Went to see a new doctor last Wednesday. I decided I had all the diagnosis I wanted but needed someone who knew what I had and how to handle it. Now Dr. Merrill is an awesome doc so don't think I am dissing him but he himself said he didn't know what else he could do for me and advised me to see a neurologist. Now Dr. Merrill referred me to Dr. Kershen who isn't a stupid doctor he is just a very opinionated one and decided that there wasn't anything neurologically wrong with me and that Dr. Merrill could handle my Fibromyalgia and CFS! Well, hmmmm...I am glad he didn't want to take me on as a patient!
The doctor I went to see Wednesday is Sanobar Malik MD. Dr. Malik is a rheumatologist and immunologist that trained at King Edward Medical University in Lahore, Pakistan and at the University of Oklahoma. I really like that Dr. Malik is soft spoken and she very holistically approached what my symptoms were and why I felt this way or that. By the time I left her office I felt like I had had the third degree and that she hadn't left a stone unturned. I didn't feel like I had been talked down to or made to feel like I was a crock of contradictions and she didn't once say that didn't make sense or demean my answers. I was happy to hear that she wasn't going to change any medications until she had some tests results back and the only drug she added was a sleeping pill, Ambien, to the list of drugs cause she said I can't go without good sleep. I hate the medication changes cause they wreak havoc with my system until I get used to them. I was impressed that she didn't tell me that if I lost weight, exercised more, or did this or that that I could improve my situation. I was impressed that she didn't offer any stop gap diagnoses or attempt to WOW with me her intelligence. I felt I was sitting there visiting with a friend.
Dr. Malik gave me a list of different lab tests that I had to have drawn at least 3 weeks before my next visit on August 5th. I went in on July 5th and had them drawn to make sure they are all back. There must have been 25 tests or more listed on the paper. It took 11 of the big tubes and 2 of the small ones and me peeing in a bottle to get them all covered. WOW! I sure hope she finds what she is looking for in that mess cause I think the next step is a spinal tap! I am not looking forward to that. I am a whiner when it comes to my spine and needles.
If you have CFS/ME or Fibromyalgia you know how relieved I felt when I left her office. I feel the same with Dr. Merrill because he knows me but everyone else I have had to deal with since I have become sick looks at me and immediately jumps to the conclusions that I am lazy, overweight, whiner that really doesn't have anything wrong with me. I hope that she finds out what is wrong and causing the FM and CFS and can treat it so I get rid of some of the never ending pain. I have been having such headaches this past couple weeks I spend most of my time in bed or on the couch cause I just can't function on the pain meds. The pain pills work well for the osteoarthritis and the headaches but not the FM or CFS. Wonder why. Till next time...
2 comments:
Oh Vickie, I'm so glad you've got such a lovely doctor! It makes all the difference in the world for those of us who suffer from these awful conditions which are so complicated, and which half the medical profession doesn't recognise... It is refreshing to hear of someone being treated with respect by their doctor. So often they go for the "quick fix" of "lose weight and stop making a fuss" - they don't realise how hard it is to keep one's weight down when one cannot take the exercise needed to maintain a lower weight.
Many pain meds don't work for us because the pain is neurological. I'm currently suffering a recurrence of a weird symptom in one leg which feels like neuritis, with tingling, numbness, stabbing pains, cold sensations and aching. Nothing touches it! This is how my illness first manifested itself in Dec. 2006 and it tends to come and go, but it's horrendous again atm!! I try to keep myself distracted and count my blessings, in order to take my mind off it!!
I go to Dr. Malik as well, it was so refreshing to find a doc that didn't act as though I was faking. She was so soft spoken and gentle that although she did check my tender points I didn't feel as though I'd been mauled.
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