I've been dealing with chronic pain for, oh, about 7 or 8 years now. Probably longer than that, but I don't recall specifically (I was pretty heavily medicated for Bi-Polarness and don't recall a lot of my twenties, alas.) Various doctors had made the suggestion that I had Fibromyalgia, and then these same doctors went on to be very disdainful of my actual symptoms (which is why it took 5 years for the herniated disk to get the treatment it needed) and pooh-poohed my requests for pain medication or anything above and beyond "Make sure you get plenty of rest and exercise."

Yeah, well.

See, if I could get a decent night's rest, I'd feel a heckuva lot more like getting some exercise, too, which, if I wasn't in pretty much constant pain from back of my head down to my knees, would be far more doable.

Thanks, docs.

With my current doctor, (and the previous one before that) I haven't given them that option, by not telling them about other doctor's assumptions, Fibromyalgia-wise, and stressing specific pains, in isolation. But maybe, just maybe, if they're starting to take it seriously in the medical profession, or at least among researchers, it's time to rethink that stance.

We'll see.