Doctors are horrible

[Drummer76]

Yes, this is very common, and I am so sorry you are having this experience.

What @SBee says above is very true. Mostly, it is up to us to do what we can to help ourselves deal with this. It's frustrating to many of us to realize this, but that is only because we are conditioned in western society to think that doctors are the ones with the answers and can always make things better.

I found that once I fully accepted the fact that doctors were not going to be able to help me past prescribing medications and that if I wanted more than that I was going to have to find out for myself what other things would help, that frustration and the resulting anger and tension and stress was able to leave my life. And that in itself helped. Then, I worked on finding out what kinds of things I could do for myself, and that helped more.

If you are seeing a Pain Specialist at a Pain Clinic, then you have people who will work with fibro patients, and that's the best you are going to get, because a neurologist, or a rheumatologist cannot do anything more for you than the people at a pain clinic can! The only thing any doctor can do once it is determined that you have fibro is give you medication for the pain.

But it's important to remember that medication is only a small part of the treatment for fibromyalgia, and the rest of it is up to us to provide for ourselves, because there's no medication that will take it away, cure it, or even work well for everyone with fibro.

I had a dr tell me once,can't remember if it was a specialist or a primary dr. I've struggled with finding one since mine retired. But they told me they can only treat the symptoms of fibromyalgia since there is no cure for it. Now I can't get any relief from having these bulging disc unless I do what isn't legal in my state but legal in every state around me. Luckily I live close to a boarding state so the drive isn't to bad for me and I don't use a bunch mainly at night so I'm able to sleep.
What makes it even harder,I can't take the medications for fibro. They all end with me hugging the toilet for a night or 2 after a few days of taking them. I told them I'm done being the guinea pig and won't be taking anything else related to those meds and haven't for over 15 years.
Here it seems like having anxiety and chronic pain is an issue. They'll only treat 1 with medication and since I have had panic and anxiety attacks i have to choose which one I want to take,which is medication for panic attacks. I have been on opioid medication in the past,recently actually since I had rotator cuff surgery and never had an issue with the pain medication and benzo interacting. I was told by 2 doctors to take them a few hours apart. I was in them for 6 months since surgery was booked out so far. Just irritates me they would rather allow us to suffer then have any faith in us In being able to control the medication. Obviously I done good for 6 months and never overdosed or anything and prior to that it had been 10 years or so since I was taking both when I decided to cut myself off the pain meds. They never look or ask our history with them and assume we're all the same. We're not and they can easily see what I was prescribed after surgery and it was handled fine.

 

[Badger]

seeing a dr is a bit like attending a court

It's quite an off putting experience dealing with them and hoping for reasonable bedside manner. The pain clinic refuse to see me and the surgery won't try any other medication. I keep away and try to pace myself at home. There was one Dr who was supportive and popular at the surgery, but he retired early a few years ago.

 

[SBee]

I know how you feel @Badger the last (very good ) GP I had contact with offered a face to face appt ( a rarity ) after I sent them a very detailed yet ' knowledgeable ' message explaining the difficulties I was having with three chronic pain conditions and the effect they all have on one another, hence my wish to try meds to try to help the fibromyalgia, and lessen some stress on my body. But its hard at times to find the mental strength to fight for yourself in the medical world.

incidentally I was diagnosed with fibromyalgia at an ME\pain clinic after a gp suspected chronic fatigue syndrome again. I asked in February to be referred for physio, and when I heard nothing 6 months later I was told they refused to see me as my health was too complex ! Yeah try living like this I thought.

Again I managed to bring this up with the better GP and a pain clinic contacted me a few weeks ago who said. " oh, your health is too complex!! " anyhow, they said they would try to work on a personalised plan to help me, but it would take a few weeks or months to do so... I'm not holding my breath

Mostly we are, I feel quite unsupported in a professional sense?

 

[Drummer76]

I know how you feel @Badger the last (very good ) GP I had contact with offered a face to face appt ( a rarity ) after I sent them a very detailed yet ' knowledgeable ' message explaining the difficulties I was having with three chronic pain conditions and the effect they all have on one another, hence my wish to try meds to try to help the fibromyalgia, and lessen some stress on my body. But its hard at times to find the mental strength to fight for yourself in the medical world.

incidentally I was diagnosed with fibromyalgia at an ME\pain clinic after a gp suspected chronic fatigue syndrome again. I asked in February to be referred for physio, and when I heard nothing 6 months later I was told they refused to see me as my health was too complex ! Yeah try living like this I thought.

Again I managed to bring this up with the better GP and a pain clinic contacted me a few weeks ago who said. " oh, your health is too complex!! " anyhow, they said they would try to work on a personalised plan to help me, but it would take a few weeks or months to do so... I'm not holding my breath

Mostly we are, I feel quite unsupported in a professional sense?

We seem to have to fight harder to be heard which is ridiculous. I think the problem is there are so many symptoms with fibro,a doctor struggles to treat them all. I had 1 pain management dr help me but she moved to a better paying city,which is the problem where I live,the good ones go on to make more money elsewhere. I'm extremely lucky to have the cardiologist I have hasn't moved on and he's one of the best this area has.
I've turned to self medicating but its only for nighttime use.

 

[BlueBells]

@Day at a time

Wow !!!! Such a breath of fresh air to me !!!! To hear someone on the other side of the world say so many things that I have been grappling with, you as a doctor, me as a patient being told "it's bad nerves, take some tablets" and being brushed off with "it's just worry, there's nothing wrong" etcetera.

Since diagnosis, 2019, I've learnt so much, and yes, I truly believe that fibro is just tossed in the "too hard basket" and treatment is to drug the victim up, so they won't care about how they feel.

lots of hugs and Welcome to the forums