CFS specialist
2006-04-19 18:54![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
flexibeastYesterday ![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
naked_wrat and i went to see the CFS specialist who we've been waiting to see for months (apparently his next available appointment for occasional patients is in November!). Thankfully, it went really well - in many ways, it felt like the opposite of our experience with 'Z':
As i've said to a few people off-LJ, the contrast between Z. and Y. is quite startling: i paid Z. ~$170 (~$80 of which i got back on Medicare) to be treated like an imbecile, lectured to on gender identity, and given very little practical advice about dealing with CFS; whereas with Y., i was treated with respect, genuinely listened to, given practical recommendations for managing my CFS which in no way involved my gender identity - and was bulk-billed for it (i.e. i paid nothing)!
So Y. has asked me to check in with him again in about six weeks' time - and i'll be more than happy to oblige. :-)
naked_wrat and i went to see the CFS specialist who we've been waiting to see for months (apparently his next available appointment for occasional patients is in November!). Thankfully, it went really well - in many ways, it felt like the opposite of our experience with 'Z':- The specialist - who i'll refer to as 'Y' - had a substantially different vibe about him; Z. had a definite air of condescension that i didn't sense from Y.
- Y. took the time to let me explain how things had been; then asked me to clarify, and elaborate on, a few things; then made several suggestions and recommendations. At no point did he feel the need to discuss my estrogen intake, despite my referral letter informing him that i am actually on hormones.
- Y. made no claims about 'curing' my CFS - only managing it. He gave me a copy of a letter that a celebrity with CFS had sent to one of Y.'s patients: a celebrity who had spent ~$150,000 travelling around the world looking for The Cure. The celebrity in question basically said "There isn't a cure for CFS. If there was, we'd know about it."
- Y's recommendations in terms of managing my CFS focused on routines in terms of sleeping, exercise and diet. Basically at the moment, i have no routines in these areas; he told me that it was important to slowly work at establishing some. "Slowly" because the processes involved in managing CFS are very slow - "pathetically slow", as he joked - and trying to take things too quickly simply exacerbates the problem.
As i've said to a few people off-LJ, the contrast between Z. and Y. is quite startling: i paid Z. ~$170 (~$80 of which i got back on Medicare) to be treated like an imbecile, lectured to on gender identity, and given very little practical advice about dealing with CFS; whereas with Y., i was treated with respect, genuinely listened to, given practical recommendations for managing my CFS which in no way involved my gender identity - and was bulk-billed for it (i.e. i paid nothing)!
So Y. has asked me to check in with him again in about six weeks' time - and i'll be more than happy to oblige. :-)
