I have migraine disease and fibromyalgia, along with interstitial cystitis. I went to the neurologist for a follow-up on the first two Thursday. I had the appointment for 3 p.m., but I always need to call ahead because he's often running behind. I was told to come at 4 p.m. My husband took me to the appointment and we sat through all of "Ellen" in the waiting room. We got back to a room around 5:15-5:20 p.m. and didn't see the doctor until 6 p.m. By then, the doctor seemed sluggish, his eyes were closing while we talked, and my husband noticed there were long pauses in our exchange that drove him nuts.

The take-aways that made me upset the next day were that he told me I was a high-strung individual, wound tightly and needed to get rid of stress. How he got that is beyond me because I don't see him that often (maybe 4 to 6 months apart). I am medically retired from work and told him I am in bed most of the day because of the pain, nausea and exhaustion. My husband misunderstood the words "high-strung" and "wound tightly" to mean: worry wart. I did admit I come from a long line of worriers. Who wouldn't worry when you're 39 and you had to medically retire at 38 because you have uncontrolled headaches, migraine and this stinkin' illness known as fibromyalgia?

That was the first part though. My student loan carrier wanted me to have the doctor fill out paperwork to discharge my loan. They won't accept that I receive an annuity from the government medically retiring me. They see that like social security, not an income. The paperwork for it has a statement the doctor signs, saying I am unable to work and earn money in any capacity, any field because of injury or illness that is expected to continue indefinitely or result in death. The doctor won't sign it because I could get better down the road and work again, and that statement and the next which says I have a total and permanent disability would be wrong. He said with "if-y" illnesses like mine it's too difficult to say for sure I will have them permanently. "If-y" illnesses.

I walked away with the feeling that my stress and high-strung personality, if I even have one, are causing the symptoms. At the same time, during that same visit, all the symptoms I told him were fibromyalgia. One could deduce that the doctor thinks it's a "nervous illness," and yet he gave me a booklet about it that says it's "not in your head." Complete polar opposites.

That said I was given a medication, Savella, for the fibromyalgia that could interact with Relpax and cause serotonin syndrome, a major side effect. I can try it and see if I get this syndrome the next time I get a migraine, or since it's not going to work to prevent the blasted headaches or migraines anyway, not take it. I opt for the latter, and I really need to bite the bullet and take myself to the Cleveland Clinic to see a doctor who specializes in migraine treatment, fibromyalgia and women's health issues that I found while searching their headache clinic.