Difference between Rheumatologist and pain management doctor

[Guest guest]

I hear people talking about their different doctors and was just

wondering what exactly a rheumatologist does. I had a great general

practioner who actually left his practice a few months before I left

Michigan to move to Florida. My GP here just refills the prescriptions

that I had in Michigan including Soma and Vicodin. I had been taking

neurontin at that time. I was looking to change to something different

and asked him about any new treatments for fibro. He said that he

didn't know of any. I started going to a pain management doctor that a

friend goes to for migraines. On my first fisit when I went to discuss

my extreme shoulder pain and headaches, as soon as he found out that I

had a herniated disc and a buldging disc in my lower back, he

immediately wanted to do a series of epidurals there. He has switched

me from neurontin to lyrica and has been giving me lidocaine shots but

I was upset after leaving the first visit because I just listed my back

problems on my medical history but said I was there for the fibro.

Anyways, I just wanted to know what the difference was...maybe I should

switch.