FRUSTRATION! There are times in which I wish my concern for my patients was not so overwhelming. As a doctor I have been told my feeling for my patients health conditions needs to be tempered. I’ve never taken my patient’s health or their treatment lightly. I get my emotional highs and satisfaction from seeing my patients improve. That is why after working with fibromyalgia patients since 1990 and achieving so much success I find it so frustrating to see patients accept failure so easily.
Most, if not all patients that come into my clinic that have been diagnosed with fibromyalgia are frustrated, confused, emotionally spent and defeated. When patients attend fibromyalgia group meetings they come back frustrated by the negativity shown and discussed at these gatherings. It also concerns me about some of the far fetched cures that are shared at these meetings. Don’t get me wrong. I’m all for the sharing of knowledge. It’s important to know that you’re not alone in your struggle to find answers for this most misunderstood disease. What concerns me is the waste of time and money on unproven and at times inflammatory and exacerbating suggestive cures. What might work as a temporary placebo for one may cause a caustic reaction to others.
Recently I spoke to a cardiovascular surgeon concerning fibromyalgia. He has had to treat fibromyalgia patients for heart conditions. Thus far there is no direct relationship between these two conditions. In our discussion, the surgeon was sincerely interested in the history and multifaceted symptomatology of fibromyalgia patients. When I introduced our treatment protocol and its basis from Dr. St. Amand, M.D. from UCLA, his response was positive yet questioning as to whether or not fibromyalgia patients accepted the program. My response was apparently what he expected. Even though the protocol has proven successful for thousands of patients that follow the program, it is still not well accepted.
As with my fibromyalgia patients, most of them come in frustrated and defeated from years of false hopes and empty promises. So when a successful program is available, fibromyalgia patients have already accepted failure even though a successful return to health is at hand.
For myself, I will not allow my frustration deter me from my drive to assist as many fibromyalgia patients as possible by introducing them to this decades long successful treatment program.
