I recently went to see a pain management doctor, because I am in pain. DUH! His recommendation was that I change my antidepressant medication and take a muscle relaxant.
I called my psychiatrist and asked her what she thought. I take 20 mg of Lexapro per day for depression. I haven't experienced a single side effect from it. I also take Xanax for anxiety and panic attacks. My psychiatrist still does not feel that my depression is under control. She said she was thinking of adding another medication to help me to cope but was certainly not going to put me on a completely different course of antidepressants for pain control, as she treats my mental and emotional health and does not believe antidepressant medications control pain.
I am constantly shocked at the number of doctors who feel that by relieving depression, the pain of your disease will just float away.
I had major lung surgery which was junk surgery. I have a hideous 8-10 inch scar down the right side of my back. The thoracic surgeon cut through nerves, muscle, entered my chest cavity through the 4th intercostal (rib) space with a rib spreader. He then proceeded to remove the right middle lobe of my right lung, supposedly while he was waiting for my tissue samples to come back from the lab. It has never been explained to me why the lobe of my lung was removed. Was this doctor a psychic who could see into the future that one day that lobe would become cancerous? As I've said before, ad nauseam, this surgery was not necessary. Every lymph node, tissue sample, the mass in center of my chest and right middle lobe of lung were all Sarcoidosis.
The resulting pain from the surgery may be with me for the rest of my life. I was also diagnosed with Fibromyalgia back in January. Perfect. Two autoimmune diseases for the price of one.
My pain circles around both sides of my rib cage and then wham, it shoots up my spine. This is, I feel, the result of my surgery and sarcoid.
Fibromyalgia pain is all over, shoulders, down the side of my body and I never walk anywhere without being in pain- legs, lower spine and hips. "Yeah, let's change her antidepressants and with the aid of a muscle relaxant, she'll be all better." Horsesh*t !
The problem with this type of thinking is that it's bass ackwards. If your physicians under treat your pain or depression, the resulting stress on your immune system becomes totally out of control. This sets the stage for inflammation, the reason you got sick in the first place.
There is also a prevailing attitude amongst doctors that I call the "possibility of drug addiction." Are they afraid of losing their medical license for writing too many prescriptions for controlled substances or are they genuinely concerned that a person in moderate to severe pain will become an addict? Let me add here that the possibility of them losing their license is practically nil and once you've made your co-pay and your insurance picks up the rest, I doubt your doc will be up all night worrying that you'll become a junkie.
Pain must be treated as what it is - PAIN. Ask a good doctor and he or she will tell you that a person who is in constant pain does not get better.
Depression must be treated separately as a chemical imbalance in the brain. Pain and depression are not the same thing and treating one but not the other could be as bad as no treatment at all.
Since my diagnosis, I've come to the conclusion that sarcoidosis and some, perhaps all, autoimmune diseases start as the result of some type of stress which creates an imbalance in the body's chemicals. This then leads to a severe type of inflammation in the body and this process combined with your genetics throws your entire immune system into a frenzy, attacking and counter attacking what it perceives is an absolute threat.
Until we find a Doctor of Sarcoidosis, I feel that it is wise for each and every one of us to see the type of Doctor we need at any given time.
If you have pulmonary sarcoidosis, you need a pulmonologist, bladder problems - urologist, etc.,etc. If you are in pain, there must be communication between your Primary Care Physician and your pulmonologist, neurologist or whoever is caring for your sarcoidosis. If they don't believe your pain is real enough to warrant the proper pain medications, fire their a*ses.
Finally, if you even think you're a little bit depressed, get help. I hate to keep harping on this but Sarcoidosis and other autoimmune diseases carry depression in their toxic little damaged cells.
We must make every attempt to cool down the inflammation in our bodies, and by doing so, restoring the chemical balance to our body and thereby regaining our good health.
Be Well and God Bless... JanetG