I took my daughter with me today to an appointment with my pain management doctor, who does nothing for the pain and usually states "Well, you've tried everything and nothing works, so I think you should go to the Mayo Clinic." So after she said that, I turned to my daughter and said, "Told you so!"
It was then that she asked me if I had any questions. I said yes, that I wanted to try low dose naltrexone to see if that would possibly help me with the pain, as research is favorable for fibro, as well as for other patients like MS, etc. She stated she wasn't aware of that drug, so I asked her if she could please Google it and see all the research and clinical trial results that are posted. She looked at my daughter and me and then said "Sure." (I know she wouldn't have taken the time to do so if it were just me, and of course because I made the comment about told you so!)
She pulled up several articles and read some of the comments out loud and said that this looks like a favorable drug to try with little or no side affects. "Hmm..I never heard of this before!" I said isn't it worth a try at a low dose? She agreed to "go out on a limb" and prescribe it to see if it may work. She said she was going to ask her colleagues if they prescribe it or have seen the trials of the drug. I said to her that her patients would love to be prescribed a drug with little side affects instead of other drugs with lots of side affects! She just grinned.
I can honestly say she wouldn't have taken the time to spend an hour with me AND to do the research right there if my daughter wasn't there. (I had printed out the research articles that crynsugar had posted, but forget them at home!) In the past, I usually got 15 minutes and she would steer me to see an occupational therapist that I saw twice and was really a bunch of crap.(I'm beginning to wonder if she gets a kickback every time she refers someone to her!) She also gave me a lecture about psychiatrists and psychologists and was very negative about me seeing a therapist.
My daughter has been to many doctors appointments with her husband (he has cystic fibrosis) and admitted to me that this doctor was the most condescending doctor she has ever seen! I told my daughter that today ending up being favorable as she was better than most days, all because she was there.
So, if you're having problems with doctors and they just take your money and don't listen to what you say, PLEASE TAKE SOMEONE WITH YOU!!! I won't guarantee it'll work, but it did today and I won't be going alone anymore. Especially on foggy days where I would just give in and complain about it later.
And I learned it all here, folks. I give the credit to all of you, who have shared their knowledge and experiences with each other. THANK YOU SO VERY MUCH!