I've had KP for 2 years and my rheumy is the doc I see for meds and fibro. I would talk to someone else. It is super easy to change you pcp. GL~

Just joined Kaiser and the doctor I got is horrible. I am a fibromyalgia patient. Haven't been able to work for a year. So much pain. Looking for a Kaiser doctor that knows how to treat fibromyalgia. Please if anyone knows of a good fibromyalsia doctor at kaiser northBay please let me know.

The doctor might be lying about having to treat you for fibro. It does happen.

I used to have Kaiser. I went back to my family practice doc because he was great: compassionate and always open to me trying a new drug or treatment. I don't know if it helped that I had been a nurse and we had known each other from the hospital. He actually thanked me in 1998 for the articles I brought in about fibro research.

Nowadays, family practice handles the day-to-day management of fibro. Once it is diagnosed by excluding other illnesses with lab work,etc, the FP doc can prescribe all the FDA-approved drugs for fibro (that didn't help me, by the way).

When I had Kaiser I had to see a nice psychiatrist in order to get a prescription for Klonopin (clonazepam). Lots of copays at Kaiser.

Fibro is a self-managed illness, for the most part. I learned more about it from great websites and research articles than any doc. But I don't like Kaiser; the docs work for Kaiser; they don't work for you. They don't have to please you very much.

I've found that I need something to help me stay asleep, something for pain (I take muscle relaxant). Cut down on all activity, cut stress, do gentle exercise, some form of meditation/yoga/deep breathing/visualization and a lot Netflix.

Hope you find another Kaiser doc who knows a great deal about fibro and is compassionate or hope you can find an outside doc. Best of luck!

I just went through this with Kaiser. It was suggested to me by a client of mine, who is an RN at UCD that I might have Fibro and should follow up on it. I have been complaining of symptoms for years. And by years I mean 20 to 30. Not one person put 2 and 2 together. An RN does it in 30 seconds. This is how my appt. went with my new KP doctor.

Had my first appointment today with my new Doctor, Dr. Icky. Now I didn't think it was possible to be blown off any more by another doctor from Kaiser, but apparently I was very wrong.

I went in for my appointment with Dr. Icky (not real name) to discuss the possibility of my having fibromyalgia. Upon entering the room, there was a very impersonal feeling. Doc very quickly went over my chart, thought everything looked pretty good. Then we went on to discuss fibromyalgia. Doc straight up said it's not something they can diagnose. Then asked if I had done any reading online and I said actually very little. Doc said they had a class available and that if I felt that I had it, she would concur. She said, , there was no test for it, and without a test or evidence, it doesn't exist. The medical community essentially does not recognize this as a legitimate illness, disorder, what have you. No physical exam, She didn't put a hand on me. nothing.

Wow.

And we're done. By the way, she offered up anti depressants, muscle relaxers, and a sorry not sorry, my 20 minutes was up,
Gotta go.

Here I go finally thinking I'm going to get some answers and all I got was a H&G. (Hi and Goodbye)

I'm filing a complaint this week.

First of all, Fibromyalgia is a diagnosis of exclusion. When a battery of tests has been run and there is no indication that another issue is causing widespread chronic pain, Fibromyalgia is probably the culprit.

Last year, Fibromyalgia was given its own diagnostic code on the sheets that doctors must use to indicate the type of illness that the patient has for treatment. It is a recognized disease! It is also recognized by the CDC (Centers for Disease Control), the World Health Organization (WHO) and the National Arthritis Foundation. This doctor is an uninformed, biased idiot.

I'm begging you to please follow through and report this doctor not only to your healthcare insurer but also to the hospital system that they are affiliated with. Save the next patient from having to put up with this quackery.

Get yourself a copy of the book "Fibromyalgia for Dummies." You can find it on Amazon. It will give you a comprehensive overview of this complex illness. And, to find a doctor who will diagnose and treat you, Call your local hospital and ask for the physician referral service. Have them match you up with a rheumy, neurologist and/or pain management specialist that has an interest in Fibromyalgia.

Good luck and take care.

Having fibro and also being on KP insurance is extremely frustrating for me. In the 5 years that I have been on it my abilities to do things have suffered and my pain has multiplied. All the GP's I have seen through them say that they don't treat fibro and the Rheumy says only GP's can treat. So long story short there is no help for fibro through KP. My partner works for KP and she can't understand why they won't do something to help me.

I, too, have been a Kaiser patient in Los Angeles for 10 years and not diagnosed. I have the textbook signs of FMS (insomnia, joint pain, extreme fatigue, arthritis in hands, pain in lower back, pain in upper back, pain in knees, pain in shoulders/neck, headaches, Hashimoto's, cramping/curling of the hands and feet, cold hands/feet, allergies, bruxism, loose joints, GERD (hiatal hernia), chronic congestion, tendonitis in wrist and elbows, gastritis (diagnosed in Kaiser in OR) turned to diverticulosis, major depression, anxiety, and on and on.

When I was heavy and complaining about joint pain, congestion, fatigue, GERD, depression and anxiety, knee pain, knees giving out on me, my knee cap moving around, I was told it was because I was heavy--over and over, despite me having so many other FMS symptoms. When I lost the weight, the fatigue, anxiety, body aches and pains, were all blamed on my depression. At first my GP was nice and caring, but the more are more I had to go in for weird things going wrong, the more she seemed really frustrated with me often and just would tell me I'm fine. (I got the feeling she thought I was a hypochondriac or just emotionally disturbed rather than physically sick too). Meanwhile, I know something is wrong as I'm beginning to have problems with cognition I've never had--organizing, following through, forgetting things, recalling words. I kept telling her and she always said that that was due to depression. Finally last month I asked her to be tested for Ehlers-Danlos. She said no, it wasn't necessary. And literally (I wrote it down in my journal immediately so I wouldn't forget), "What difference does it make, we just have to treat the symptoms anyway." When she said that I started to cry, I was so frustrated with all this. I had to go back to an orthopedic surgeon who is helping me with arthritis and a strained or torn tendon in my wrist and was taking to him about how I researched that disease I hadn't heard of until I Googled "loose joints" and "muscle cramps" and HE (finally! I didn't even ask him) suggested I get checked for it and gave me the referral.

The rheumatologist took 30 min. with me asking me the if I had the items on the FMS questionnaire. Then she asked me to bend my thumb to touch the back of my hand (couldn't do--that was the only question she asked about Ehlers-Danlos) and diagnosed me with FMS. I was so shocked that I forgot to tell her I have bone spurs next to each thumb and so much arthritis there now, of course I couldn't, but I could've shown her a lot of weird positions I can get my body in that others can't. Then I asked her about my low blood pressure and she said, with attitude, it's fine today! I said it's usually very low, but that I just had run from another building down the street (from another dr. appt.) in hot weather. She could check my past visits and she just looked at me. Also, I had worked 2 weeks (my concentration is horrible) to put together a detailed excel chart of all my symptoms, when I got them, how long I've had them, etc. and she literally waved it away as I told her what it was and tried to hand it to her. I said, OK, now what? She said sleep, exercise--walk 10-15 min. tops a day, referred me for acupuncture (yay on that!). And she said she was referring me back to my GP and she'd give me a brochure on the way out. I'm not even 100% sure I have FMS. I wouldn't be surprised if have EDS or Sjogren's Syndrome instead.

No brochure. My After Visit Summary had basic info. on FMS and how to care for yourself. About pain, all she said is opioids don't work--they work at first and then you need more and more and more.

I asked my GP if I could see a FMS specialist at Kaiser and she said there aren't any, just regular rheumatologists. I told her why did the rheumatologist just refer me back to her? And she said, all you asked for was a diagnosis for EDS and she gave it to you. (So much attitude.) I find it highly remarkable that Kaiser, a huge organization with offices all over LA, doesn't have fibromyalgia specialists to serve a city with 10 million people. I asked how can I find out? And she referred me back to the rheumatologist who sent me to her. I honestly don't know if I have EDS. I wouldn't be surprised. My orthopedic surgeon, neurologist asked way more questions than the rheumatologist), and occupational hand therapist all told me I have hypermobile joints. Not one PT did and I've been through PT for upper back, lower back, knees (3 different rounds with different PTs). Yet none have written hypermobility syndrome in my medical record (nor the FMS nor the diverticulosis).

I called member services and guess what? They didn't know if there were any FMS specialists at Kaiser. Then I told them my story, how there's no cohesion at Kaiser, I'm seeing all these specialists, but there's no one looking at the BIG PICTURE. Also, anyone with consistent pain and depression and anxiety who can't exercise or work anymore due to it would LOVE to have a diagnosis to make sense of it all and stop being told everything is due to depression, your fine, or "what difference does it make," to get a diagnosis? A GP doesn't know that? Where does the depression come from? It's very common in FMS and have read that many doctors believe the constant firing of the nerves in the central nervous system actually causes depression. I already feel less depressed just knowing it's not all in my head.

Also, there are things we can do to battle the disease. Not everything works for everyone, I know. But isn't there someone who can help guide me with making a plan? Helping me determine what foods I'm allergic to to change my diet accordingly? Test my adrenal glands? Had to ask. I've already tested negative for gluten. What about pain management? What about drugs for fibromyalgia like Lyrica? Had to ask. What about someone who can work with me to make sure I'm getting the right amount of thyroid medication? I don't mean the regular test, because most tests on fibromyalgia symptoms turn out negative, but there's more to it (like T3, T4, etc.). I keep having to ask all these questions myself. I asked for the colonoscopy (which turned out diverticulosis), ADHD tests, allergy tests, vitamin tests. She did refer me to many specialists over the years, but never was any test suggested to me except the letters for a mammogram or Pap.

Maybe I expect too much. I just wish I knew many years ago so I would've been taken more seriously, not told I'm fine repeatedly when I'm in tears often, dead tired, can't think, can hardly walk anymore without pain. Member services said they would "start a case" and this would be resolved in 30 days. I didn't even want to start a case, I just want to move on to someone who knows more about FMS, can help me make a plan and is more compassionate and less judgmental.

I really wanted my GP to be aware of how I have so many of the symptoms of FMS, for so long, and she kept telling me it was my weight and my depression without looking at all of my symptoms--that I'm textbook. What I wanted to say was, I hope the next time she sees a patient who has consistent joint pain, tigger point pain, can't work, can't think, is so desperate for relief of depression and anxiety, please consider getting the checked for FMS! But, instead she obviously didn't like what I was saying and told me, "You don't sound tired, you sound hyper." I was so frustrated by that point, For the whole last week, I had been sick and sleeping about 16 hours a day! I replied "I'm not hyper, I'm angry!" Then she said something under her breath I couldn't make out and I should find another doctor. Lovely.

I've resorted to researching doctors that do specialize in fibromyalgia at Kaiser on Google (by the way, KP's website shows no doctors when you search by the term fibromyalgia) and in FMS support groups. I've found 4 doctors but they are over an hour drive, which I will have to make of course, if I can't find someone closer to LA. The person who comes highly reviewed isn't accepting new patients, of course and I can find no reviews for the other 3. If anyone knows of a good rheumatologist at Kaiser in So. Cal. that specialized is FMS, please post the info. I'd really appreciate it. Otherwise if you have FMS and are considering options, I'd take another if you can afford it.

Yeah, I lucked out because I'm an RN with a very compassionate family practice doc who will let me try any drug I want. I bring in the research about the drug and give to him. Later he explained to his other fibro patients how I had educated him about fibro.

Maybe best of all is to contact a university with a medical school and look up their docs, maybe do a pubmed search (goolge pubmed) for fibro and see if any docs are doing research near you. Oregon Health Science Center, Portland has an active fibro research unit in the rheumatology dept.

In Salt Lake City, the Bateman Center does CFS/ME and fibro treatments. They should be others.

I urge trying the different drugs for fibro, but at low, low doses to see which helps. It's a tough one. What a difficult illness, and no one gives you much acknowledgment, support. Take care.

Thank you! I forgot I wanted to look into UCLA and USC for that. I just have to find out if I can afford to change from Kaiser.

Maybe a doctor in the pain program at USC has an outside practice and you can ask which insurance plans they take. An MD at USC's pain program wrote a quite decent book, Confronting Chronic Pain.

Another idea about fibro treatments is reading the Canadian Guidelines for Fibromyalgia (or something like that). It's available online free (just google it). There are the modalities, treatments which have been scientifically studied. Do they work? Do they help some people, most people? At least it will give you a list of drugs to try. Bring copy of the guidelines with you when you see a doctor.
Hope this helps.