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

File early. The window is shorter than people think and it starts at the transaction.

How long before you can reasonably say something is or is not doing anything?

Written confirmation email after every phone call. Cheapest insurance there is.

This is the correct amount of effort for a thread like this.

Small wins count. Walking to the mailbox is a data point.

Same here.

Is it normal to feel worse before better? Nobody told me that. Currently on oxazepam myself.

The pain score conversation is thirty seconds of my life I will never get back, every time.

Log dose, time and sleep. Ten seconds a day and it turns the anecdote into something you can look at.

You are not imagining it and you are not being difficult. Document it and take the document in.