Tired of the gaslighting

P.S. COVID can reignite the Epstein Barr virus. Blessings.....

P. S. You are right about NSAIDs not really helping with all types of pain. I took so much of it for severe period pain, headaches, and back pain but now have gastritis from taking too much for too long. This can put you at a higher risk of stomach cancer. My recent endoscopy at the end of December was due to newer stomach pain when I wake up in the morning. The biopsies will check for h pylori bacteria and irregular cells to see if further treatment is needed. Doctors don’t really do a good job of helping patients manage pain and warn about the risks of taking too much over the counter pain relievers. I know I took too much because I was not getting help from my doctors and trying to function in life as a single parent. It is really hard to work or do much if you are in constant pain everyday. I now get lumbar spinal injections to help manage my pain and delay the need for surgery to fuse my lumbar L3L4L5S1 together(they want to wait until I am older since it will restrict my movement).

Hey there, @cwitton1. I'm with you and believe 100% wholeheartedly that your pain exists. I believe what you feel and how entirely frustrated you are with your circumstances and the cards you've been dealt. And, I believe you are exhausted, drained and in physical and emotional distress as a whole. What I don't believe however is that you are a quitter. Yes, I believe you want to quit, I believe you feel hopeless and at the end of your rope for the umpteenth thousandth time, BUT I believe that you've got moxie and the tenacity to look deeper into how might you be your best self-advocate.

You say, "No more visits. No more medications." Pulling back, honestly, may not be such a bad thing, providing certain meds and visits aren't medically necessary. I understand and felt the same way after realizing my reliance on doctors to intervene and find ways of helping my chronic pain and all that spiraled from it was just making symptoms worse. Once I began the healing process of grief and loss, and worked on acceptance of chronic pain conditions, I was able to see that it was more my responsibility of learning lifestyle changes which included stress-management, physical conditioning, behavioral and emotional therapies and how to be an active participant in my own pain-management plan. I want hope for you because I remember how bad it sucked to not feel hopeful.

What are your thoughts? Am I off the mark? Do you still feel there are stones left unturned medically, as in acute issues that are being overlooked, or chronic issues that you believe have been misdiagnosed? What do you think still needs to be done to improve your quality of life?

The sad reality is that even the best doctors in the world may not be able to reinvent the wheel and help us any more than their specialty lane allows. Process of elimination, try this med, that procedure or treatment. I agree with some of your points and held my own resentment and disappointment for a while based on failed treatments and ineffective meds, even for Mayo denying me to be evaluated. Rejection is disheartening and lonely. Some doctors lack of bedside manor and don't go the extra mile for their patients, but there are those that do. Here's one doc that I think is exceptional - Mayo's Dr. Sletten. His video on chronic pain may be worth a watch. I'm hoping that you find some validation.

Dr. Christopher Sletten - Central Sensitization Syndrome -

Medical cannabis from a licensed dispensary helped me a lot since 2016. Hth

I am thinking of switching to a functional medicine doctor and diving deep into a diet to relieve inflammation and lose weight. I'm also thinking of HRT to help with my CV health and energy levels.

Will it solve all my problems? No. But I, too, am sick of the abuse.

It does not matter how many labs are significantly off. It does not matter how many diagnosed symptoms you accumulate. Doctors do not listen.

Heck, I have my whole genome sequenced and HLA-B is mess, with many feameshift, stop-gained, insertion, & deletion variants, including several known pathological variants for Behcet's. I have a 5.1 cm ascending aortic aneurysm, diagnosed dry eye, mouth lesions (having biopsy this year), joint pain, ANA repeatedly 1:1280, etc. etc.

I've been through 4 rheumatologists and they were all lazy and condescending.

My aneurysm doc is sending me to a rheumatologist who specializes in vasculitis, appt. is in April. That's my last hurrah with rheumatology. That is a specialty that really wants a diagnosis handed to them on a silver platter.

I tried it but don’t want to vape. The cost of dispensaries is outrageous. I am so glad mj is legal in Mn now.

I love the idea of trying a functional medicine doctor for you. When I was in the PRC -pain rehabilitation program, Dr Sletten referred to "Demo Day" from HGTV's Chip and Joanna Gaines Fixer Upper show, and how sometimes we have to look at what we are doing because if it's not working we may have to rip it all down and try to rebuild. As you've experienced and are seeing in this thread, patients get frustrated with doctors and conventional Western medicine and maybe that's where demo day has to come in. If it ain't working, change it! I think most of us are intelligent enough to realize that we're not going to cure ourselves but what we do hope for is some plateau and stability - a way to manage our overall health and well-being -physically, emotionally behaviorally and chemically. Good luck to you, my friend. Have you begun the search yet for a functional medical Dr.?

Ty for your feedback. Florida is a legal medical state for cannabis. I also don't vape. My thc based and rso used to cost about 30 to 40 dollars monthly. Both were separate purchases. What type of route did you use for your medical cannabis other than vape or smoke? Ty again