NO SUPPORT FROM GP.

[PAULINE15]

I feel let down by my GP, if I say I'm finding it tough she says that fibro is patient managed, she has offered pain management clinic, but I work full time as store manager, I have an elderly mother and other family stress, so I feel I just can't fit in any more,she has chaged my meds 3 times but when I ask for them to be changed or upped I feel I'm being a pain, my husband has retired and is very good or I would have to give up, it is not possible for me to go part time and from what I hear from you on here benefits are so hard to get, thanks to you all I don't feel too alone.

[anbuma]

same here.my gp wont recognize my symptoms and if it wasn't for the guys here I would feel the same.-get answers my doctor doesnt give me.

[PAULINE15]

She diagnosed it 2 years ago and sent me to the hospital for confirmation I'm going to see someone else next time.

[Hidden]

I agree to some extent about patient management ...pacing recognising your limits and relaxation do indeed help but not everyone has the luxury of being able to do these things due to the stress and work of family etc... The hardest thing to do with fibro is work full time so you are going to need meds to help if you can't reduce your hours or give up work completely, referral to a pain clinic is a good idea not all pain clinics offer courses that you wouldn't be able to attend due to work... I have almost constant muscle spasms in my neck and shoulder and have three monthly injections at my pain clinic which help greatly.. Seeing another GP s always a good idea if you feel your GP isn't being very supportive

Fingers crossed

VGx

[LindseyMid]

Becoming an expert patient is often vital to getting control of Fibro symptoms but that does not mean that you do not need help & support from medical professionals. No-one else can refer you or write prescriptions, after all!

Has your GP asked the PM clinic if she can refer you for an appointment there, rather than a course that would be impossible with work?

The 'Becoming an Expert Patient' articles on the link below may be of interest:

fibroaction.org/Pages/learn...

[lavenderheart]

Same here !!!!!!! I'm so desperate I'm going to write to the other gps in town see if anyone else would be more helpful - I had to close my business in 2010 as I simply couldn't do it anymore I've never had a day off sick siNce 1990 and had to ask gp for sick note when I sent it off DWP say as I'm self employed I'm not entitled to anything despite paying my nat ins since I was 16 !!!!!!!!!!!!! So I'm not allowed to be ill ..........I've done the pain management thing and basically its just designed to tell you tough this is it this is what you've got accept it and adjust your life but then there is no help out there to actually adjust your life - my gp keeps forcing antidepressants on me on another lot again which are keeping me awake so I'm even more exhausted than usual but hey if she wants me to try them for a month I will !!!!!! She has also forced me to self refer to cognetive behaviour therapy another waste of NHS funds - I have done tons of my own research and the cause is mitochondrial dysfunction ie your energy cells don't function correctly but my gps keep poo pooing it off cos its not widely available within the NHS yet if the NHS put all the funds they are spending on meds and treatments on each of us that do little to actually get rid of it into this kind of research we might actually get somewhere .............I am very miffed with the whole thing at the moment - I hope you find something of help x x

[phlebo123]

Like very grumpy says your G P is correct when saying fibromyalgia is patient managed. Your G P has offered to refer you to pain management so she is offering you one of the best treatments that is currently available to help fibromyalgia patients, so you should consider attending this clinic. Your employers should allow you time off work to go (similar to a doctor's/hospital appointment) to the pain clinic. In the meantime I would suggest looking at a booklet called the Pain Toolkit -- which I have found helpful in managing my symptoms -- paintoolkit.org The only other option that your doctor has is to prescribe more painkillers which only "mask" or dull the pain and is not a cure!!! Hope this helps xx

[PAULINE15]

it's not just about meds, it's listening, when I went yesterday about something else I just asked if I could up my meds myself when needed as I'm in a flare up right now, she didn't pick up on it and ask why I was in a flare up, it was " think your on the max a day" but then checked her mims and said I could take another one a day if needed, sometimes it's just knowing that they care and hear what you say.x

[irisjoy]

I understand what you mean , they listen but don't hear what you are saying

i dread going to GPs now as all the ones who have followed my progress have left

so i have just been putting in for repeat prescriptions but i will have to go soon

i am an optomist so hopefully they will be understanding

[PAULINE15]

yeah, fibro gives you so many pains people just can't understand, so we need our GP to understand and say yes that is part of fibro.

hope you're all having a low pain day.x

[Plumcake]

My crappy rotten GP lost me my DLA by lying. the stress I went through, I never got it back after the tribunal that nearly killed me. i live alone and have no family nor friends to helop, so have to cope with it ALL.

not easy but I've done it. since then i've changed surgeries with much aggro. now the great GP has left and now I got a choice or bad not so bad or worse.

I've got a terrible sore split tongue and the rest of mouth is painful too, she never even looked in it. Nor at the rash i had when taking citalopram which I've now stopped.

NHS is useless in our case.

It is all too easy for docs to say it's down to Fibro, often it is NOT. I have had so many blood test for Thyroid and they all come back ok, but the range is wrong. There is a book called the Great Thyroid ~Scandal by Dr. Barry Peatfield.

Hope you get some relief.