What next......

[HorsemadJo]

After seeing the doc for the second time in a month he has diagnosed me with Fibro. Also he is reffering me to a neurologist. Has anybody had this refferal? He has put me on antidepressants and pain modifiers......I thought my pain and aches in my legs and arms was easing but today is a different story! Just had a letter from work to say i will need an app with occupational heath. Oh god.....this whole thing is so scary

[lynnecw]

Hi

I was referred to a neurologist who sent me for an MRI scan which came back fine, so there was nothing more she could do for me. You may well find that your pains ease some days and then come back in another place, very unpredictable, I find this is why people don't believe I have a problem as I hurt in different places all the time. For instance someone will say "how are your arms" and I'd say "well it's my legs that hurt today". Unless they have had this problem themselves they will never really understand us.

[SapphireStanton]

worry not Jo this is standard practice if you have been diagnosed by a competant medic. This is because FM can look like other conditions and because there are neuro elements to FM itself. It is also good practice for your GP to request neuro reviews. It is vital that you are checked regularly as opposed to being told "its just the fibro" constantly. Take comfort that you are being properly taken care of.

be good to yourself.

SAPPH

[mistymeana]

Hi Jo, please don't worry about seeing occupational health. I was referred a few times by my previous employer and found them really useful (I had a working diagnosis of zero-neg RA then but I'm sure the general process is the same). They're not there to try and "catch you out" or anything but to check how your condition affects your ability to work and recommend any changes the employer should make. One that I saw a few times wrote that my symptoms should be noted as being covered by DDA to make it harder for my employer to get shot of me or treat me unfairly. They recommended that the Access to Work people provide special equipment to help me in my daily tasks and said my employer should adjust my shifts so I could work earlier hours as I found it easier and stopped them expecting me to hit tough targets when I was having a flare. I found that they were very unhappy with unsympathetic employers and felt they were genuinely on my side. Hope this makes you feel a bit less anxious - just tell it like it is to get the help you need. Pat x

[HorsemadJo in reply to mistymeana]

Thankyou for your reply....are you still working?

[mistymeana in reply to HorsemadJo]

Took redundancy nearly two years ago as I was finding working full time really tough when my former employer (BT) moved my job away to another city and gave redeployed me to a call centre which was very target-driven. Got to the point where I was either going to have to fight under DDA laws, which the union wanted me to do, or leave. Decided my health was more important than my wealth. I now work two days a week, which I can just about manage.