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Looking for a CFS/Fibromyalgia Doctor around Seattle Area

Messages
2
I am looking for a CFS/fibromyalgia doctors around the Seattle area. If you know someone who would accept insurance , it would be wonderful. Here are some of my symptoms - Insomnia/Sleep Apnea, Fatigue, IBS , heart palipitations , memory loss. A little about me - I am 41 yrs old Man and have been suffering from these conditions for the last two years. I had to take a break from my job with these conditions. I have two children to support , I have no clue how am I going to recover.

thanks
Jay
 

zoe.a.m.

Senior Member
Messages
368
Location
Olympic Peninsula, Washington
Hi Jay,
I have not found someone in the Seattle area that meets the "takes insurance" part of things. I am seeing Dr. Buscher of Redmond as I can afford. I was able to see an Internal Med doctor in Bremerton who took insurance and had a massive amount of exclusionary testing done and a "million-dollar workup." I don't think it overlapped CFS issues in general though. She also does not believe in CFS in general, but is willing to treat the 'real' illnesses that are a part of it. I will certainly keep my ears open. I found that getting a PCP (most are covered by insurance) to work with has been most important, and she has ordered all sorts of tests and been able to get me to many insurance-covered referrals. I used to see a doctor at a place called One Sky Medicine which now exists as another group in the U District, I believe. They did take insurance and had several different types of practitioners on staff. I wonder if someone there might be a good place to start. From my point of view, start small with getting one person who can address many of the known things you have and who doesn't just shoot down ME/CFS as a whole. And then, let it unfold from there...
HTH, take care.
 
Messages
2
Are good doctors hard to find

Thank you Zoe. Is it that hard to find good doctors to treat with ME/CFS/Fibromyaliga condition ?

Other than Dr Buscher in Redmond looks like there are no other doctors in Seattle to treat this condition. It will do good if others can share their experience on how the doctors around Seattle have helped them recover . I will compile and put the list that is more easily accessible online.

-Jay
 
Messages
71
Location
Seattle Washington
I have CFS and am XMRV+
I have worked with a Nurse Practitioner in Seattle: Julie Anderson for over 10 years.
I am bed ridden and so most of my appointments are by phone although I have seen Julie in person several times over the years.
Julie is GREAT!!!!!
She has worked with me and has allowed me to try therapies that make sense to both of us.
She most recently was willing to prescribe me the Antivirals to treat XMRV but after discussing the side effects I decided to wait until more is known.
Julie has me on sleep medicines an antiviral, Nexivar....etc.
Julie is a NP who is trained to work with prescription medicines as well as vitamins .....etc.
If it werent' for Julie allowing me to try reasonable treatments and to prescribe them to me when necesarry I may have given up a long time ago.
Julie does not accept my insurance Medicare but may accept others I do not know.
Her prices are very reasonable and she is very efficient and Knowledgeable.
I have been to numerous practitioners and naturopath doctors over the years that I had to pay to see; Julie is the only one I would refer to a CFS patient.
You can find Julie's web site at:
www.npjulie.com
Good luck
Pinky
 

*GG*

senior member
Messages
6,389
Location
Concord, NH
Messages
60
Location
Seattle
I was able to see an Internal Med doctor in Bremerton who took insurance and had a massive amount of exclusionary testing done and a "million-dollar workup." I don't think it overlapped CFS issues in general though. She also does not believe in CFS in general, but is willing to treat the 'real' illnesses that are a part of it..

Just a general comment: how does a physician justify "not believing" in CFS? All that suggests to me is that the physician is seriously (2 decades or more) out of date on the medical research. I'm fine with a physician saying "it's complicated" and "I'm not the person with the knowledge to diagnose or treat", but "not believe"?