Good Dr. in Western WI.

Lewis21403 · Post by **Lewis21403** » Tue Oct 20, 2009 1:48 pm

Hi all. I have my first neurologist appt. coming up and I was discussing this with my x-wife, who has fibro and she started laughing. I asked her what was up and she reminded me of an appt we went to 5-6 years ago where the new Dr. we met with turned out to be a very bad experience. She was on Vicadon(spelling) for the pain and the first things out of his mouth was, we need to get you off the pain meds, they do nothing for you. I remember he was so focused on the pain meds that we never really got ony where. So she told him that he was useless and we left the appt. I remembered he was a real jerk. We spent months and many diff. Dr's. before we finally found some one who would help her. Needless to say she is stil on the same strength Vics. and never called in a script early. Long story short, I am seeing this same Dr. That's why my x was laughing at me. I take one tab daily of Mirapex and T3's as needed. My GP prescribed the Mirapex and T3's on the fifth of this month. I have kept a med log and I usally can make it till 11ish a.m. till I need a T3 and I take one at bed time or the pain wakes me in the middle of the night. I have a good pain tollerance but I also have a 6yr old boy who keeps me busy and when I am in pain it's hard to be there to do all the things a 6yr old boy want's to do. I like where I am at with the meds I am on and I have a feeling this Dr. is gonna get on me about the T3's and not help me. I cant say for sure. My question is, does anybody have any advice on a good neurologist in the western WI area? I am an hour and a half from Minneapolis, where I have to go to see this Dr. Any help would be greatly appreciated. Also, does anybody have negative affects with the cold and RLS? I sit, stand, walk around an ice rink 4 nights a week while my son plays hockey...Sorry for making my question so long...Lewis

SquirmingSusan · Post by **SquirmingSusan** » Wed Oct 21, 2009 3:41 am

Hi Lewis,
I wish I could tell you that I knew of a good neuro in your area, or at least in the St. Paul/Mpls metro area. But I don't know of one. How far are you from Rochester? Some people have had good experiences with Dr. Silber at Mayo.

Post by **ViewsAskew** » Wed Oct 21, 2009 8:46 am

I wish I could help in some way, but I don't know anyone at all to help you. I can commiserate with your situation though!

Neco · Post by **Neco** » Wed Oct 21, 2009 4:39 pm

This is really tough... If it were me, I would do anything to find ANOTHER doctor to see, if you had a previously bad experience..

I'm curious, how come you are seeing another doctor and not your GP? Did something happen?

At the least, take your medication log in with you, and make it a point to mention how long you've been on the medication, and that you presently feel it is working for you.

If he tries to go on some crusade about pain meds like last time, just put your foot down and tell him you see no reason to change your medication, and its your quality of life, not his - if he can't work with that then walk out.

Lewis21403 · Post by **Lewis21403** » Wed Oct 21, 2009 5:21 pm

Thanks all. I see my GP for everything but when we got into the leg thing he wanted me to see a neurologist. I suppose to do all the testing and rule out stuff. On a side note, I was on 1/2 tab daily of Mirapex for a week then my GP told me to go to full tab which is 0.25mg and after a week on the full tab my legs really started to bother me more than ever. So I just called him and he told me to go back to 1/2 tab and use the T3's for the pain. Do any of you have problems with the cold weather? Today has been real bad for me..Again, thanks all for your your input...Lewis

Neco · Post by **Neco** » Wed Oct 21, 2009 9:05 pm

I have noticed when the weather changes out here, I seem to have more intense symptoms in the cold. Luckily I've been able to manage it.

So it sounds like your GP isn't comfortable treating your RLS or something like that? If you dropped back to a half tablet and things decreased along with the help of the T3, then it sounds like your doing OK.. So I don't know why he would send you somewhere else then..

Maybe you should go back to him and tell him you feel fine (do you really though?) on your current regime, and you had a bad experience with this doctor with your wife, and you are afraid hes going to take away your T3, etc for no justified reason.

Also.. you should print out The Mayo Clinic Algorithm from the link in my signature and take it to your GP.. Tell him you'd like him to read it over, and it is real easy to understand.. And it will help him manage your RLS without having to go to another doctor, and maybe throw in "I feel a lot more comfortable with you in control of my medications" and stuff like that..

I do have to say though, if increasing your Mirapex caused you problems, it sounds like you may potentially have issued with augmentation in the future (or maybe not, it could have been a side effect you only notice at that dose, unless it was specifically RLS symptoms).. The Algorithm deals with augmentation and all that stuff and gives medication guidelines as well.. If you had to quit the Mirapex you could try Requip as well, or if both fail to work for you, the algorithm also states that opiates are a viable treatment solution.

runkrun · Post by **runkrun** » Thu Oct 22, 2009 12:40 am

Lewis, I recently went to Mayo Clinic in Rochester to see Dr. Silber.(I live in Mich.) It truly was a great experience. He spent an entire hour w/ me and made suggestions to my Primary physician regarding my care. I have Refractory RLS and have been through at least 12 different meds over the past 11 yrs. Dr Silber finally has me on a combination of Lyrica, Oxycodone, and Xanax. I'm so very grateful for his expertise, validation of my disorder, and my symptoms are under control. Best of all, I sleep 7-8 hrs /night. If you feel your not getting the care you need don't wait any longer, and go see the best. Plus Dr Silber is one of the authors of Mayo's algorythm for RLS.