuston, Texas. He was a researcher in the area I was interested in. He suggsted I contact a cxlinic that dealt with Sporadic Ataxia exclusively. This man was Dr. Sid Gilman, M.D. at the University of Michigan, at Ann Arbour. I wrote to Dr. Gilman, and an appointment was arranged within a couple of months. My brother drove me down there in early 2004.
I spent three days there undergoing tests, including an MRI, and a P.S.I. It was determined I had Sporadic Ataxia with Parkinson symptoms and MSA (Multiple System Atrophy).