[nw31705]

I find it so sad that no one believes us when we say that we are in pain. I went into a physicians office with evidence that I was in pain; my foot was cold, discolored and as the nurse placed temp probes on it I screamed that it hurt. He ignored all of that and proclaimed that the pain I was experiencing is idiopathic and I am just depressed. Can someone explain to me why if an x-ray doesn't say that my foot isn't broken then there's nothing wrong with it; its all in my head. You mean to tell me that I wake up screaming and crying in the middle of the night on fire and it's all in my head. The minute I walked through the door he had already made up in his mind what he thought about me; so no matter what he saw it was going to be all in my head; therefore sometimes seeing really is not believing. I know that the pain I feel each second of every minute is real so I don't need some over paid physician to tell me that.

[alt1268]

Nw,

That has to be heart breaking and just enough to **** you off. My suggestion would be to find another doctor that specializes or is at least familar with RSD. My pcp openly admits he knows very little about rsd, but when he saw my toes he openly admitted it was from the RSD. now I am dealing with arm and back issues, so we will rule out everything else before saying its rsd.
Again, I'm sorry you even wasted your time on a closed minded dr. Don't give up though. We are all here for you.

[catra121]

Oh...I am SO sorry! It is so frustrating when we see doctors like this...you NEED to see another doctor. This is totally unacceptable. Doctors are not supposed to ignore the complaints of their patients and sorry...but even if it WERE all in your head...that doesn't make it any less real. I am muttering a lot of really not nice things right now as I think of this whole thing...it really gets me riled up.

Do not let them ever make you doubt yourself or think that you are going crazy. RSD is REAL...the pain is REAL...and it is important to find a physician who will work with you to help you through this. It took me a while to find a doctor that I have a good relationship with who has been able to help me with my RSD problems. She's not an RSD expert but she has seen it before and she has never once belittled me or my symptoms. We've been able to work together to come up with ways to control my symptoms and to get the function back (well...a lot of it anyway) and we continue to fight this thing together.

I hope you find a good doc soon to help you. I get so angry when I hear any stories like yours. I wouldn't wish RSD on anyone but sometimes I just wish those doctors could know what it was like to be in so much pain and sit in a room with a doctor who tells you it is all in your head.

We're here for you anytime you need to vent. I know it makes me feel so much better just to get things like this off my chest. If I didn't know that there were other people out there going through the same things as me I might have been convinced I was truly going crazy.

[alaska49]

Its never easy to be told in its head, my doctor was like some get a sicky of the head. I have seen over 187 doctors in 13 states and 35 tretaments. Half of which and my family believed I needing to be put in a mental ward. I would definitly look for a doctor that can helped. I actually am from Alaska and moved here just for tretament.

[nw31705]

Sometimes I truly believe some doctors say it is in our heads because they themselves don't know how to help us so to keep from seeming incompetent they take the easy way out. Thanks everyone for the support.

[Imahotep]

In most cases I doubt it's so much we aren't believed as it is there's no sympathy. All people know pain and most have to deal with it. It's hard for someone who isn't familiar with RSD to understand that this pain is just different. It not only tends to be much more intense but it is much more difficult to ignore and it changes you. It becomes a part of who you are. When a doctor doesn't believe the pain then it's time to consider a new doctor. It's difficult to find any who really understand but many of them are familiar with the course of the disease and familiar with what patients go through. It's hard to expect any person to really understand when I don'yt really understand it myself.

[cindi1965]

Those of us who have been on the RSD rollercoaster know exactly how you feel...change doctors...fast...I am one of the lucky ones whose GP diagnosed me first...that is sooo rare, but because of him I can function with the meds he gives me and he helped me get my SSDI...hang in there and don't stop fighting....only fighters can endure the pain we go through...RSD is not for sissies!!!!