Is a baseline blood test really necessary before starting something like this?

Ask for the longer appointment slot. Ten minutes is not enough for a complex history and pretending otherwise wastes both your time.

The pain score conversation is thirty seconds of my life I will never get back, every time. Currently on amoxicillin-clavulanate myself.

My pharmacist has become my actual doctor and I am at peace with it.

My pharmacist has become my actual doctor and I am at peace with it. Eight months in on a deductible and it lines up.

Ten percent cuts. Slower is faster.

Ten percent cuts, of the current dose not the original. That is the arithmetic that keeps it survivable.