Appointment went "okay" today. I was a nervous wreck beforehand and actually sat in my car wanting to just turn around and leave before I even went in. I had waited so long for this appointment, but here I was, barely functioning due to anxiety and not even wanting to continue on. I was freaking out.
How do you tell somebody who you've never met exactly what you're feeling and how do you sum up a long history of chronic pain and symptoms into one appointment? I wanted to make it obvious to him that what I am feeling is no longer acceptable to me and make sure he understood that some days, the severity of my pain makes me want to just curl up into a sensory deprivation hole to escape it all. Yet, I didn't want to seem over dramatic or "seeking". Being in the health care industry myself, I know that a lot of chronic pain sufferers get labeled with that before they are even given a second glance.
He did seem receptive to me, but failed to actually give me a diagnosis. Although he did say that he feels I present with what is likely fibromyalgia. He wants to check, yes...you guessed it...more lab work. Fibromyalgia is a diagnosis of exclusion, since there is no definitive test for it. Plus, it would also be considered irresponsible to not test for those other things, when there could be something else going on that would require a completely different treatment plan.
He was also fairly concerned that the area of my most severe pain (the place where the pain is constant, unrelenting and most intense) is my neck/shoulders/upper back. He had me do some x-rays to ensure that there isn't also degenerative disc disease.
So, I should hear back in a few days about my lab work. If it all comes back unremarkable, then I suspect I should get the formal diagnosis.
In the mean time, he wants me to increase my Lyrica dosage. I've been tolerating it without side effect, but relief has been just out of reach.
Unless there is a problem, I'll be seeing him again in 2 months.
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