Best rheumatology books according to redditors

> I've been reading online and it seems that the doctor was nicely telling me it's all in my head and nothing can be done for me

Actually, it is quite the opposite. If it is all in your head then Cognitive Behavioral Therapy has a good chance of completely curing you. There might be nothing that a doctor can do, but a psychologist could get you back to full health. Unfortunately your doctor is completely wrong :(

> I've been reading a lot about chronic myofascial pain with no known cause and FM and how they are both considered psychosomatic.

It is probably best to start reading better sources. People who actually understand Fibromyalgia are able to tell the difference between psychosomatic symptoms and symptoms of Fibromyalgia. Psychosomatic symptoms exist, and some people with fibromyalgia have them, but psychosomatic illness is insufficient to explain all the symptoms of fibromyalgia. Maybe try reading a book? Fibromyalgia: The Final Chapter is an example of a book that does not support the "fibromyalgia is a psychosomatic illness" theory.

> Internet doctors are especially of the opinion you can't fix a psychiatric disorder with pain management.

A real world psychologist that I saw said that you can't fix depression without fixing the chronic pain that is causing it.

> It almost feels like victim-blaming by the medical community.

Yes it is. It is best to not get caught up in it. Had you done things completely differently, you would probably be in the same position as you are now. There might be "associations" between pain syndromes and emotional states, trauma, stress etc, but as yet there are no proven cases of cause and effect. For all we know, it could be completely random. My advice is to assume it is random, and focus on treatment.

Whether you have fibromyalgia, myofascial pain syndrome or a broken leg, there are lots of treatments that are discussed on this subreddit that help reduce pain. I don't think there is a single treatment that is specific to fibromyalgia. What we can't tell you is which of them will work for you and which will not. As I always say, "trial and error works every time".

I'm not a doctor, so I'm not disagreeing with you, but my little booklet about AS says that sacroilitis revealed by STIR MRI has both sensitivity and specificity of 90%. It's also from 2009.

I just recall my rheumatologist that glanced at my MRI evaulation for no more than 5 seconds (before asking me about anything else), and said "It's Bechterew's. 100% certain." :-)

By the way, I paid full price (no insurance involved) for my MRI, but it was not a contrast MRI.

Here is the mobile version of your link