Tara? Elmo and others are right in some ways….

To get yourself OFF the ‘mental list?’ Go to, but pick your counselor carefully! My docs often ask me if I am ‘depressed’. All I can do is respond w/a ‘DUH?’ WHO WOULDN’T be DEPRESSED going through all these tests, knowing something IS WRONG, getting the occasional brush off, and am yet still getting worse? Wouldn’t YOU! I throw it back into their court, altho, very quietly and factually. As angry as you might be, or frustrated? You ARE following your instincts. You just have to find THE doc who will follow along a constructive path for you! That part is not easy by far.
You almost have to be like ‘Santa’? In creating YOUR list, and checking it twice and being totally consistent in how you report prior and ‘new’ issues.
I was injured this summer? And I truly wish I’d had a personal recorder! So I could simply replay the questions by new docs and just press PLAY! About the 15th time giving your history gets very OLD!
When I first was diagnosed? I was ecstatic! Especially as the very first neuro I’d gotten considered me a ‘drug seeker’! DUH? I hate being on drugs! I guess it was the result of a random comment about one pain killer that had really worked in the past? While my meds list is LONG, very long. Very little of it relates to pain relief. Why? I’ve found that my pain is my gauge as to what all is going on with me! Lidoderm patches and small doses of ultracet are my quota. The brain fog of the ‘pain modifers’ masked my real issues other than the CIDP. THAT can be a scarier thing! Those meds plus the others I was on for other medical issues simply were making things worse. Plain and simple. So, ultimately be as cautiously honest as you can be? Be consistent, bring results of any tests you’ve had before for ALL the different issues and MAYBE, just MAYBE you have a doc who mite be able to connect dots? Keep faith that YOU KNOW you have a problem or problems. You know YOU best?
THE HARDEST thing is to not come across hysterical? Simply quietly scared stupid. That’s how I played it and that is how I was!
I hope this helps you for the long run? I also appreciate that ‘silence’ you get when a doc reads your ‘medical history’! It is dead silence. Along w/a couple of uh-huh’s? When they do it in front of you? Do keep your sense of humor? Because you know you are going to be a ‘challenge’ – and or a ‘hot potato’! Since I fall into both of those categories? I gotta smile when I see those eyebrows furrow! Keep a sense of humor? Docs always like that in a patient? And be stronger than you think about it all. It’s not that hard in the long run, trust me. Hope and faith in yourself!