Please tell me how you deal with the health of the rest of your body - the part that doesn't have rsd/crps?

About a month ago I started having numbness on the left side of my face. I blamed rsd/crps because I blame it for everything now. After 2 weeks, at my next pm visit, I told her about the numbness. She said we'll address it at the next visit (3mos later). I started to wonder if I had a tumor or something so I went to my PCP. He had me get a brain scan and found mastoiditis, an infection in the mastiod bone behind my ears. Apparently, I've had bilateral ear infections for some time. Left untreated, the infection traveled to the mastiod and could have spread to the entire skull and then the brain.

So, the wonderful Lyrica that lets me function by taking away the pain in my hand, also masks the pain in other parts of my body. Normally, I would have had pain in my ears, or dizziness telling me to go to the doctor. Now I have a nasty infection to deal with.

What experiences have you all had like this? Do you go to the doctor more often just for check ups?

Sally