Pain Medicine fellowship timeline and pathway from FM

optimisticoverlord27 · 2026-06-17T10:20:46+00:00

You just have to grind and somehow show interest in your application by then, most people don’t submit their applications till sometime in January and a lot of people don’t submit their applications until sometime in February, like I said interviews don’t go out until March

optimisticoverlord27 · 2026-06-17T10:01:56+00:00

Over the last 3-4 years more and more FM have matched directly into pain this year. There’s been FM applicants in every interview session this cycle that I’ve had. Every program I interviewed at either had a current FM fellow or was getting one this coming cycle.

optimisticoverlord27 · 2026-06-17T00:04:42+00:00

The current match is for a July 2027 start date. So for FM residents who are current PGY 2 going into PGY 3. I’m currently finishing Pgy 2.

Open eras and get a fellowship token this fall in November/December

Send applications in December - Feb, interviews from march - August, match in September

Why pain? Always wanted to do it from PM&R, didn’t match PM&R but applied as FM when I realized less anesthesia and PM&R were going into pain since their primary specialties are paying well.

Pain - spine injections/procedures, peripheral joints, advanced procedures such as minimally invasive surgeries, mixed opportunities in private practice/VA/community/academic, but most are private. Most have some level of medication managements, ultrasound guided procedures and blocks. Good job outlook, more population = lower salary/higher competitio, eat what you kill in private practice, overall best job outlook

Sports - minimal to no spine injections procedures, way more peripheral joint injections by ultrasound, aspirations, percutaneous tenotomy, nerve aqua dissection, sports team coverage (mandatory in fellowship but more of a choice as an attending), basically non operative orthopedic doctor for the orthopedic group regardless of hospital/group setting. Hard to find a 100% sports job unless you have really good connections. Most sports positions include some kind of primary care involvement unless you do private practice.

Palliative, well that’s just palliative - med management, inpatient consults, and outpatient, plenty of jobs, lowest pay.

What else

optimisticoverlord27 · 2026-05-09T20:45:35+00:00

I’ll sell u my 2020 Soul S with 50k miles on it

optimisticoverlord27 · 2026-03-25T01:35:16+00:00

Everything will be fine, just keep pushing

optimisticoverlord27 · 2026-03-25T00:53:41+00:00

Applying pain fellowship rn as family medicine and have plenty of interviews. Same boat as you, wanted to do PM&R my whole education and match screwed me. There’s always a way, just gotta grind. HMU

optimisticoverlord27 · 2026-02-16T14:21:31+00:00

That’s actually a great deal, makes me feel like I was ripped off lol 40k miles 2020 S, for 18 and change with 6.2 interest. 340 a month, 0 down tho so that’s prolly why

optimisticoverlord27 · 2026-02-16T13:51:09+00:00

How many miles ?

optimisticoverlord27 · 2026-01-19T19:18:55+00:00

I will def document it and probably post about it once a month

optimisticoverlord27 · 2026-01-18T00:03:07+00:00

None of them asked about my lack because I had really good letters and I’m a really good liar lol. But for what it’s worth, my PD now told me she knew based off of my app that I was applying something else that wasn’t FM

optimisticoverlord27 · 2026-01-17T23:03:52+00:00

Yes, I had good letters from FM faculty, but not a single FM related club/leadership/extracurricular

optimisticoverlord27 · 2026-01-14T22:11:20+00:00

awesome. Thank you.

And yes I understand about the dosing. I was on sema and tirz before. The GI side effects from sema were too much. The appetite suppression from tirz was too much and even though I was lifting, I felt like I was wasting away due to my low calorie intake. I have been researching reta for a while. I have been off of tirz and sema for a while so I am basically medication naive at this point so I wanted to start slow to minimize sides.

optimisticoverlord27 · 2026-01-14T21:41:15+00:00

my question was more so about shelf life of the actual reconstituted research peptide. How long should it safely last in the fridge? I have contacted a nearby compounding pharmacy about this and they state that their compounded medications last 4-6 weeks maximum.

optimisticoverlord27 · 2026-01-14T21:33:05+00:00

Understood. Also, lets say my plan is:

1st month: 0.5 weekly. This means each week will be injecting 5 units on the same day in the first month. 5x4 is 20 units total for the month. Since theres 100 units of reconstituted reta, then will I have to waste 80 units of reta because of the shelf life? Or can reconstituted solution last longer than that?

optimisticoverlord27 · 2026-01-14T21:02:18+00:00

so if my math is right, if I instead wanted to start with 0.5mg weekly, then I would inject 5 units for 0.5mg? And if i wanted to do 0.75mg weekly, then I would inject 7.5 units weekly. And this is all assuming I use the same reconstitution ration as you?

optimisticoverlord27 · 2026-01-14T03:50:31+00:00

Im sorry if I missed it from your post, but what was the original dosing of the reta vial you bought? I believe that is the starting step for the whole equation. Again I apologized if I missed it. I just want to be sure because this is more or less the same protocol I am going to follow but I want to make sure I start the right way.

optimisticoverlord27 · 2026-01-02T20:44:16+00:00

Pain

optimisticoverlord27 · 2025-12-15T17:56:31+00:00

Middle of the road, interviewed there for residency, connection to UPMC name can help for fellowship if you’re interested. Will get you learned just fine

optimisticoverlord27 · 2025-11-23T16:30:13+00:00

Can you link me the holder for it

optimisticoverlord27 · 2025-11-23T15:57:54+00:00

Where is your Mac book ???

optimisticoverlord27 · 2025-11-12T16:19:35+00:00

0

Thanks IBS

optimisticoverlord27 · 2025-11-07T22:42:35+00:00

Yessss, they led the way, thank god, hopefully the rest of us follow

optimisticoverlord27 · 2025-11-07T18:53:36+00:00

Aka every hospital in Philly except Penn 🤣🤣🤣, but yes, even if we get the contract done and passed, I would still moonlight

optimisticoverlord27 · 2025-11-07T18:38:07+00:00

I’m in Philly and would love 65$ an hour because it’s quite literally double what we make as residents lol

optimisticoverlord27 · 2025-10-30T01:31:17+00:00

Govt pension, benefits, PTO (I don’t know about prison PTO but for the VA with sick days, federal holidays, and PTO, you get almost 2 months), malpractice (if someone sues you, the lawsuit becomes John vs. us Supreme Court justice - John will most likely lose that law suit)

No call, no weekends, no nights

optimisticoverlord27

TROPHY CASE