Fired My Doctor | Arthritis Information

Well, went to the OP today and first thing out of their mouth was "you have a .00 copay", I lost it. I said that I have been doing copays for the last 5 visits and have gotten no results. Something has got to give, the doctor then saw me and said he saw no signs of arthritis in my foot and is baffled, but it might possible be something got RSD or RDS, can't remember which at this hour. And that I might need physical therapy, I just started laughing. Anyway, called my RD and once again, no return call so called this afternoon and left a message that due to him not doing ANYTHING for me, I will no longer have him as my doctor (not that he probably cares). Went to my GP and got a referral to another one, now just waiting on insurance to give me a confirmation that they recieved everything. Tripled my dose of predisone (30mgs now) and actually feel a little better, still hurts, but not to the point that it brings you to tears just to try to walk. The stiffness and the pain in my fingers I understand, but the feet has me baffled, now both feet are painful and swollen, but the OP says that there is no sign of arthritis in them....wonder if I just have the only blind doctor:)

Phil

Hey Phil, catch me up on this....is this an orthopedic dr? You have pain in your feet....from RA? I'm curious - I have terrible problems with my feet and I know it's from RA....fill me in.

Yes, its an orthopedic doctor. Don't know what it is from, I have had x-rays, bone scan, cat scan and MRI done on my feet and it shows no arthritis at all, but they are swollen and hurt like hell to walk on. Have burning around the ankles too, so at this time no one seems to know what is causing it, but my orthopedic doc says that it doesn't seem to be from RA.

Phil

He ruled out an infection, right? (I hope so) I had a friend who's ankles sounded just like that,and it turns out she had an infection IN her cartlidge. Weird, but it turns out there's a name for that, and its also an immune disorder. Just something to think about.

He didn't say anything about an infection, just that the scans didn't show anything, however, he has given me no meds at all. I did some research on RDS and looked at some of the pictures (jeez, I hope that isn't it), the only thing in common is the swellen and the burning, don't have any lesions or anything.

Phil

You wouldn't see an infection in scans. They need to do a needle biopsy. I think. Don't quote me on that...lolHi Phil,

I have been following your ongoing difficulties and I am sorry you are having such a terrible time. Since I am not a doctor I won't venture a diagnosis, but I can say a couple of things about your situation based on my own experiences and I hope they help in some way (I will present them in first person so as not to project them onto you but rather talk about how I have been affected in the past).

I know that some people handle pain amazingly well (my mother is a great example, she has severe osteoporosis and has had multiple fractures and chronic pain and never takes anything but Tylenol and Celebrex). I am not one of these kinds of people, unfortunately. I think it is safe to say that I have a fear of pain (algophobia). What that means for me is that when I experience pain, it scares me, I feel out of control, and I want it fixed NOW! Being a recovering addict, I have had to learn how to deal with this problem in a productive way, but it doesn't mean that the mechanism is shut down. My head still goes to those places, I just have to find a healthy way to deal with the feelings.

Anyway, I digress, but what I want to say about all this is that when I have untreated pain, or I feel like I am being blown off by someone (as though it is all in my head or I am making it up)...that will REALLY make me crazy and make the whole situation even worse. I don't know if any of this applies to you or not.

It seems you haven't gotten any satisfactory answers to your problem and that can aggravate an already difficult situation (or it would for me). It is hard being powerless over things. I wish you the best in finding the solution, but in the meantime, maybe you need some help with dealing with the feelings around this situation since it is clear to me that you are at your wits end. It may make the whole thing more tolerable if you can acknowledge the fear (if it exists) and have a safe place to discuss it.

I hope that helps. Where is your GP in all of this anyway? Mine is the heart of my health care team and I'd be lost without him. You need someone who is coordinating and advocating for you and if you don't have someone like that currently, then go shopping till you find one.

Jeanne

Have they done an ultra sound of your foot? I have horrible osteoporosis and I had broken my foot at one point (I have a tendency to ignore pain) and they found only on the ultrasound (I had X-ray, and a MRI) the chips of bone floating around and sever tendinitis. In fact they are having to do surgery on Friday to clear out the floating bone and repair the tendons and what not that this has injured. Also seems to be a nodule in there. Have you tried just seeing a foot specialist for it? That's the only route that my GP went and seems to have helped a great deal ... dealing with someone that just knows feet.

Hang in there and keep us posted !!!!

Hi again Phil..

O.K., so what is RDS?

Have you seen a podiatrist? Do you have RA?

I have some of the same types of pain that you have...but before I get into any of this can you answer these questions? And, I have found the same issues as you....the DR don't know what is causing the problem and therefore they don't help you....

I will google RDS....let me know RDS came up as respiratory distress syndrome....I don't think you're talking about that...

Trixie6638976.4650115741Wish I knew what was going on with you Phil, but I am glad to hear that you dumped that doctor. I really hope you get some answers soon. Don't stop until you do.

Try this forum. It has doctors that answers questions. Why don't you lay it out to them and see if they have any suggestions?

http://www.mendmeshop.com/forum/index.php