Those of us with fibromyalgia (FMS) and chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS or ME/CFS) complain plenty about our doctors, and it turns out that they complain plenty about us, too.
My About.com colleague, Patient Empowerment Guide Trisha Torrey, wrote an article on doctors' top complaints, and we came up. Trisha writes:
"Sometimes doctors refuse to see patients out of a belief that a disease doesn't exist. Patients who have been diagnosed with diseases like fibromyalgia or chronic fatigue have been refused treatment by doctors who do not believe those are 'real' diagnoses."
The rest of the article is well worth reading:
Your relationship with your doctor is extremely important to your treatment, and Trisha has written a lot of great articles that could help you make it better:
I recently wrote about the anxiety we face when seeing a new doctor and suggested some ways to break the stereotype that FMS/ME/CFS patients are depressed whiners, and several of you left very thoughtful comments. You can see the post and comments here: Seeing a New Doctor With Fibromyalgia & Chronic Fatigue Syndrome
Sadly, there are times when there's nothing we can do to overcome a problem with a particular doctor. When that happens, it's time to find a new one:
Have you been able to repair a doctor-patient relationship? What helped? Do you think you're a "difficult patient"? Have you changed how you approach your doctor in order to improve things? Help us all learn by leaving a comment below!
Photo © Chris Whitehead/Getty Images
I’m sure that they have some patients who can be quite demanding. However, they are being well paid for their service…and I believe that they sometimes forget that part. I typically treat others the way I would like to be treated.
The last time I visited my PCP, he and his nurse were discussing a prior patient who had lung cancer. They were talking about the fact that she said she could not breathe and it was stated by the nurse “Well no…because you have lung cancer”…as in jest. This lack of compassion is why I ‘fired’ him as my PCP.
As far as being rejected, if they can’t help our illness I would much rather be told that than to be bilked out of my hard earned money for nothing in return.
I know this isn’t really the place for this comment but the featured advertising is inappropriate. This is a site for people with Fibromyalgia and CFS and as such should not have moving icons on the screen. Many people with these conditions have cognitive and vision problems which are exacerbated but images like these.
Rosemary,
You’re right, and it’s an ongoing area of concern for me. Unfortunately, because of the technology involved it’s not a simple issue to resolve, but the higher ups here are aware of the issue and are doing what they can.
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