Washington Doctors

I didn't think I was leaving a state with terrible health care for one with just bad health care. At least my bad health care is covered. I get to drive all over the place for no good reason, but it's covered. Dental is not covered, however. Maybe WA will be the new Arkansas with all the rotted or otherwise missing teeth we will have.

I guess I thought a good doctor handled health issues. Here in WA, doctors don't like treating anything other than common colds and maybe the flu, maybe some sprains but you won't get any pain medicine for the pain the sprain causes.

I don't know how to get out of this trap. Will someone please tell me about a doctor in WA that can handle the issues within fibromyalgia? I am so very frustrated with everything I have to go through. The office I have to go to doesn't treat pain -I had to be referred to the Pain Clinic, they don't treat psychiatric issues (I have a lot of anxiety because of what I have to put up with and all the people that don't think I am in or should be in the pain I deal with) -I had to be referred but the referral shouldn't have happened or something-I don't understand-but I have to see someone in the office who tells someone else about me and after a month or so I might get to see a psychiatrist for the medicine I should already have.

The pain clinic said they don't see people like me with fm and so much pain and lethargy. She also told me I need to exercise more. That is a good indication that she doesn't know the condition. If I could move I would. I am very active. I love getting exercise in any way I can make it happen. So I get to beat myself up for being in pain, for my muscles not working how I need them to work, and I get to wish none of it were here so I wouldn't have to drive to different offices so much instead of just seeing one doctor and one that gets it. To "get it" doesn't mean to understand my point of view, it can include that, but it means to be okay if you don't understand. To know the issue is there and it is real even though you haven't dealt with something like it is what it means to "get it."

I left the pain clinic and had to go back because the doctor/nurse practitioner doesn't give out the prescription. I thought it was in the paperwork she handed me. She never said to stop by the front desk. I got all the way home to the local pharmacy and had to drive all the way back to the office to get the script. Tramadol. The pharmacist said she doesn't know why the NP prescribed it because of another medication I am on. The side effect with the two can be irritability and flu-like symptoms. But that's what I need to fix, not add to. I'm irritable because of all the pain I go through which can be described as flu-like. She also said it can raise my temperature. Once again, something I need to not do. I'm already hot most of the time. I need to not heat up so I don't get migraines and so I don't retain water. (I learned this past week that my migraines might be caused by, or maybe aided by, water retention.....They go away when I stop retaining water.)

I'm not searching for narcotics and pain medicine. I'm searching for someone or a team of people that will work with me to run tests (I've brought it up but no one seems to want to double check that I do or don't have fibromyalgia). If I'm not supposed to be in the pain I am in, then why aren't we looking scientifically at my body? Why aren't we looking into how my nerves work? What about hormones and the levels at their highest and lowest? What about vitamins and everything else that should be working properly? Why don't we want to know what is going on inside me? 

I can't take it any more. I'm tired of being in pain, I'm tired of being passed off, I'm tired of going here and there to not receive help, I'm tired of not being heard and being lost in the crowd. I am unique. As a patient, I offer knowledge and collaboration that can be learned from and/or passed on. Someone please help me!