this is me falling apart...what can you tell me?

as you may remember from my last post, i had seen my pain management doc as a starting point and was scheduled to see my surgeon next due to all of my issues i've been having.

up to this point, my surgeon has been great and i've loved him. today, i brought him a detailed list of all issues i've been having since switching to the FemRing. he took a glance at the list and said the following...

none of this has anything to do with the surgery or the hrt. weight gain has nothing to do with hrt. estrogen has nothing to do with your psych/mood issues or skin issues. the FemRing balances ph so would actually lessen infections so your yeast infections claim is unfounded. i believe that your claims of chronic pain are psychological and unrelated to previous hysterectomy, Adenomyosis, cancer, or current hrt. i think you just need a good therapist. i tried to call you to tell you not to bother with this visit when i saw the note of your call. i thought you'd be easy.

i spoke to my pain doc afterward who told me that he's (the surgeon) is clearly insane, but who also informed me that the belief is that i have fibromyalgia, which is very common in someone with my rebroductive history and pain issues. i have no idea about this disease. but i'm freaked out, i'm in constant pain and no one is giving me any pain meds right now. except for things which aren't helping me. and are making me gain weight at a rapid pace.

i don't want to be this person. and i have no idea what's going on anymore. and my gynecologist told me that moods, headaches, weight gain, skin issues, and the ilk have nothing to do with not having reproductive organs and being on HRT - without taking any blood (he resolutely refused to check ANY levels), and told me that my pain was in my head. uhm...yeah, i just said i had a migraine headache. clearly there is pain in my head.



then he told me that estrogen had nothing to do with my skin flaking and i told him he could say that to me again the next time he got a ****ing period and he said 'you're getting a stead stream of estrogen with the femring in your blood rich vagina' like he's god incarnate and i said 'what about testosterone and progesterone and lipids and proteins and all the other hormones/etc that were regulated on my cycle and he said, 'estrogen is primarily responsible for skin' and i said 'but you just said all of this is completely unrelated' and he goes 'oh well maybe you do need some (finger quotes in air) suzanne somers bioidentical do a lot of work to get to the same place i'm taking you right now check your levels natural whatever that is hrt, maybe that is exactly what you need, clearly my exact science by the data isn't working for you.

i've tried two things. the vivelle dot and the femring. and never had my levels drawn. is that such a bad thing, am i such a difficult patient?

I unfortunately can't offer you any insight on your medical condition what I can tell you is that you are not a difficult patient.

First off, it's your body and if you don't look out for it no one else will. Without having your health everything else pails in comparison so don't let anyone tell you different.

Second, whether or not you love or hate your dr...the best lesson I learned is go for a second opinion. If it means driving a few hours to a top notch facility or not take the time! If you love your dr, that's great but do yourself a favor and double check what they are telling you. If you hate your dr, then it's easy to go for a second opinion. Perhaps you could find a specialist that could be more of assistant to you.

Thirdly, I love that you dropped the f bomb. First time I saw it on here.....well done. Sometimes no other word will sufice. Hang in there and take care of yourself hyster-sister

Oh girl I would get another opinion!! I know I was constantly in pain and going to my doctor and she told me it was "all in my head" well long story short~after taking myself to the ER and THEY checked me out I was told I was to stay in the hospital and that I was in need of a liver transplant!!! Sooo...Please listen to YOUR body and keep telling all doctors that will listen that you ARE in pain. Do not just give up and live in pain. In the meantime all I can offer you are prayers and cyber 's!!

ahyperbole, I can NOT believe they would talk to you like that!! And I ALSO Can't believe they are administrating HRT without checking your hormone levels... I would assume they would NEED to check them to see what will or won't be working! My skins has been a disaster since my surgery.. my enitre jaw line is dry, bumpy, itchy and flakey. I can't find anythingto help it either. I agree with the other ladies.. you need a second opinion!!! PLEASE try to get one and then give your drs the boot!! No patient should be treated like this!!

yes

kpas - thanks i'm an Fbomb dropper f'real and it's only getting worse the more confused i get, but thanks for offering support and a shoulder. i didn't realize it was uber-anti profanity here, i can't believe how quickly it was censored. women curse. remember that movie 'real women have curves'? i'm going to write a short, 'hormonal women curse'!

itty - i am on a second opinion but i'll be seeing him tomorrow (which is going to be like my 90th in the past 10 years!!) and i am so sorry to hear about your story but hope you are better

df - i couldn't believe it either but believe that i put him in his place without a doubt. this stupid God Complex that society has about doctors just because they go to medical school, i do not subscribe to. i was pre-med, i did Gross Human Anatomy, and i still read the dissertations, the medical research, etc. the thing is, they're not infallible. they've put me on medication and not known the interactions and side-effects, they've made mistakes in surgery. they are not above mistakes. and so just because i don't have MD behind my name doesn't mean that i don't have the right to question him about my body. he acted like he was angry that i was asking him questions about my body.

and then he told me that the pain in my body was all in my head. so yeah. inappropriate. and not allowed.

grrrrr.

and Echo... lol...i'm not sure what you're saying yes to.

	Quote:
Originally Posted by ahyperbole itty - i am on a second opinion but i'll be seeing him tomorrow (which is going to be like my 90th in the past 10 years!!) and i am so sorry to hear about your story but hope you are better

Oh yes I am fine because I didn't give up and kept insisting that SOMEONE check me out and figgure out what was wrong. I was on the transplant list for almost 3 years and transplanted in 2001~have been doing great since!!

I hope someone listens to you and pays attention to your pain. You are in my prayers.

I have had many of the problems that you were talking about and I do have fibromyalgia and I went to many Doctors and some said the same things to me and I had Thyroid problems and with all of that my hair was falling out in handfulls. I thought that I would never know what was going on with me and when they took out my thyroid I felt much better and things started to get better. You know your body better than anyone, so don't let any Doctor say that it is in your head. My body does funny things to me and have many illness at one point I almost died. But, just keep looking for that one Doctor who will look out of the box for you and that is when you will find what is going on. I wish you all the luck and I am here for you...

Keep you chin up and things will work out for you....

Hi Ahyperbole.

I had wondered how you were doing since your last post. I'm glad you're telling the drs. what you think and am glad you'll be seeing a second opinion. I have even considered going to third opinions if I still didn't feel comfortable with either the first or second. One of the positive things about this website for me is that I can take the info. I read about here and have a better idea of what I want to ask my drs. It's not like I'm totally in the dark. At least I have something to go on. I think if I didn't have any idea of what to say or how to ask needed questions, it would make the visit shorter which they would probably like but wouldn't not benefit me.

I hope you start feeling better soon. Remember, it's your body and you know your body better than anyone else out there.

Take care.