Always seek for the best care

[thparker13]

Good morning - I’ve posted on here a few times, and truly have gotten some sound advice. I recently went to my rheumatologist and left completely outraged by how dismissive he has been the last two times I’ve seen him. Prior, well I would have recommended him to everyone for care, not sure what happened, but I’m now look for a new doctor. When I went in, I was trying so hard to explain how I felt and that I was utterly exhausted and overwhelmed by the pain and nothing seemed to be working. He had me on several different meds (hydroxchloriquen, methotrexate, lyrica), that at this point didn’t seem to be working. He suggested taking me off two of them, but leaving me on the lyrica and muscle relaxants. He also suggested cognitive therapy.. and said I needed to cope with my pain and that it is in my head. I left crying! He has always been so understanding about helping me and trying to figure out what is happening, but not this time! I decided to try glucosamine and turmeric for the joint pain, I figure if I can at least start some homeopathic medicine and get off all these chemicals, maybe just maybe it will help. I exercise most days for at least 30 mins a day, I eat mostly a keto-vore diet as well. I read daily, and try very hard to get household chores done daily before I’m utterly exhausted. I’m open to hearing if anyone else has any alternative ideas to help with the pain and exhaustion. I’m over taking meds if possible. I’d like to live another 50 years and be happy, not just living and dealing with pain everyday. Let me know what works for you.

 

[sunkacola]

Hi @thparker13 . Sorry to hear you had such a bad experience. Unfortunately, it's all too common for those of us with fibro to have such experiences. At least, know that you are not alone and many of us here, including myself, have had similar experiences and can relate to what you are feeling. I hope you can find a new doctor who treats you with more respect.

I assume you have read the advice post at the top of the General forum that lists many things people with fibro have found helpful.
Other than what is listed there, many people have written about various supplements, exercises, attitudinal approaches and psychological techniques that have helped them. Sadly, there's no one thing that helps everyone.

I applaud your wanting to work with natural approaches as much as you can. I do the same, although I also take medication.

If you have not tried cannabis and it is available to you where you live, you could give that a try.

I personally think that telling someone with fibro to get cognitive therapy is a cop-out and is insulting. Sure, maybe some of us could benefit from that.....a lot of people probably could. But we are not in pain because we need counselling!

The thing about the "it's in your head" bit is that, in one way, it's true. Not that we are not feeling pain, not that the pain is not real and in our bodies, not that we are mentally ill or hypochondriacs, or any of those things. But rather that the pain is not originating in the body parts where we feel it, which is why when we are tested for various things they find "nothing wrong" with us.

It is becoming a belief, and one that I am currently feeling is probably true, that the problem is in the brain, in that the brain is sending pain signals when in fact there's no physical reason for that body part to feel pain. This is why so many pain medications do nothing to help us. And they have not yet figured out enough about the human brain to understand how to stop it from sending pain signals in the way that our brains do.

I would be very interested to hear a report from you on homeopathy and whether it helps you or not.
I have not tried that for fibro, although I have taken homeopathic remedies for other things. I do recommend that if at all possible you find a certified homeopath to see. I know a person can buy remedies OTC, but if you really want to give it a good try you should see someone trained in the practice who can tell you what to take because it would be different for everyone due to the way in which homeopathy works. Also, only a very few of the basic remedies are available OTC; there are hundreds more, and you also cannot be certain of the concentration of OTC remedies or know which one would be right for you. If there were a homeopathic practitioner near where I live, I would go see one.
Let us know what your experience is, and best of luck to you!

 

[Ian waxman]

Good morning - I’ve posted on here a few times, and truly have gotten some sound advice. I recently went to my rheumatologist and left completely outraged by how dismissive he has been the last two times I’ve seen him. Prior, well I would have recommended him to everyone for care, not sure what happened, but I’m now look for a new doctor. When I went in, I was trying so hard to explain how I felt and that I was utterly exhausted and overwhelmed by the pain and nothing seemed to be working. He had me on several different meds (hydroxchloriquen, methotrexate, lyrica), that at this point didn’t seem to be working. He suggested taking me off two of them, but leaving me on the lyrica and muscle relaxants. He also suggested cognitive therapy.. and said I needed to cope with my pain and that it is in my head. I left crying! He has always been so understanding about helping me and trying to figure out what is happening, but not this time! I decided to try glucosamine and turmeric for the joint pain, I figure if I can at least start some homeopathic medicine and get off all these chemicals, maybe just maybe it will help. I exercise most days for at least 30 mins a day, I eat mostly a keto-vore diet as well. I read daily, and try very hard to get household chores done daily before I’m utterly exhausted. I’m open to hearing if anyone else has any alternative ideas to help with the pain and exhaustion. I’m over taking meds if possible. I’d like to live another 50 years and be happy, not just living and dealing with pain everyday. Let me know what works for you.

Hi!sorry to hear of your bad experience.all too common for us with fybro.i have a brilliant doctor who has studied deeply in fybro which is lucky in these days.she says it stems from the brain sending pain messages to our various parts of our body.lets face it when you wake in the morning and feel like you’ve been hit by a train you run for the meds.anything to take the pain away.your brain is controlling your pain and the more you think about it the worse you feel.like I’ve said we’re in it for the long run.i don’t believe in any meds they just mask it.currently withdrawing from fentanyl patch,62.5 and i wanted more.brain overload.pysychologically we’re gripped.i’m gonna do more swimming and saunas.big believer in intense heat and basically any stimulant that reacts with your brain takes the edge off.hope you find homeopathic remedy is beneficial.keep us informed.we need a positive breakthrough cos I’m sick of it!!

 

[thparker13]

Thank you for your feedback! I do understand now that it is in your brain and is happening by your brain sending pain signals vs it’s all in your head! I think most doctors think we are making this up instead of understanding what is happening and how to fix it vs masking it. I’m going to continue to research for more homeopathic ways to help and be more optimistic about it. I have my days of doom and gloom when I’m hurting so bad and can’t understand why, but that is not beneficial for anyone, let alone myself. I will definitely keep everyone informed of my findings either way!