Update

Hello,

Since my meltdown two weeks ago, things on the home front are much better. My fiance and I have seen a therapist regarding the stress L/co and life has thrown at us. She is an excellent therapist, and I'm quite impressed, and I don't impress easily! We are going back in a month for continuing on a forward path. We are better as a couple, again testing the waters of 'safe' communication. This is a challenge for me with the brain bugs, but we're doing it. He is opening up and realizing my illness is not going to just 'get better,' and that this will take a lot of work, time and money, and mostly for us to commit to ourselves, each other, and our life, accepting what is 'now,' but that this will not be forever. We need to keep reminding ourselves this isn't going to stay like this forever, everything in life changes. So will my health, I will get the right help and care, and thus our life together will keep changing and hopefully for the better.

It was decided I don't seek out antidepressents at this time, as I'd have to go through my family dr who isn't L/c educated. My sweetie is finally understanding that if I'm going to get ANY treatment, I MUST be seen by dr's who are very L/co educated, otherwise, I could very easily experience severe health problems and slip even further through the cracks, only getting sicker. I'm so grateful he is starting to understand why I'm 'being so difficult.' This is MY HEALTH, and if I don't stand up for myself, no one else will.

Ok, next page in my life with L/co:

I sent in my forms to get an appt with the other closest LLMD, in Myerstown, PA. I received a phone call this past Wed to set up my appt. It is July 30, 2014 at 1 pm. Two months. Ok, good to go. I mentioned I forgot to include a copy of my positive IGeneX test results. She said just bring them along, they won't take the Dr but a few minutes to read. Ok, good. Then I mentioned about bringing along all my tests results from hair analysis and saliva tests. She said I could mail everything, and they would just stick it all into my folder, because 'your appt is only for Lyme disease. The dr won't be addressing anything other than Lyme disease. We have a nutritionist on staff, but you would need to make a seperate dr appt to discuss anything other than L/co."

Ok, then she went into about a 3 minute explination of why, the coding, etc. I understand, so this Dr will not touch anything having to do with my healthcare outside of L/co: No diet, metabolism issues, dna issues, etc.

The kicker is, 10 minutes after hanging up, she calls me back. Says the Dr is standing right next to her, and they want to know what Dr signed for my labs for the hair analysis and my saliva testing. I said no dr, these were tests I was able to get on my own in my search for what has been wrong with me for 10+ yrs but no dr was pinpointing. She then said, but those tests can't be done without a dr's signature. I said, well I had these done without one. Then she started asking me what labs did the tests. I said I didn't have that info in front of me. She then started to explain that their office/the dr does all of these tests, and that if needed he would have all of them done through his office/lab of choice. I said, well why would I need to have them all redone if these tests are current? She didn't have an answer for me, just kept insisting I send them all the copies of all my testing I had done. At this point in time, I'm not sending them anything more. They can wait until I get to the office.

I'm floored. I don't understand what is going on with the dr's I've seen, will be seeing. Those of you who have been following my path, please tell me this isn't normal behaviour for a LLMD/office? I felt attacked and almost threatened by this woman/dr. Do I want to go see this guy? What is waiting for me when I get there? Is it too  much to ask that I find a LLMD who appreciates my tenacity and fight, all I've done in trying to find what's wrong with me? A Dr who isn't threatened that I'm asking questions about MY BODY? Or is something else going on I am missing? I feel even more crazy than before.

This guy isn't too expensive, asking only $125/45 minutes. So, I guess it's at least worth a try. Last LLMD we saw in MD was $550/90 minutes, and she insisted I was 'only depressed,' even with the positive IGeneX test. Crazy, or is it me?

Thanks for listening, again. When is the fun supposed to start? ; )

@In a cocoon - lol haha I know exactly the nurse you are talking about. She is a bit rough. A little bit of a bigger woman with short brown hair/glasses. I had 100% the same impression when I went in. It took really a few visits before I trusted this office. They are...different for sure.

Fyi - a lot of doctors have NO CLUE/are not aware that you can get testing done on your own. It is a relatively new revelation to a lot of people in the healthcare field. I would just explain about directlabs or whomever you used and that they are legitimate, as they are done through the same labs ie labcorp - quest that a doctor would request. And you can even go as far as to say that the reason you did that was because if your doctor ordered it, it would have costs three times as much. In my experience - that holds true.

Man he is booked, if he is booking that far out!

I will say a lot of people have had good success with this doctor, some have not if they have really complicated cases. I did well but I was also seeing an herbalist in Baltimore, MD and the ND. I think you can do a lot of that stuff on your own.

I'm really glad things seem to be headed in the right direction for you. I'm sure your fiance cares about you a lot if you two are seeing a therapist. I'm not sure if I knocked my husband out and drugged him lol that I would be able to get him to one.

I'm so happy things are looking up for you and your fiance!! That alone will help you so much, as you know. I hope he will gain a better understanding of what you're going through.

I didn't think I was going to tolerate my doctor, but decided to give him a chance and he has been fine. He's and MD/ND, though, so that helps that he's not a typical doctor.

Since the doctor you're going to charges less, it might be worth trying him for a while in case it would work out for you. It would save you a lot of money. Arrogance comes with the title, unfortunately, with a few exceptions. It sounds like you're feisty enough to put up with him, though.

Good luck!