Rheumatologist appointment

[gilford]

Hi everyone well I went to see the rheumatologist yesterday with my list of symptoms in hand and he said that yes I do have fibro but I also have ligaments trapped In both shoulder joints which may need surgery (depending if the ligaments are torn or not) the problem is he put more emphasis on the ligament thing and made the fibromyalgia a secondary concern just saying keep taking the amitriptyline! The ligament thing is secondary on my priority list! How would you have dealt with this? I just said thank you and accepted it

[Hidden]

hi gilford! glad you had your rheumatology appointment!

I am a great one for second and third 'moments' - i.e. much later thinking what I SHOULD have said. Do you feel a bit like that? I for one am glad my GP surgery now accept emails when I was not happy or had something not answered by GP in her precious 10'. Perhaps you could write to Rheumy? Write out how FM affects you and you feel treatment might help (and what you don't want).

Then, on the other side, is it worth it? I once had an ENT consultation - she was clearly only interested in exploratory OP and when I said no to that, she could not get rid off me fast enough. I am not going to ask for treatment from her - waste of my time. Depends on processes in your locality and your relationship with you GP: Can s/he refer you to FMClinic? (In my locality s/he could). Can you discuss priorities and possibilities to OP with the GP?

On balance, I sympathise with your approach to get out of there first and think some after.

best wishes!

Barb

[gilford in reply to Hidden]

Thanks barb your right all the way home I was thinking of how I should have approached it but didn't. I think your right I will go to my GP and talk it over with him - he is much more approachable than the consultant!

[TheAuthor]

I tend to speak my mind during appoinments and tell them what I want and what I expect. I want to wish you all the best of luck with your treatment.

Take care

Ken

[rosewine]

Sometimes I think that the specialists concentrate on the things they know they can fix rather than looking at the whole picture and how it affects you. I honestly think event he experts are still rather at sea with fibro and what is the best treatment for it. With the ligaments he is more sure of his ground so would of course concentrate on that.

I think barnsch54 suggestion about going back to your GP explaining what has happened and see whether you can get a referral to someone who specialises in fibro is an excellent one.

Don't beat yourself up about walking away from it as I am like that. I will fight like a Lion on others peoples behalf but tend to back off when it is something to do with myself. I think we are often frightened that if we make too many waves they will not want to treat us at all.

Let us know how you get on.x