Hi everyone,
After seeing a rheumatologist to rule out SLE I have been diagnosed with Fibromyalgia, Hashimoto's thyroid (autoimmune thyroid), and Central Pain Syndrome. I'm just wondering in your experiences if there has been a specialist who has been particularly helpful to you. A lot of doctors don't seem to have a very good understanding of Fibro or seem quick to diagnose it even though they don't give their patients a lot of info about it. I know some people even see chiropractors as their PCP for Fibro. I was just wondering as I'm in the "now what do I do" stage of the ball game. Anyway, thank you all so much for your help and support!
Love,
Shawnee

I treat my psychologist and my psychiatrists as my pcp's it so far worked the best for me-my primary care doctor is pretty useless and so are the "specialists"-the rhuemy and the neurologist-the chiripracter is great!! but I see my psych doctors the most!! :)

Do you truly thing this illness was caused by our own mind?! Do you think the 'cure' is change in our life style and our attitude? My PCP is no help either. None of the docs I've seen so far are helpless. They all look at me as if I'm just making a big deal of nothing. They don't seem to take my pain very seriously. It bothers me a lot!

no the fibro isnt caused "by our mind" but the imbalance of serotonin has alot to do with the maladies we have-we(my therapist and my psychiatrist) believe that the reason I developed the fibro was from post traumatic stress disorder,major depression, anxiety, and other stuff-there are a majority of fibro sufferers that are also suffering from depression and anxiety and that kind of stuff-alleviating that stuff definately helps with the fibro.personally I dont care what they think causes it-if they give me meds that make me feel better-I dont care if they think its causes by depression!!!I just want to feel better and it has been my experience that ssri's and anti anxieties are a major help-and you can get those from a psychiatrist-and just having someone to talk to about how crappy we feel helps too-it helps me to see my therapist-I get to just complain and not feel like I have to put on a show to her-it helps me alot!!

I am far from an expert, just being diagnosed myself, but if ANY doctor doesn't believe that your pain is real--leave the office and don't go back! I was diagnosed by a neurologist, I regularily see a chiropractor and have regular massages. The Chiro and massages really seem to help me. If you go for massage, just make sure that the therapist knows how to do a massage for someone with FM -- if not, you will be so sore you won't be able to move for a week! Best of luck. Terri :wave:

The best doctors I feel are Alternative doctors. They are more open minded. Conventional or Western doctors what ever you want to call them are not trained the same way. If they don't see anything wrong in your blood test or x-rays they think it must be in your mind. :rolleyes:

Caden-Logan's mom-
I have the same diagnosis' as you do....and as much as I wish no one else had them, its nice to hear someone else is like me (does that make sense?) I haven't found any good doctors either that take my pain and fatigue seriously. If anyone knows a good doctor in Los Angeles, let me know please. I'm sorry to hear your so stressed out, and I know it must be hard having to take care of children while having such hard body problems. I have a question for you, what do you take for thyroid medication? My thyroid has been off for years now and I can't seem to get the right dosage (at this point Im self medicating with Synthroid 37.5....any more than that and I get night sweats and dizziness). Also, do you have any theories on how you got these diseases? I'd be really interested in hearing how you developed FM & CFS. Take care! I too want to know what is the next step, and maybe talking to people on here is the answer...you never know!