Boosting Your Immune System

« Back to Home

A Neurologist Can Help You

Posted on

A neurologist specializes in working with the brain and the spinal column. If you are having issues, your doctor may send you to see a neurologist. What are some of the reasons that might cause your primary care physician (PCP) to refer you to a neurologist?

Memory Issues

One reason that your PCP may send you to a neurologist is that you are having memory issues. Those issues can be early signs of Dementia or Alzheimer's. The sooner you can get tested to see what is going on with your memory, the better. You can use some treatments to slow down or even reverse some of the memory issues. Before the neurologist does anything, they will do a lot of testing. The doctor will want to know exactly where your memory deficits are and how severe they are before they start treatment. The testing may take several hours or even days, depending on what kind of tests the neurologist wants you to have. Some tests include remembering a set of words over several hours, doing multiple choice questions, and possibly imaging like MRIs. Once you have done all the testing, the doctor will take a few days to look at all the results, analyze them, and then let you know their findings.

Chronic Headaches

You may also see a neurologist if you have chronic headaches or migraines. Your primary care physician can help treat those things to a certain extent. However, if the treatments aren't helping, your doctor may suggest seeing a neurologist because there is more of a problem than your PCP can handle. Your neurologist may send you for imaging. An MRI can let the neurologist see what is going on in your brain. Because your brain is a soft tissue, x-rays won't show what is happening in your brain. An MRI or CAT scan will let the neurologist look at the structure of your brain to see if there is an underlying cause for your migraines or headaches. For example, you could have a tumor that is causing your headaches.

There are many things that your primary care physician can do for you. One thing they can do for you is to send you to a specialist if you need a more intense treatment or a diagnosis. A neurologist is just one of the specialists that your PCP can send you to. There are several reasons your doctor can send you to see a neurologist clinic such as North Texas Neuroscience Center PA .


Share