What type of doctor has helped you the most? (MD, neuro, IM, FM, chiro, naturopath etc)

[Mary]

What type of doctor (if any) has helped you the most? And if there is more than one, list that too.
.
I'm trying to figure out which type (if any) might have the best handle on ME/CFS.

 

[Groggy Doggy]

Endocrinologist!

 

[Seven7]

Electrophysiologyst (treat OI)

 

[Hugo]

It should be neuro but unfortanatly isnt. I would guess a good GP (the best doctors I had have been GP) but also the worst.

 

[dangermouse]

I had a really good GP but she had to leave her job to look after her mother. I've not had good experiences with Rheumatologists, more so the dismissive attitude and stubbornness to acknowledge ME separately from Fibromyalgia. My Cardiologist seems knowledgeable about ME and knew not to prescribe certain medications and how sensitive ME patients can be to drugs.

 

[pamojja]

What type of doctor (if any) has helped you the most?

I made the experience with assisted clients, that those paid out of one's own pocket are the best. Too bad that I can't afford.

 

[Mij]

Functional Integrative Medicine doctor.

 

[JamBob]

I once had an amazing GP who worked in partnership with patients and was willing to try different stuff.

Doctors with a generalist training (like GPs or internists) work better for me than superspecialists as I have a lot of diseases and need someone who can think in the round and handle complexity rather than someone with super specialised knowledge who narrowly focuses on one organ. Obviously for surgery you might want a super specialist but for chronic disease I need a different kind of whole systems approach.

 

[msf]

Belgian ones that get a bad rap on here.

 

[David Jackson]

For me, it hasn't been any kind of doctor at all; rather it has been the completely alternative type of health practitioners, most especially those that work with the body's subtle energies, like chakras, auras, Qi, prana, etc. My herbalist, also has helped me out a great deal.

Of course, I will still go to see a doctor and get medical tests done, so I don't advocate completely giving up on the medical establishment. However, I do think that chronically sick people in general can neglect to look in this very alternative direction, which, in my humble opinion, may be able to help them out, sometimes considerably.

 

[Sushi]

I haven't found that you can say anything about a particular specialty--it is more about the individual doctor and what they know about ME/CFS. There are ME/CFS specialists who come from a wide variety of specialties--including someone like Dr. David Bell who I think is a GP or specialized in family practice (that is from memory, don't take it as fact).

 

[Dechi]

A GP who has specialized in ME.

 

[PeterPositive]

Functional Integrative Medicine doctor.

Same here.

 

[Hugo]

A good Infectious Disease Specialist would be nice, I meet one once and she was very strange. She was terrible in attitude but for some reason gave me prescriptions for a lot of stuff, that was beyond strange because she told me that I wasnt sick and in the same sentence she gave me antiviral and a prescriptions for stereoids.

Like having Trump for a doctor. She contradict herself in nearly every sentence.

 

[Sean]

What type of doctor has helped you the most?

The honest ones.

They did no harm.

 

[Hugo]

I haven't find that you can say anything about a particular specialty--it is more about the individual doctor and what they know about ME/CFS. There are ME/CFS specialists who come from a wide variety of specialties--including someone like Dr. David Bell who I think is a GP or specialized in family practice (that is from memory, don't take it as fact).

True but in my experience its mostly GP, but on the other hand its the most common specialists and they also meet the same patients several times.

 

[Mij]

@Dechi the M.E specialist who diagnosed me (partner of Dr.Hyde) told me "there is no treatment or breakthroughs and to condition my life around it".

 

[Dechi]

@Dechi the M.E specialist who diagnosed me (partner of Dr.Hyde) told me "there is no treatment or breakthroughs and to condition my life around it".

Dr Hyde says there are some drugs on trial right now who might work. He also told me moderately affected people like me usually don't recover. But I won't stop fighting !

 

[Mary]

Thanks for all your replies! I think I was hoping for a magic bullet of sorts (which I know doesn't exist )

I tend to agree that it's the individual doctor who is open-minded and willing to be educated, etc. who is the most effective, rather than any specialist. My original doctor who helped me get disability for ME/CFS (he died last year unfortunately) did not know much about ME/CFS (though who does?!), but he was extremely knowledgeable about nutrition and was also very open-minded and willing to help me try new things that I would bring to his attention. I haven't found anyone to replace him yet.

I did see Dr. Kaufman at OMI and he was not able to help me, though he was a nice man. Most of the help I have gotten has been either through my own research and self-experimentation or from muscle testing done by a competent practitioner.

I am going to see a naturopath/chiropractor/doctor of Oriental medicine on Thursday to see if he can help with sleep issues - it's a crap shoot, either he will or won't - wish me luck!

 

[Dechi]

@Mary Good luck with your appointment ! I've really thought about going to see a traditionnal chinese doctor and it's still something I'd like to do. Please tell us about it !