I have a neurological illness that has puzzled doctors.

Mayo is not the only Clinic in the States. I would suggest exploring other avenues other than Mayo. ie Cleveland Clinic, John Hopkins, Duke University and the Research Triangle area in North Carolina. At best, I feel that if Mayo was not accepting new Neuro patients they could at the very least have assisted in directing you to a entity that is accepting new patients. Vanderbilt and UAB are two other well-known and established Medical Centers!

What are your symptoms?

First and foremost, thank you so much for your reply and giving me such helpful info. I definitely want to seek help from The Mayo Clinic, so I'm trying to get things moving forward.

I haven't talked with my doctor to see if I can get a referral, but I have an appointment scheduled to see my doctor (next month) and I'm definitely going to ask him for a referral.

Regarding scheduling an appointment with The Mayo Clinic, that's what I'm having difficulty with now. Here's why: I have a speech impediment and a hearing impairment, so I don't talk on the phone (unless I use the 711 relay, which is very difficult because I type slow, due to my disability).

The good thing is that I was able to schedule a phone appointment with The Mayo Clinic, so things are kind of moving forward.

What I'm desperately trying to do is to have The Mayo Clinic to contact me at my email address for the phone appointment (which will make it possible for me and The Mayo Clinic to communicate & find a secure way for me to give The Mayo Clinic any info they need from me).

Do you know of any way that I can get The Mayo Clinic to contact me at my email address to have the "phone appointment"??

Hi @carniplant, I'll see what I can find out. Please contact me using this form https://connect.mayoclinic.org/contact-a-community-moderator/

@colleenyoung , thank you so much for your help with this.🙏 I'll definitely contact you today by using the form that you provided.

Thanks again for your help. I really appreciate it.🙏

@carniplant, thank you for working on this with me. I'm glad that email accomodations can be made in place of a phone call.

For everyone, we also learned that non-phone/voice options will be made available for patients in the near future. Mayo Clinic is developing a secure option for patients who may be deaf, hard of hearing or speech impaired for whom phone calls are not their preferred mode of communication.

Very sorry about your difficulties.

This much I can say about unknowns.

They do tend to surrender to time and effort. So, there is always hope.

There was a famous doctor, at a famous clinic, treating very sick people.

He was asked what the folks who recovered the most all had in common.

His answer?

They never quit.

Indeed, I’ve had neurological ailments, most of my life, and I’ll never quit! Exercise helps me, immensely, along with Physical Therapy, regarding my diagnosed Parkinson’s Disease! I was diagnosed with PD, about 7 years ago, but had symptoms for years before that diagnosis. My balance was way off, and I had neurologic symptoms stemming from cranial nerve root compression, from my youth! I had MRI’s and finally a catheter brain blood vessel intervention, which revealed, a major artery, near my brain stem, was pressing in on my midbrain, at the cerebellar pontine angle, causing my debillitating symptoms! An acclaimed neurosurgeon felt that an operation to fix that, would be dangerous. I was put on propanolol, which helps; however, because it caused a partial paralyzed vocal chord symptom, I had to give up excess speaking and singing! As a boy, 7 years old, before the polio vaccine, I contracted non-paralytic polio, where I had to wear braces, for a while, on my legs! I was stiff and in a lot of pain with that, but, as a boy, I got over that, and persevered!! In my 60’s, I, out of the blue, had a bad major Grand Mal seizure, with resulting epilepsy! I was put on Depakote. So, I never quit, and will not let my neurologic problems, define me, and prevent me from accomplishing goals and enjoying my life!

You are definitely a fighter and a survivor !

In addition to me having a speech impediment and a hearing impairment, I have a strange type of spastic paralysis. I'm able to move all parts of my body (but, with an extreme lack of flexibility and I move very slow). It's as if my body is shriveled up, I can't bend my legs back, but I can extend my legs forward and I have high muscle tone.

I do get physical therapy, but it only slightly decreases the spasticity.
Doctors have tested me to see if I have Cerebral Palsy and they were easily able to see that I don't have Cerebral Palsy. They even gave me several EMG tests (to see if I have ALS), but again they were easily able to see that I don't have ALS.

I've had numerous Lumbar Punctures ( to test my spinal fluid) & still, doctors have not been able to diagnose me as having anything. They tested me to see if I have Demyelinitis and that also came back with a negative. The doctors are absolutely puzzled as to what is wrong with me.
What we do know is that a few years ago, I had an ear infection and it affected my spinal cord, which led me having symptoms that mimiced Cerebellar Ataxia (for 2 or 3 weeks). Then, all of the symptoms went away and I was 100% healthy & normal again.
I was fine for approximately 6 months and then everything began to change. Now, I have the aforementioned spastic paralysis and the doctors haven't been able to find out what is going on with me Neurologically.
Thus, I'm seeking to be treated (& hopefully completely cured of this mystery, Neurological illness) at The Mayo Clinic.

If anyone has any suggestions or advice for me, please let me know your thoughts. I sincerely appreciate you all for your support and motivation that I receive from The Mayo Clinic Connect community.🙏