I went to my 2nd neurologist today and he seemed so much better than the 1st one I had. Although the first one I had did order a brain MRI, he didn't do anything to follow up on anything else after the brain MRI came back normal. He kept talking about deficiencies but never did lab work to confirm it, and never focused on my symptoms. After my 3rd visit with him, I decided that I better think about switching because this was going nowhere, fast, and all it was doing was driving me crazy, and racking up bills with my insurance. So my orthopedic surgeon referred me to my new neuro, and he immediatley decided to do a whole lot of blood work, he says he doesn't think I have MS (hes a MS specialist) but that he really thinks I have fibromyalgia because of all of my pain and all of the other symptoms I have and since I had a normal MRI but also a doctor in the past had mentioned fibro, he said it was more of a possibility. He wrote me a consult for a rhumatologist, and gave me a lab slip for my blood work. I am so happy. I mean, not so happy to find out I probably have fibro, but to finally have a doctor who doesn't think it is "all in my head", because the 1st neuro said something that I went back to my therapist with, and he said it was a nice way of saying my pain was "in my head" and thats not fair. I mean, that doctor isn't in my body, or in my head or anything and doesn't know what I feel.
Anyway, its great to have a nice neuro, and to have someone finally listen to me. I am just concerned about treatment now, my fatigue is probably my most bothersome symptom, I have deal with the pain all the time, but the fatigue affects my family, and I have bipolar disorder and am concerned about the drugs they use for the fatigue portion. The neuro wants to give me samples of Provigil, but I am not sure how that will affect my mood. Also, I am concerned about Lyrica, which was another drug he mentioned, but said it could make my fatigue worse. I guess when I get to the rhumatologist, they can help me out better, but I just want to function better with my family, so now I guess we will see where we go from here. Does anyone know much about the side effects personally of Provigil or Lyrica? Any info would be helpful, I have looked at the website but was wondering about personal experiences.
Thanks!
Helen