Hi, BlessedFromOnHigh,

My rheum returns calls within 24 hours. Her NP returns calls within an hour. I wonder why your Rheumy hasn't called back. I would call again.

Peace,
V

V, hmmmmmm. This has been a hard summer for me. You are one lucky girl to have found such a great office.

did you hear from them yet?

mine call's back the same day, I would get after them for this, it's not a good sign if this is how they are going to treat you. Ask them what there call back policy is

wishing you the best

It is possible if the doctor is waiting for lab work, but if that is the norm, I would have to find another Rheumatologist. Mine will call back when I am not feeling well within an hour or two and I am grateful for him for that. I need a doctor who will respond to my needs and not wait until whenever. That does not work for me. I would have to have a talk with the doctor so we understand each other about call backs and what you expect. I did. We have to learn to advocate for ourselves and let providers be aware of what we expect in them. Try it and see. Good luck.

Thank you for your help. I am so new at all of this and it has taken me so long to get into a rheumy in the first place that I wasn't quite sure if the no call back was the "norm" as well. I just want to get started with "his plan of attack". Now that my mind has wrapped around all of this RA stuff I am ready to get on with it. I find so much comfort from all of your words of wisdom. Thank you I am calling back right now :)

My Rheumatologist's office has a 48 hour policy. It seems like a loooonnnngggg time when you don't feel well.

I hope u get a call back or some form of response. It sounds to me they prefer to discuss future treatment plan of action in person my dr has always either emailed me right away or if important calls with in an hour. I hope u got an answer when u called back as to what his plan of action for u is. Best of luck. Ann

I would call him again.

i had a rheumy once that I always liked when I was with her in office but she had some sort of aversion to the phone. She would not call patients back. she had a nurse, but No one answered the phone it automatically went to voice mail every time. No office person to answer the phone at all. I would go weeks waiting for someone to call. One time it took three weeks to find out about a medicine reaction I was having and when they finally called back I said yes as my last message told you I stopped taking it two weeks ago because i couldn't get you and I was scared of the side effects I was having and my PHARMACIST recommended I stop taking it until I could talk to my doc.
I talked to her about it and she said she has had that policy for years and it didn't bother anyone else but me. I had to switch rheumy's. You have to be able to depend on them.
Interestingly enough, I was asking a friend of mine later about her mother's rheumy because I was looking for a new one and turns out she used to use mine, too. She said we liked her very much but she just would not return our calls when mother needed her.
so we had to switch.
Go with your gut. Ask them what their return calls policy is and see if they hold up to it.

Depends on the doctor office and the competency of the staff. I can email my RD so it makes life a lot easier. At this point I woulod call every hour and say you will continue to do this until someone gives you the courteousy of a call back. The doc may have never gotten the urgency of the message and it may be under a foot of paperwork on his desk. By day 5 I would be livid, so go get em! Good luck.

Might I say .....you all are life savers!!!!! I called again (7th try) , followed all of your advise and he called back. This is why I love this support group. You all have so much knowledge and experience. You are so kind and supportive of all of us "newbies" I don't feel so all alone in this journey. My Dr. explained that my labs are continually rising but the good news is that the X-rays and sonograms look good so far. So, I am now on mtx, folic acid, omeprasole, and prednisone for 16 days. I just received a reclast infusion for my osteoporosis . I am not going to lie, it makes me very nervous taking all of these meds. I went from 0 to - too many overnight .