Doctors come and Doctors go

Today I gained a new doctor and lost another.  This morning I got a phone call from the neurology group that the doctor, who only 3 weeks ago, excitedly told me that she thought she could help me, that she did not believe I had fibromyalgia and she was confident she could make a difference for the better.  The phone call informed me that she was no longer with the neurology group and I needed to reschedule with the physician's assistant so I could be evaluated and assigned to a different doctor.  Caught off guard by this development, I rescheduled but later decided that I am going to call back and cancel as I was not impressed with the other 2 doctors in the group and I honestly think it's time to scale back on both doctors and medications.

Today was finally the day to visit the psychiatrist, an appointment I made about 6 months ago.  An appointment that was almost cancelled 2 weeks ago because the insurance company hasn't paid the doctor since January.  In January, Blue Cross Blue Shield of Florida sold their mental health portion to a company called New Directions who has been dragging their feet and making excuses on paying claims.  So the doctor's office called 2 weeks ago and wanted to either cancel my appointment or reschedule me for August, this was after already waiting 6 months!  All my doctors recommended that I see a psychiatrist, and honestly I wanted him to review my medications.  So after calling my husband Tony in tears, he spent the day on the phone and even spoke to one of the big guys and they assured us they'd pay.  As of today, they still haven't paid other claims but hopefully they will pay mine.  If not, they'll be getting an ear full from Tony again!

Anyway, the meeting with the psychiatrist didn't go the way I imagined.  There wasn't a whole lot of talking about my feelings.  He was shocked I was functioning at all based on all the medications I'm taking.  And furthermore, he said several of my medications were at such low doses that it was pretty much a waste to be taking them.  So the plan we came up with was to stop taking 3 medications right off the bat tonight, start weaning myself off another one slowly and replace them with another stronger medication used to treat chronic nerve, muscle and joint pain.  So he can pretty much manage all my medications except the pain meds.

And he's located a lot closer than my other doctors which is good, I'm getting tired of driving an hour and a half one way for appointments.  I guess I should go ahead and find other doctors close by.  I'll still go back to the ankle surgeon if and when that comes up again but I guess I'll wait another year before checking on it.  That's the problem with chronic pain in my ankle.  I constantly worry is it nerve pain or is there something wrong with the bone again?  I can't keep having MRIs every few months but I can't totally ignore it either.

So the conventional treatment saga continues...I know I can't continue taking all these medications long term so I need to get busy exploring alternative treatments and I need everybody's prayers.  I just want this pain nightmare to end!