[Rhiannonsmoon]

I was told for over 20 years I had Fibromyalgia, each year with the flare ups slowly getting worse and worse. Wondering how FM could get so bad?

Then recently I was told it isn't FM its MS. How could this happen? How could I have been misdiagnosed simply because the doctor in NSW had said to me "there is a possibility of one of 2 things; either FM or MS but MS is not worth considering I don't even want to think about it".

Now here I am with this diagnosis having gone through years and years of the worst pain imaginable yet being told the pain is because of the depression or I was addicted to pain killers because of the FM.

Where do these doctors get off being so self inflated and so darned sure? How many lives has this dr ruined and caused so much pain suffering and sickness in?

I'm not angry I'm relieved, but I'm unhappy that I suffered for so many years in agony when I could have had the right medication straight away and not suffered so much.

Please don't get me wrong I know we are all human and make mistakes but this doctor had the blood test results and everything A speckled titre above the +result but because it was only a certain amt past it, they chose to say FM instead. I asked for repeat tests when I started getting worse and having bouts of almost total paralysis and double vision that glasses didn't correct among other things,

Sorry, I'm in pain and I wanted a rant

[racee]

Hey, i know it's a little late (understatement) but i just say your post..better late than never!

How are you doing today....i can feel for you on the yo-yo diagnosis....it can get really hard when you put your trust into someone to help you than they change the game and you feel a little betrayed....how are you supposed to trust a doctor with your care when they don't even know.
Of course people make mistakes...but this is your life and that is why they get the big bucks...and all those years of training.
If only other people cared and thought your lifeis as precious as you think it is...i think we all would be better off.

I think doctors do have good intentions...but somewhere along the way after seeing so many hurt patients and ailments and personalities and such...they tend to lose their spark and get sloppy and don't hold your life as being such.

espessially MS a mri of your brain and usually more than not times you can see that the person has it....not going to say always true becasue when it comes to neuro not everything can be seen under xrays and such...but from my research and knowing people usually you can see it.

I hope things are going better...or at least i should say i hope you are having more good days than bad.

[Ygrec23]

Many doctors just seem to love being decisive and dogmatic. I can't tell you how many utterly ridiculous diagnoses I've received in the past forty years. In the one case that to me at least could have been serious I had it checked out (Hep C - don't have it though), but in the others I did nothing at all and have never, ever been found, ultimately, by any other doctor as actually having the disease: MS, myasthenia gravis, prostate cancer, tuberculosis, mitral valve prolapse, etc., etc.

In those kinds of diagnoses (and I'm no Christian Scientist, I do actually have SOME real diseases) there was just something about the doctor (who in every case I refused to go back to) and something about the pompous way he (it was always a male doctor) pretended to know everything, that made me absolutely sure the diagnosis was nonsense. I would under no circumstances recommend this as a standard course of action to anyone else. If you have a trusted doctor, then trust him or her. If any doctor seems reasonably in touch with reality and aware of his or her own fallibility, I'd trust them. I've just met too many doctors who think they're God, and I'd never trust such a person.

So, Rhiannon, I do understand your anger and your feeling of having been taken for a ride. If I were you, even now, I'd double and triple check that new diagnosis of MS. AND DON'T, FOR THE LORD'S SAKE, TELL THE SECOND AND THIRD DOCTORS THAT THEY'RE SECOND AND THIRD!! If you do, chances are they'll tip in favor of the MS diagnosis without really giving it an independent evaluation, which is what you want.

Take care!

[Leed]

This infuriates me, but I'm not surprised. I've had my own problems with arrogant doctors.

After 2 failed spine surgeries, and having gone back several times to the surgeon because of severe intractable pain, this surgeon kept telling me "You can't have pain because I fixed you!" With that, he just brushed me aside like dirt on the floor!!

Enter the pain management doctor -- I couldn't appear for a steroid injection because my husband DIED - so this doctor FIRED ME. HUH?? Where is the compassion? He left me with NO medication refills, NO explanation, NO referrals. Nothing.

Somewhere along the line, doctors lose their caring and compassion. The Hypocratic Oath says "First, do no harm." They have forgotten that. All of a sudden they just plain do NOT care. I could write a book on how much they do NOT care.

Chronic painers are on their own out there in the world. Doctors should be REQUIRED to yearly take classes on compassion -- it might not do any good, but it might remind them of the oath they took.

And yes, I'm mad.

[racee]

i know not everystate has them and yes they have their bad qualities....but this is why i like kaiser...because your p.m. doctor can't just cut you loose and if you do not like him/her you can go to another one...they can not cut you loose and i hear about that so much form the pain site i belong too. i can feel for people who get put in that position and get treated like drug addicts...there is a difference between dependence and addiction...anyways sorry if i hijacked the thread i just feel very stongly for people that get cut loose from pain clinics when they hurt and are in need and no one wants to help them