August 5, 2003
A: FROM MENTOR SUZANNE FRANKS IN KS
Alicia, I have a very personal answer to this question since I now
have my own neurologist
taking care of my health, following a mild stroke I had this past April.
When the stroke occurred, I had two main effects: a terrible, terrible
headache that ended
up lasting about 2 weeks, and loss of vision. I have recovered nearly all
my vision now and have
just a tiny blind spot. The neurologist began managing my case as soon as
I was admitted
to the hospital. He routinely checks my neurological functioning - is my
balance okay? is my
gait (the way I walk) okay? reflexes okay? He orders tests for me to
continue checking on my
progress, such as a recent follow-up MRI I just had, and uses the results
of those tests to further
guide his decisions for my care. He and my primary care physician decided
on a set of drugs
that I should take to prevent another stroke. I also have a
neuro-ophthalmalogist, who periodically
administers and interprets the results of a visual field test, to map out
where my vision is good
and where it is not so good, and to assess how I am progressing in
recovery of vision.
So, a neurologist will generally be involved in treating and helping
patients who have had some
kind of injury to their brains or that has in some way affected their
neurological function. Neurologists
focus on disorders that affect the brain or the central nervous system.
Their patients have problems
like strokes, brain tumors, head trauma from car accidents and other
accidents, diseases that
affect the functioning of the nervous system, etc.

Neurologists can also work in research with other doctors and with
scientists, to try to better understand,
prevent, and/or cure the kinds of traumas and illnesses that affect the
brain and central nervous system.

Oliver Sacks is a neurologist who has written some very interesting books
and articles about his work.
You might look in your library for his book "The Man Who Mistook His Wife
For a Hat" to learn a little
more about one particular neurologist's life and work.

Neurologists may often deal with very sick patients, or patients that are
suffering severe trauma, but it is
also very rewarding because they often get to watch the very rapid
progress and improvement of
their patients, and to be part of helping that happen!