In my recent battle of fighting the illness of Fibro, just like all of you, I became fed up with drs. And not getting the right kind of help I needed. So much so that I tried to take my life. 3 nights in a row I had to go to the hospital just for a pain shot. My dr. never gave me anything for pain. I was extremely depressedmostly because of the pain, my antidepressant wasnt working, so she increased itover the weeks it did not help. I saw a different dr. who just so happened to have a wife with Fibro. Im thinking YES, hell understand! In a way he did, because he did give me some pain medication and switched me from Zoloft to Cymbalta. The Cymbalta worked so quickly for the pain it was amazing and I have only had to take one pain pill in the past 3 weeks. The cymbalta was suppose to work for the depression as well, but it didnt do anything, especially since it was only 30mg. So I called back and he upped it to 60. It still wasnt enough. Everyone kept telling me that it would take up to 6-8 weeks for it to work. Bull. The depression was so bad I finally checked myself into a hospitalthat was useless. The only thing that did for me was get me in to see a psychiatrist. She was very nice, listened to every little thing I wanted to tell her and my husband too. She said the cymbalta does not take that long to work. She increased it to 90 and wants to see me in 2 weeks. She also changed my anxiety meds to a longer acting med. Unlike xanax and ativan, this one lasts 8 hrs. She also increased my sleeping med and took one away. She really knew what she was doing because I am really starting to feel better and I am sleeping for the first time in years!! 8 yrs to be exact! I said all this to say I understand your frustration with drs. They dont have the time or enough knowledge to really help us get the proper cocktail of meds that we need. Every time you go in you have to start all over with them or they have to spend a super quick 5 sec. reading your chart on what youve had so they can try something new! The Rheumys I dont think are much different. But have you ever considered going to a psychiatrists? They seem to know more about drugs and how they interact with each other than any of the other drs. (just my opinion) And doesnt this illness make us suffer mentally as well? Who better to understand than a psychiatrist! It makes us depressed and leaves us feeling worthless. I know I will not be going back to a regular dr. or Rheumy for my condition. Im going to go to a psychiatrist. She seems to understand better and knows the right kind of meds that will help. Maybe I just got lucky and got a good phyc. But maybe they do know and understand meds better. Just a thought for you to consider. All I know is that right now I am in pain level 1, and I am sleeping really good. And it breaks my heart to read all these posts of people who are in so much pain and discouraged and suicidal. If you havent tried a psychologist yet maybe you should give it a try, it sure couldnt hurt. Surely if I can be almost pain free many of you can as well.
Love to all,
~dixie