Diagnosed with a Tarlov, Perineural, Meningeal or Arachnoid Cyst?

Too many times Tarlov, Perineural and Menigeal Cysts are seen as an incidental finding on most MRI's or CT's. Most Radiologists and Physicians don't even bother to tell you a cyst was found believing they are mostly asymptomatic. Even if the cyst is recorded and mentioned in your MRI or CT report, which is not always the case, most Physicians assume there is no way this little cyst sitting on, in, or around your spinal cord, could be the cause of your developing, ongoing problems. Sometimes the Physician is right, but there's currently a long list of patients, including myself, who can prove that sometimes they're wrong. Sometimes that little, incidental cyst is exactly what is causing your agony. There are living examples, such as myself, who can attest to how these cysts can indeed be symptomatic and how they can detrimentally effect your life.


When I was first diagnosed I was totally stunned to learn that not one Physician I knew, and I know quite a few, had ever heard of these cysts. Then when I did finally find Doctors who'd heard of these cysts very few believed they were symptomatic and responsible for my ever increasing, excruciating and debilitating chronic pain.


I ended up having to dedicate the first year after being diagnosed trying to find out as much as I could about my spinal cord, human anatomy and physiology. I had to find out what they were, what caused them and what could be done to treat them. It wasn't easy to figure out what was relevant information, what was hypothetical jargon, and what was bias based on professional arrogance. Sometimes it can be very difficult to recognize the difference, but I'm going to give you some links that just might make your journey a little easier than the one I traveled. It can also make your journey easier than most of the TC sufferers, or Tarlovians I know.


Consider this a gift, but remember there are limits to every gift. You will still have a lot of work and learning to do on your own, but these links will help make the work and the learning a little easier to achieve.


I wish you luck on your journey and wish you all the best of outcomes.


Remember. Be positive, don't give up hope and always pay it forward. Just as I help you today, perhaps the day will come where your knowledge and experience may just be what a scared, unknowing, newly diagnosed sufferer may be in desperate need of. Sharing is the key. Be proud of what you've learned, share how you learned it and direct anyone and everyone affected by this illness to the best of what and who you know.


We are never alone..... we have each other. Please help us to keep it that way....

Ontario MVA Insurer Exams? A legal scam?

I hear a lot about what the insurers rights are, and what a claimants responsibilities are and even though I know we (claimants) have some rights such as;

1. The right to send the insurance company doctor other medical records and reports you want the doctor to consider.
2. The insurance company must arrange for your transportation to the examination if you request it.
3. The insurance company must make reasonable efforts to schedule the examination for a day and time that is convenient for you.
4. There are time lines that govern when they can ask you to go to an insurer exam.
5. The insurer exam must be conducted at a place reasonably close to your home.
6. You have the right to get a copy of the report.

but what about the other rights that we should have to protect our interests and to insure honesty in the report?


Why do all insuring Physicians say we are not allowed to have anyone else in the room for the assessment? What do they have to hide? What's the need for secrecy for if we, the person being insured, wants a person there to support them? If a claimant has asked for a person to be there with them then obviously they feel comfortable enough to be honest in front of them. Do insurers examiners really have the right to refuse, or is this just an assumed right that we follow believing they know something about the rules that we don't?


What about their oath? Does that just disappear when they take on insurance examinations?


What if they lie, or write their report in a way that is misleading? At some points some of their comments even feel like a personal attack on a claimants character. How do you address that? Is there any way to prevent them from ever doing that again? Like filing a complaint with the Physicians and Surgeons board?
I've had several insurer exams in the last year, and the results, and even some of the comments made make me think what they're doing and saying, cannot be legal under their oath.


I know my Lawyer will address the comments made in the assessments and it's my Lawyers job to fight against the assessors claims, but I honestly feel that some of the things said in the report, or during the assessment could easily fall within the realms of a viable complaint to the Board of Physicians and Surgeons.


If we all know that an insurers exam will always go against the claimant, why is that allowed to happen? Obviously someone is lying somewhere if the standard procedures as we know them; Insurers Exams are always against the claimant, Lawyer exams are always for the claimant. Where is the honesty in that process? Where is the accountability? Why aren't the shady way things are done addressed?


It's a rough road for claimants, especially claimants that truly are ill and in constant pain; like me.


My stress level is always high and every exam, every test, every report just makes the difficult life I'm living just that much  more difficult.


No wonder so many people don't go the legal route and fight for what they know is their right.


It's a broken system.... what can be done to change that?