So I was wondering if anyone could help me out. Have my next throng appt. on Monday and he is very bad at taking time with me to answer questions. Both times previously I have seen him he has literally backed out if the room while I am struggling go get information out of him. Trying to get a new Dr. but it is taking some time since I will have to finite of town. So I have to be sure I get the right questions and ask in descending order of priority if I have a chance of getting answers. I am currently taking 17.5 mg methotrexate a week, 10 mg prednisone daily, and 7.5 lortab as needed (which is daily). My concerns are that I think overall my condition is improving with the meds slowly, but some symptoms seem to be getting worse. My overall pain is down but my knee is swollen and stiff, my finger is as well and is beginning to look gnarled and deformed. My elbow is also very stiff and I am losing range of motion as time goes by. Also I have almost constant pain in my lower back and hips and even up into the right side of my middle back area. With each breath I feel like my ribcage is contracting and dep breaths are very painful if not intolerable at times. The fatigue and tiredness is still very much present and I require several breaks when completing tasks. (and yes, all of this is an overall improvement from my state two months ago). My questions are concerning spondylitis and fusing of joints. Are these things I should be concerned with? Does anyone knownof any other causes or concerns or have similar problems? I have asked before about X-rays especially concerning my hand and was told by the nurse if I needed them he would have ordered them. Just don't feel very confident that he is thorough or even mildly attentive. The Dr. spent the entire last appt three feet away in a chair. No physical examination other than glancing at my finger and asking if it was still swollen. Any and all help would be appreciated. Just need to know what I'm doing when I go in so I can get what I need out of this appt. Thanks for reading and thanks for any advice. The best thing I can say is get another doctor. My rhuemy did a full scale of x-rays to make sure he didn't miss anything and would be patient about answering all my questions and that nurse would have gotten my foot up her butt.
Thanks for the comments. I'm seeing my rheumy tomorrow and I have an appt with my Orthapedist on Tuesday. He was who I saw leading up to all of this and he's amazing. So I'm gonna get a referral from him to see another rheumy. The new rheumy will be about an hour's drive out of town but if he's any better I figure it'll be worth it. I'll keep you posted and hopefully it's good news and I don't have to wait too long to get in and see him. Thanks again for the support. So went to the Dr. I don't know if he read these posts but he was actually helpful. Answered my questions and explained his course of action. So I'm sticking with him for now. I have no insurance so financially it's better than driving out of town and incurring more debt for new patient fees etc. So now he is switching me to Humira since the MTX didn't seem to be working. Read plenty about it and I'm hopeful this works and the side effects are minimal. One problem may be that I have a swollen hard lymph gland in my neck right now. Not sure what it means but I know the Humira makes you more susceptible to infections so I'm currently in the waiting room of my internist to check it out. Hopefully it's nothing and I can start the Humira this Friday when I get the results of my TB test. Fingers crossed and thanks for the support. I'll keep you all updated on the progress. So no humira for now and I have to stop the methotrexate as well. Going for a CAT scan on Friday and probably a biopsy on my lymph node to follow. So no meds and more waiting for answers. Seems like stuff keeps piling up. Guess I'll just hope for the best and see what happens.
Hi,
Good to hear you are hanging in there. I like your positive attitude. No matter what the results reveal be strong and know that you are encouraging others by letting them know that they are not alone. Keep us posted on your progress.
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