Thursday, July 28, 2011

Multiple Sclerosis Assessment Tool


Healthline asked me to share a  Multiple Sclerosis Assessment Tool

I thought is was educational about how MS can be assessed.....It helped me to understand why the Doctor does ask some questions.

Hubs thinks that I put a positive spin on my test?  

Well I could have......I did try  to take the test with brutal reality so I could assess myself.....

Healthline gave this explanation for low test numbers:
it was normal for numbers to be low because the tool is meant to be a gauge between your personal baseline (of your status 6 months ago) and how you are now. The tool in effect is meant for viewers to track their own status (and gain info on MS symptoms as they do such) so that they may take that information back to their own physician. For example, someone may not have even thought about certain symptoms as being those of MS but in going through this tool they may start to make sense of symptoms they are experiencing and put the puzzle together for themselves of what could be going on with their body. I do not believe that the numbers can be 100% accurate as a means to a diagnosis, especially if someone is in between two sets of symptoms. However, in general I think that it is a great way to get someone thinking about their own experience with MS or recognizing possible symptoms of it.

11 comments:

MadSnapper said...

the thing about me taking a test is i am guilty of thinking to much and maybe slanting the test the way i want it to be. you are right about the scary part.

Karen said...

Hi Kim,
I took the test. I scored pretty low too. First time I wanted to score low on a test!
Cheers

Chatty Crone said...

I am so sorry you and others with MS have such a hard road - my best girlfriend from college has it too.

Hugs,
sandie

Lisa Emrich said...

I was playing around with arriving at different scores to try to determine how accurate the test is. I wanted to do this before giving it an assessment.

My first time I took the test, I came out with 1.5. Huh? I knew that my neuro had told me that my sensory impairment on all four limbs automatically jumped me up to 2.0 before considering anything else.

So I was curious. I input every choice as a 4 and the result was 10.0. Whoa! I tried all 3's and all 2's - results which were both 6.0. I tried all 1's = 1.5. Then all 2's, but with one 1, result 1.0.

I tried again with my own MS dysfunctions in mind and input scores of 2, 2, 3, 5, 1, 3, 2 and ended up with, get this, EDSS of 1.0 (less than if I had entered all 1's).

There's something seriously wrong in how the final EDSS numbers are calculated.

But I did like the videos with explanations and examples of how functional systems are evaluated. That is truly educational.

Judy said...

I took the test multiple times because I scored a shockingly low EDSS number compared to what my doctor has said. To make sure I was not in self denial, I made my reported symptoms worse, and still I got the same low number. I am not sure what, if anything, that means. It could be that the test is flawed?

Judy

Lisa @ Two Bears Farm said...

Well, I think most tests like this are just an assessment tool to get a general idea. Then you have to factor in what you see and what else is going on to get a big picture :-)

Ginny Hartzler said...

I'm wondering if this test might even be useful for if a person thinks they might have MS, before they go to a doctor.

Laura said...

wow...haven't had "the test"...makes me curious though! ♥

Clare said...

Thankyou for sharing this.

Jonathan Hunt said...

Well I did it online but it was difficult because my eye sight comes and goes in one eye and doesnt effect my eyesght perscription, nbut very interesting indeed. Thankyou once again for sharing this.

Clare said...

Lol seems I responded using my husbands account that was really Clare Hunt saying the above xx

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