Rheumatoid Arthritis Support Group

Rheumatoid arthritis is a chronic, inflammatory, multisystem, autoimmune disorder. It is a disabling and painful condition which can lead to substantial loss of mobility due to pain and joint destruction. The disease is also systemic in that it often also affects many extra-articular tissues throughout the body including the skin, blood vessels, heart, lungs, and...

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finally saw a rheumy

stephgas
stephgas
and it was a shitshow. the office didn't have my referral, which my doctor sent electronically 2/5/16 when i requested it. i don't know how you lose an electronic referral.... anyway i got through to my PCP and had the office fax it while i stood there ready to punch someone. i was dx'd with seronegative RA like 9/2013 if i remember correctly.

i like the doctor so far. he took my history and poked and prodded. one thing he did that hasn't been done to me before - he had my lie down and bend a knee, then pushed my leg out to the side and back to see how flexible my hips were i guess. they weren't, it hurt a lot. then he asked if anyone had ever talked to me about ankylosing spondylitis... no one has. so that was interesting.

he gave me a script for 15mg meloxicam daily, tons of ultrasounds, lots of X-rays, and blood. i have a follow up with him in about two and a half weeks. he noted swelling in my hands, ankles, and hips today. i'm hopeful that i might start feeling better soon.
bluedogs2
bluedogs2
glad ya liked this person and hope he can help ---- as for "the Lost referral" --- perhaps one should lose a bill - 5 will get you 10, communications will improve. I carry a truck load of insurance - sometimes I would swear the air in my van tires is insured - anyway, I have told everyone of my team, their P/A's, front desk folks, cleaning services and the dudes that change the oil in their rides, that if one of these dang insurances don't pay, I'll get to it in 60 days. (My heart doctor told me he had never heard that before - I guess he can't hear good).

Point of this gibberish is "they lose my stuff, I lose theirs"

Be well
Bluedogs2
stephgas
stephgas
yeah it was a good appointment - the staff just infuriated me. i'm going to get over it.

just had a bucket of blood drawn - eight vials in all, and most were not the teensy ones. and a urinalysis.

took my 15mg of meloxicam and don't feel any better... does it take time to like kick in or something?
51percent
51percent
Yes, meloxicam takes time to work but it's an NSAID so you should get some relief immediately but the true relief takes a few days to start to kick in.

Now you and Fibrolizzy can compare symptoms as her doc has Dx'd her with AS too. Nasty sero-negative spondyloarthropathy that features spine issues far more prominently than RA

A good rheumy is worth their weight in gold so wait to see how this one is despite a office that losses things.

hugs..................Jen
stephgas
stephgas
okay, i'm gong to keep taking the meloxicam and keep my fingers crossed.

i'm kind of concerned about the mention of ankylosing spondylitis. it would definitely explain my hip and very low back symptoms. i always attributed most of my back pain to numerous herniated discs from two car accidents in 2004/2005. and most other doctors said my hip pain was because i was overweight, which i can understand them thinking but the pain in my hips was so similar to the pain in my other joints. and the stiffness, ugh.

anyway, i'll have my ultrasounds done next week and the X-rays the week after, then i'll see the doctor again. my other doctors never ordered imaging that i wanted, so i'm happy about that.
51percent
51percent
Steph....they can tell the difference between OA and AS in the low spine. AS causes a type of bone spur called a syndemophyte instead of an osteophyte...they form bars of bone across the vertebrae. So if they see that in an x-ray, it gives away the diagnosis.

The big thing they look for is arthritis of the SI joints(sacro-iliac joints in the pelvis) and those bars across the joint. In women, they have to distinguish between osteophytes from pregnancy and the syndesmophytes of AS. They kept taking x-rays of my SI joints and were finally able to tell me they were OA and AS bone spurs(big babies and long labor).

Very fine distinguishing factors between the 2 diseases and in the long run, usually treated with the same biologics we take for RA but we still need to know! The spine becomes the big problem as we age with AS.

hugs............Jen
depotblue
depotblue
it could be the hip bursa's steph. those damn bursas really restrict the range of motion and cause a crap load of pain.

this is what my bud with RA has along with lupus and RA, the AS and she is also fused and has a wicked strange gait. i hope it is not that for you. i've had the bursas injected on the speed through in the office and under the fancy fluroscope.

i took meloxicam. it's an nsaid. it wasn't bad. i like other nsaids better though. hope it works for you.

sorry about the office. but you fixed the goof up so there you go :)

depot