Hi Huntress,

I'd recommend taking someone with you who can help to remind you to make the points that you need to make.

You need to let the doctor know if the day of the exam is a good day, bad day, or about avergae for you.

It's up to you to let the doctor know how your dx affects your daily living and WHY you can't work.

If he does a physical exam and you are performing certain tasks, you need to let him know what adds to your pain and your fatigue. If just the process of getting there......having to get up, showered, dressed, etc will mean that you have to rest for x hours or days after this appointment, you have to tell him that.

Don't say that you can't do something that you can technically do.......say that if you did x,y,or z.....your symptoms would be a,b,and c and you would have to do 1,2,and 3 to deal with it.

For example.....I am uncomfortable standing for more than a few minutes. Most days, I can't stand for more than 5 minutes. Today I could, so I got to go to church. Most weekends, I have to skip church or stay sitting when I should be standing or kneeling. A few weeks ago, I went to a concert and ended up standing for over 2 hours. I also had to take double my regular amount of narcotics during that period and over the next 24 hours. I needed a lot of ice packs and had to spend most of the next few days in bed. It was Ringo Starr, so it was soooooo worth it, but I couldn't do that every day.

In an exam, I wouldn't say that I CAN'T stand for more than 5 minutes. I would be careful to say that USUALLY that is my limit before the pain starts getting too bad, but occassionally I can stand for longer.

Explain each answer as much as you need to so the doctor has a better understanding of what he can't see.

Check out the stickied thread http://neurotalk.psychcentral.com/thread120255.html