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...
Hi....
So glad I found this group. I been lurking in the background for some time but finally decided to join.
Hope this is not too long.
For quite a long time I've had swelling on my right hand middle finger. Never really gave it much thought until early this year it really started to swell to the point my ring was getting tighter and tighter until I finally had to have my husband cut it off.
All of this seem to start in January when I fell in the backyard on cement stairs onto my knees. They hurt for several months but now they are fine. In Feb-Mar I started waking up with extreme foot pain. And it seems within months I had developed horrible bunions and hammer toes. I also started to get swelling on the right outside of my foot. I could barely walk getting out of the bed in the morning. My GP sent me to a podiatrist who said it was joint pain, bunions and tendinitis. I finally made an appointment for my finger and my GP said it was an arthritis nodule and had me do blood work. Shortly after both hands/fingers started to hurt everyday. I can barely bend them sometimes. My RA factor came back 30.3 and she referred me to an RA doctor. My Mom has RA and osteoporosis. I have Hashimoto's disease. I was also recently ADHD and just started going into menopause....all at once. Talk about hitting the wall.
The other obstacle....In December 2009 I had gastric bypass surgery so I can't take Ibuprofen. Because the pain was so bad I would take it anyway. My GP finally prescribed Tylenol #3 because OTC did absolutely nothing for me. Tylenol #3 barely does as well. And now I am worried because I read and heard many of the RA drugs are not good for gastric bypass. I am on Vyvanse for ADHD and for some odd reason that helps with the pain. I also recently discovered a new nodule on my left hand middle finger knuckle.
We, myself, husband and daughter are a horse family. We trail ride and camp so that's been a real challenge. I really have not shared too much with them about how I hurt or how scared I am. Riding is my life and we recently went camping with our horses at the beach. I was so scared beforehand. How would I life a saddle, ride with pain, get out of bed in the morning early....etc. Well, with the Tylenol I did fine but I still was in pain but nothing can stop me riding.
Today is my first appointment with the new doctor. I have an HMO and there are only 2 RA doctors. I decided to Google the doctor I was seeing and was not happy with his only 2 Yelp reviews....These...
"I was referred to him by my Health Insurance (which I've had excellent coverage). I had had recurring pain in my elbow whenever I work out a certain way with my weights and went to him. As soon as I sat down in his office he had this stern and indifferent expression as if he'd already made his mind up that he was going to deny me treatment even though I had had it in the past with my other doctor from another area.
I had received a steroid injection in my elbow before as diagnosed by my other doctor and warned that I couldn't have it often because it causes some "internal bleaching" of the skin so I could only get it every few years; I was fine with that. As soon as I told this doctor my history he decided to "shut me down" and discourage my treatment and made some asinine homeopathic-type self-treatment that I should just not lift weights and that weight lifting is over-rated and hardly effective at burning fat/calories?!
I couldn't believe that this doctor was telling me that EVEN YOUNGER DOCTORS agreed with his position that if I wanted to build strength and be well conditioned, ditch the weights and just play tennis?! or ride a bike?! I don't believe this. I've always had a distrust and dislike for most doctors in general but ever since I moved to this area (Antelope Valley) most of the doctors that I've met don't seem to have a real knowledge of their own field. My brother's an oncologist in the military and if you ask him any basic question regarding medical treatment rather than feign ignorant, he would become smug like most doctors and evade or give some elusive answer that's completely irrelevant to the question.
Dr. ***** is a prime example of an out of touch quack that's just trying to make it to retirement and not really interested in affirming his Hippocratic oath and providing treatment to a patient who has a verifiable history of pain and dissuades continued treatment."
And this one:
"WARNING TO ALL PATIENTS WHO MAY SEE THIS DOCTOR. This is a 100% true story. I was referred to this ANGRY GERMAN DOCTOR (who will actually raise his voice in German at you if you have any questions). But he KNOWS NOTHING. I came in with documentation and even simple faxes would have done but he takes ONE glance at me and tells me it's another illness I have NO SYMPTOMS OF AT ALL. I tell him I have LUPUS (SLE) that my kidneys have already been through failure and that I have R.A. s severe I lock up and need heat and assistance STAT. He said and quote: "Oh, I don't care." OMG! You wanna doc that takes one look at you and knows what you have?! QUACK, QUACK, QUACK! No, don't see this cold stoic buffoon because THEN he wanted ME to get a hold of ALL my families medications and bring them in!!! OMG THAT IS AGAINST THE HIPPA LAW!!! Needless to say, I am filing a serious grievance with this doctor who has no place practicing medicine. IF YOU WANNA DIE....then go here and see him. IF YOU WANNA LIVE...ask for a second opinion as I did. SHAME ON YOU DR. WEBER, WHO DO YOU THINK YOU ARE?! Somebody here must have watched a few too many episodes of HOUSE MD lmao...now he thinks he is Dr.House! Just deny him DON'T WASTE YOUR TIME OR EFFORT you will leave UPSET, possibly in tears and you will feel lost and used. DON'T SEE THIS RECKLESS DOCTOR it's time for him to move on to filing paper work in the halls of HDMG! Don't say I didn't warn you all."
So I took advice from my DD who is in the medical field to make an appointment now with the OTHER doctor who has good reviews but he is not available until Dec 9....So at least I can start treatment. Yes, I am really afraid to see this doctor today but my husband is going with me and he will not take any baloney from this doctor is he feels he is treating me bad.
Sorry if this was long....I just needed the support.
So glad I found this group. I been lurking in the background for some time but finally decided to join.
Hope this is not too long.
For quite a long time I've had swelling on my right hand middle finger. Never really gave it much thought until early this year it really started to swell to the point my ring was getting tighter and tighter until I finally had to have my husband cut it off.
All of this seem to start in January when I fell in the backyard on cement stairs onto my knees. They hurt for several months but now they are fine. In Feb-Mar I started waking up with extreme foot pain. And it seems within months I had developed horrible bunions and hammer toes. I also started to get swelling on the right outside of my foot. I could barely walk getting out of the bed in the morning. My GP sent me to a podiatrist who said it was joint pain, bunions and tendinitis. I finally made an appointment for my finger and my GP said it was an arthritis nodule and had me do blood work. Shortly after both hands/fingers started to hurt everyday. I can barely bend them sometimes. My RA factor came back 30.3 and she referred me to an RA doctor. My Mom has RA and osteoporosis. I have Hashimoto's disease. I was also recently ADHD and just started going into menopause....all at once. Talk about hitting the wall.
The other obstacle....In December 2009 I had gastric bypass surgery so I can't take Ibuprofen. Because the pain was so bad I would take it anyway. My GP finally prescribed Tylenol #3 because OTC did absolutely nothing for me. Tylenol #3 barely does as well. And now I am worried because I read and heard many of the RA drugs are not good for gastric bypass. I am on Vyvanse for ADHD and for some odd reason that helps with the pain. I also recently discovered a new nodule on my left hand middle finger knuckle.
We, myself, husband and daughter are a horse family. We trail ride and camp so that's been a real challenge. I really have not shared too much with them about how I hurt or how scared I am. Riding is my life and we recently went camping with our horses at the beach. I was so scared beforehand. How would I life a saddle, ride with pain, get out of bed in the morning early....etc. Well, with the Tylenol I did fine but I still was in pain but nothing can stop me riding.
Today is my first appointment with the new doctor. I have an HMO and there are only 2 RA doctors. I decided to Google the doctor I was seeing and was not happy with his only 2 Yelp reviews....These...
"I was referred to him by my Health Insurance (which I've had excellent coverage). I had had recurring pain in my elbow whenever I work out a certain way with my weights and went to him. As soon as I sat down in his office he had this stern and indifferent expression as if he'd already made his mind up that he was going to deny me treatment even though I had had it in the past with my other doctor from another area.
I had received a steroid injection in my elbow before as diagnosed by my other doctor and warned that I couldn't have it often because it causes some "internal bleaching" of the skin so I could only get it every few years; I was fine with that. As soon as I told this doctor my history he decided to "shut me down" and discourage my treatment and made some asinine homeopathic-type self-treatment that I should just not lift weights and that weight lifting is over-rated and hardly effective at burning fat/calories?!
I couldn't believe that this doctor was telling me that EVEN YOUNGER DOCTORS agreed with his position that if I wanted to build strength and be well conditioned, ditch the weights and just play tennis?! or ride a bike?! I don't believe this. I've always had a distrust and dislike for most doctors in general but ever since I moved to this area (Antelope Valley) most of the doctors that I've met don't seem to have a real knowledge of their own field. My brother's an oncologist in the military and if you ask him any basic question regarding medical treatment rather than feign ignorant, he would become smug like most doctors and evade or give some elusive answer that's completely irrelevant to the question.
Dr. ***** is a prime example of an out of touch quack that's just trying to make it to retirement and not really interested in affirming his Hippocratic oath and providing treatment to a patient who has a verifiable history of pain and dissuades continued treatment."
And this one:
"WARNING TO ALL PATIENTS WHO MAY SEE THIS DOCTOR. This is a 100% true story. I was referred to this ANGRY GERMAN DOCTOR (who will actually raise his voice in German at you if you have any questions). But he KNOWS NOTHING. I came in with documentation and even simple faxes would have done but he takes ONE glance at me and tells me it's another illness I have NO SYMPTOMS OF AT ALL. I tell him I have LUPUS (SLE) that my kidneys have already been through failure and that I have R.A. s severe I lock up and need heat and assistance STAT. He said and quote: "Oh, I don't care." OMG! You wanna doc that takes one look at you and knows what you have?! QUACK, QUACK, QUACK! No, don't see this cold stoic buffoon because THEN he wanted ME to get a hold of ALL my families medications and bring them in!!! OMG THAT IS AGAINST THE HIPPA LAW!!! Needless to say, I am filing a serious grievance with this doctor who has no place practicing medicine. IF YOU WANNA DIE....then go here and see him. IF YOU WANNA LIVE...ask for a second opinion as I did. SHAME ON YOU DR. WEBER, WHO DO YOU THINK YOU ARE?! Somebody here must have watched a few too many episodes of HOUSE MD lmao...now he thinks he is Dr.House! Just deny him DON'T WASTE YOUR TIME OR EFFORT you will leave UPSET, possibly in tears and you will feel lost and used. DON'T SEE THIS RECKLESS DOCTOR it's time for him to move on to filing paper work in the halls of HDMG! Don't say I didn't warn you all."
So I took advice from my DD who is in the medical field to make an appointment now with the OTHER doctor who has good reviews but he is not available until Dec 9....So at least I can start treatment. Yes, I am really afraid to see this doctor today but my husband is going with me and he will not take any baloney from this doctor is he feels he is treating me bad.
Sorry if this was long....I just needed the support.
Ask your GP to run some additional tests for you. Like sed rate, c reactive protein, and anti-ccp. Those give GREAT information. Also, assuming they come back elevated (and even if they don't), you could get your doctor to prescribe you a very low dose prednisone (5mg or less) and see if it helps you a lot. Or even a "prednisone burst pack" which starts high and tapers down. It can really help you during this time. Just be sure to be off it a couple of weeks before the appointment. But it will really help for the next 6 weeks.
I did finally see the doctor yesterday. He was not as bad as his reviews said but he was very "to the point" and possibly a little old school.
He told me to have my GP prescribe me antibiotics first and try for a month. He said sometimes bacteria builds up in the gut after gastric bypass that can cause RA symptoms. He was doubtful due to my positive RA factor and my Mother having RA but feels it is worth a shot. Weird he didn't prescribe them for me.
When I got home DD told me most likely he went that route first because the insurance might deny a RA medication without trying something else first. Crazy. We're self employed...glad those high health insurance premiums are doing their job. Sheeeesh.
I do,now,however, feel much better. If I could only lose the 65 pounds.
BTW, I operate a goat farm, have a full time e job, and am building my house. Some days I can barely feed the critters , but most days I make do.
Demand care. Injectable mtx and infusions should not hurt your gastro. You may have to travel to see a better doc.
You sound like me, hands full but in the end it's all worth it! I am up every morning at 445 AM...Monday through Friday. Have coffee, watch news, get into the office (at home)about 6 AM...get husband off to work then get out muck and feed 3 stalls/horses, clean and feed 2 goats (pygmy's) I love them! Goats are such fun little tricksters then in to feed 2 Chi's, One Maltese, 2 cats...LOL Then I turn my phones on at 8:30 and off at 5:00.
I actually have a doc appt with a second doctor on Dec 9....and shopping new insurance for 2016. I live in a kind of rural area so it's hard to find a good doc....plus I have an HMO. Gotta keep looking.
I'm sending you well wishes and hopes your doctor will be thorough in his testing.
Thanks Gildedlily. Same to you. Hope you find peace in all this. Glad we can all be here for each other.
I'm sorry to hear that you had such a bad experience with this German doctor. I'm also German and I do understand that some of the older doctors philosophy is not what Americans are accustomed to but at the same time I do not like rude doctors either and I have had one in the beginning myself she was so rude that I cried leaving her office and this after I was first diagnosed there is no reason for doctors to have bad bedside manners they do need to show a little bit of compassion for what we are going through with all the pain.
I wish you well and hope that you will find really soon. I love horses also and was an equestrian rider in Germany I miss it a lot but with ra it's hard for my back.
Bigi
The German doctor was not as bad as the reviews made him seem. I'm half German myself. Mexican/German...like Frida the artist :)
I still ride. It's nice to find fellow equestrians!
I just like a doctor with an open mind who keeps up on the lastest and greatest. I think we all do.