I have been to a Rheumatologist and was diagnosed with Fibromyalgia. Since then that doctor moved to another state and I was left be treated by my family doctor. Not a problem. A few weeks ago my family doctor sent me to a Neurologist due to migraines. Come to find out this Neurologist also specializes in Fibromyalgia. I'm wondering if anyone knows what the difference is being treated by a Neurologist or a Rheumatologist for Fibro? I'm fine being treated by my family doctor, plus he's taking care of my FMLA. I'm just wondering what the treatment difference would be.
Hello Ambien Girl!,
Good to hear from you again, and a subject I see repeated frequently on here. Not sure I can give you the answer, but here goes! Also, I should mention, I am from UK, so it might be different if u in USA.
Hopefully, whoever you are treated by, it will be the same. It helps if that medical person is interested in/ beleives in/ is well-informed in our tricky condition. As (from what I understand) not everyone with Fibro gets migraines,( I don't), p'raps Doc thought it best for this particular aspect of condition. I know in UK us Fibro warriors are usually referred to Rheumatologist, he doesn't do a great deal, just refers back to Doc. Please let us know how you get on.
Take care, Anne
Hi Ambien girl,
As they are defined by the oxford dictionary: a Rheumatologist deals with conditions like "rheumatism, arthritis, and other disorders of the joints, muscles, and ligaments.." a Neurologist deals with conditions "having to do with the anatomy, functions, and organic disorders of nerves and the nervous system". So I would say a Neuro deals with a broader range of things.
I was diagnosed by a Rheumy, and saw him for several years until all he was doing was checking me once a year for Lupus. I started up with a new family doctor and she has been helping me with the Fibro, but I have also been seeing a Neuro for about 15 years, whom I can't say enough good things about! His daughter joined the practice as a PA (she also has Fibro), I see her now, and she and my family doctor are trying to deal with it with me.
If you have migraines, a neuro is the one to see. I have had them since I was 5; they are fairly under control now. In the past He has seen me for my bad back too. My family doc took that over.
I hope I helped. Good Luck,
Kimmy
I personally have found the someone in Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation is the best bet for treating fibro.They keep changing their minds about what fibro really is, how it works, and how best to treat it, so we've been shuffled around from one specialty to another. If you find a rheumy who is willing to treat your fibro and you feel safe with them, then stay there. Same for Nuero - although my personal opinion is that nuerologists don't like dealing with cases like ours where there are just no clear cut answers for everyone, but YMMV of course.
I was diagnosed with fibro by my family doc. I had trouble controlling it without pain meds so he sent me to a Rheumatologist.
My Rheum doc send me to a behavioral therapist to learn coping strategies, and a physical therapist to teach me how to stretch and strengthen my body without overdoing it and producing a flare. But he felt I needed more medication that would need the DEA tracking programs so he sent me to a neurologist who does pain management. The pain doc/neurologist was already doing pain mngmt for some of his neuro patients so was willing to take on others. He needs his patients to do a urinalysis 4 times a year to prove they are not getting additional meds elsewhere or taking stuff he is not prescribing. I live in Colorado and he is okay with me adding marijuana but I'm allergic to the stuff and wouldn't want to depend on something I cannot travel with anyway.
In the "getting a diagnosis/ good doctor stage" I went to another neurologist who advertised he does pain management but only if you allow him to do spinal steroidal injections quarterly. The spinal injections do not help me (I tried them once) so I refused to pay for such an expensive procedure after that.
Try them all and go with the one who gives you the best help, who actually listens to you and explains what can and cannot be done to help you. Sometimes that's your family doctor and sometimes it's someone else.
I found working with a behavioral therapist helpful and should've stayed with her, maybe every other month. I still use the exercises I learned from the physical therapist. The pain management doc is a monthly appointment where he gives me opiates such as MS Contin (morphine sulfate) and Norco. I get the antidepressant, the Duloxetine, the Neurotin, and others (Metformin for diabetes) from my family doctor. I need to see him every so often to get my A1C blood test for my type 2 Diabetes anyway.
Good luck on your quest for a good doc. If you are near a university health center, they sometimes have excellent Chronic Pain clinics.
hi all
i am at a neuroligist in pretoria - South Africa and she is awesome. she diagnosed me with cidp and is treating me for
the firbo. also she had the help of my house gp and he is also one of the caring drs that does everything in his power to help
i am atleast once a week in the drs rooms for advise or change of meds.
its true if they care stick to them cause they will take the effort to help you and do what they can to make you feel better
I think, for fibro anyway, it has more to do with the doctor’s bedside manner than their specialty. Obviously, it is a benefit to have the neuro manage the migraines, but for the fibro go to the doc who provides the best care, makes you feel comfortable, and stays up on their research. I usually see my specialists only a few times a year and then have my family practitioner carry out any instructions provided by my specialists.
I've been to both and find the neurolgist is more helpful. The rheumatologists I've tried 3) are great for testing and diagnosis but only wrote prescription after prescription and sent me on my way.
I don’t think there would be much difference in treatment. The reason both rheumatologists and neurologists are treating fibromyalgia lies in the recent realization that fibromyalgia is actually a neurological disease rather than a disease of muscles/tendons/joints. But since rheumatologists have been doing the diagnosis and treatment of fibromyalgia for decades, they are very knowledgeable. But you can’t go wrong with the neurologist, he may have the most up-to-date tools to treat you. Since you are already seeing the neurologist for migraines, and he is fibromyalgia specialist, I would definitely stay with him.