Sorry guys -n- gals,
I have been gone to doc for testing and still never found out why the link never posted to this thread. Im beat and very upset at the doctor as well, He would not give me the time of day, very rude and basically asked if I had seen a psychiatrist yet and believed this was all in my head. I see many of you have been dealing with the same sort of issues the past few days as well. Im very sorry for the ignorance of doctors that the only way to make a buck it to ignore the people they are supposed to protect. I was so mad, especially since they made me pay 60.00 before I even seen the d**m doctor, I will never prepay a doctor visit again!
Anyway here is the link I posted a few days ago,
http://www.rdlinc.com/pdf/Anti-CCP%20article.pdf
http://www.rdlinc.com/pdf/Article_u_.pdf
it is a pdf document if it doesnt work for you, send me your email and I will forward it or you can go to bone_watchers@yahoo.com on thursday and I should have a file for it.
Good Reading, and please post replies.
Sorry you had a bad experience with your dr. today! They can be infuriating!Thanks for the shoulder, Im not crying, just mad. I am so tired of all the doctors and meds that dont help, not to mention the pain. I am not to be taking my pain meds while trying the pred, but with this guy upsetting me yesterday I was flaring so bad i jsut had to. Im mostly over it now, but I can hardly wait to tell my regular doc. I jsut hope he doesnt want me to go somewhere else, and be treated this way. I see him this next week and Im hoping, croosed fingers and all that he will finally get me dx'd. I am going to print off the sero neg article I found and take it to him. Hoping he will at least try the new test on me. Well any ways thanks for letting me vent.
Sharon
I sympathize completely. Some of these doctors can be so arrogant.There are so few rheumatologists that it takes forever to get an appointment and then when you do get one, they rush you through it. I have only found one rheumy I like and I still have my reservations about her since she wants me to keep working no matter how I feel. I feel sure that you will eventually be diagnosed. It took me 8 years and they're still fine tuning my diagnosis. You know your body better than any doctor and you know what is not right. I know I felt better when I finally knew I had RA, but for years I knew I had an autoimmune disease. I just didn't know which one.Since the medications for many of the different autoimmune diseases are the same, I think you should just roll with the punches until the verdict is in. Good luck and feel better, LindaThanks linda, everyone here has their own set of conditions, but it is great when we can all help each other out. We all have something in common whether it is some of the same types of pain, swelling, flares, or just venting.
Sharon
Seagoat, were you having any visible symptoms like swelling or redness to your joints? Have you had x-rays done? I am just wondering if maybe you could call and speak to his nurse at least and tell them how you feel about the way things went. Maybe he is a jackass but maybe it was a miscommunication or he was having a bad day. I am not defending him by any means but it never hurts to try. The worst you can get is a "no". The reason I asked about the other things is just, you know, more ammo for you.I would be so angry if I went to a doctor and got no help. Especially being in pain, it really is so hard to take. I was so afraid that was going to happen to me. I was so happy when my blood test came back positive, which you would NEVER think you would be. I had read too many stories here like yours and was afraid.Crunchy,
I faxed all my records to the office 4 days before I had appt., 500 pages to be exact. Which also included my RD, and Internist records, all blood records and history since 1995, I took with me Mri's of full spine, CT's, regular Xray's, and had my daughter there as well, she even thought he was a rude SOB. He tested me for Fibro, said he couldn't find that, even though I've had it for 7 years now. Probed and proded on me, twisted all my joints, then had the nerve to tell me he thought I had a rotator cuff injury, and all my signs pointed to a mental problem, insisted that I was depressed, and need PT and said he would give me some sort of elastic band to use. I was to have went to him for evaluation of disability and to confirm RA cervical spine, or Lupus. I was so mad and to top that all off when we got back to the rental car, I used I had 2 flat tires. Not cool with a 18 month old grandson. It was cold and dreary day. What should have taken about 6 hours in total took 15 hrs. I had to wait and extra day before I could get home because of my eye sigh and the rental place wanted to charge for a 3rd day until I told them my problems. They were very nice and only charged for 2 days, and then to top that they absorbed 1/2 of the rate. This took some of the stress out of things. As far as having swelling or reddness, the reddness is there all the time but since I started the Pred most of the swelling is down. The joint pain is very constant, and I told him this, I think Im just going to stick with the Internist for now and see what he says this next week. But since this idiot doc twisted on me I have been flaring and cant get them to stop. I cant take more pred and tonight was the 1st night I was to drop my dose until I see the doc. I am off all pain meds until my followup with him next week, but pain is pain and Im inclined to take on tonight just to allow me a good rest and pain free sleep, and deal with tomarrow when it comes. Thanks for the concern and I think I will call them in am and ask if they are in the habit of imbezzlement? lolI watched a show last night on pbs about integrated medicine where they
treat the whole person and listen to their history and treat the
lifestyle as well as the disease. I thought of you.
If you can, try to find a place that does integrated medicine. I really think it sounded as ideal as you could get.
The way a doctor speaks to you has a huge impact on your health.
There was a quote in the show that said, You want a doctor that
will make you feel empowered and smart, not dumb and passive .
Good luck.
Unbelievable! Seagoat, find another doctor. Have you considered going to a woman? This is going to sound sexist, but I've found woman doctors to be more knowledgeable, compassionate and competent.
I learned my lesson back when my mother was alive. All of her doctors were men, and they were so dismissive. She had sjogren's, diabetes, and a lot of other problems. The capper was the time she choked on a chicken bone and was rushed to the emergency room. The (male) doctor took x-rays and didn't see a chicken bone. He said she was suffering from "hysteria." She nearly died from her "hysteria." A (female) doctor found and removed the chicken bone, & my mum was okay. I learned an important lesson from that.
I know it's a gross generalization, but male doctors are and have always been very prone to writing off any complaint by a woman as a mental problem. But a man's need for viagra? No, he's not nuts. He has a serious medical condition.
I've been very fortunate with my RD's but had a terrible experience with a Gynacologist 15 years ago while trying to get pregnant.
Doctors should do courses to learn to be both empathetic and sympathetic, even if they can't help you at any time. Don't they realise that we are there because we have a problem that needs resolving and that we rely on them to help us resolve whatever is wrong. If they don't want to help people they shouldn't do the job!
Hope you're feeling better.
Thanks everyone,
I know this is not in my head. although I do get bad bad headaches.
Bad weather moving thru right now, Hurt, Hurt, called my internist he said to take my pain meds, thank God he's going to allow me to take it for now. See him next week, Nurse said he has dx'd me with polyarthralgia. Anyone know what this is? I looked it up but it is very vague?
Sounds as though he's saying you have some form of arthritis, but he's not sure what.Well after some research I have found out more. All arthritis starts out as either infectious (viral),or bacterial from there it is either treatable with antibotics, or not. Of the infectious there are several kinds, this is the infection that doctors call RA, or other degenerative diseases of the joints. I believe that due to all the symptoms I have since 1995 I am most likely going to be dx'd with lupus, or if not yet Im sure it wont be far behind. Probably sjogrens as well. plan on speaking with him at next appt, Im going to print out articles and take with me Iwant to know what Im dealing with and also to let him know I can not and will not be shoved to the side in this matter.
You guys are great thatnks for all the support, have a great night.
It does sound like the trip to that doc was a bust---I would call anyways...why did you have to travel so far to see that doctor? I wish you could go to my doctor, he is such a nice guy and really straight forward.