RE: [SPAM] Appt. with New Rheum. and Hand Specialist

[Guest guest]

Unfortunately RA can be very hard to

diagnose and treat. The most telling thing to me in your post is that

Humira helped you for 4 years. I have heard of people getting bad batches

of biologics that somewhere were allowed to warm up too much and are not

effective. For some people getting a new batch is all it takes to make it

start working again, while for others their body no longer seems to respond to

it. Usually if one TNF medication stops working the rheumatologist will

switch to another one to see if that works better. Has this been tried,

and if so, what happened? There should be more to this story.

It sounds like you were not happy with one

rheumatologist and recently tried to get a second opinion from another doctor

and didn’t get much satisfaction. I don’t understand what

additional tests could reveal that would change the fact that Humira once

worked well for you. Doctors have a limited amount of time for each

patient and perhaps the latest doctor (like the hand specialist) didn’t

bother to look at the information available to her. Perhaps you gave her

too much information and did not boil it down to the few critical items that

she really needed to know. This does not excuse her from doing at least a

cursory review of your file before the first appointment but it would help to give

her a better chance to provide good treatment.

Another thing that helps many people to

learn they have an inflammatory disease like RA is to use a strong

anti-inflammatory like Prednisone. If that helps to relieve symptoms it

is likely that inflammation is involved. Have you tried an

anti-inflammatory, and if so how and what were the results? Of course, if

you have joint damage from lack of effective treatment the anti-inflammatory

will not help that.

I’m sorry that you haven’t

been able to get effective treatment. It sounds like you need to find a

doctor with whom you can work effectively. Also I am not medically

trained so remember that my comments above should in no way substitute for competent

medical advice. God bless.

From: Rheumatoid Arthritis [mailto:Rheumatoid Arthritis ] On Behalf Of

Sent: Monday, June 16, 2008 9:46

AM

Rheumatoid Arthritis

Subject:

[sPAM] Appt. with New Rheum. and Hand Specialist

Well, I guess it went okay. I guess I am never going

to get what happened to me

5 years ago...diagnosed on sight and given aggressive drugs to help me. They

just don't

make them like that any more.

The Rheum. examined me (not enough I thought) and went over all my BW and X ray

and MRI reports. She believes I have some type of Arthritis, possibly related

to my

UC. I said, " So, you don't think I have RA? " , and she said,

" Well, how can I say that, I

have only seen you once? "

She wants X-rays done of my hips and sacroiliac joints and MORE BW and then

said

she would see me in 6 weeks, sooner if something was extremely off. She said

that if

I needed a biologic that I would need a full Blood Work-up anyway.

My nightmare continues. I had a diagnosis of RA in 2003!!! If Humira helped me

for 4 years, who really cares what it is? No one cares (docs) that I can't work

and

that this has been dragging on. Like, I tell them I can't work, my unemployment

is running

out, I am the only breadwinner in our family, and they don't care, there is no

sense of

urgency with them!

She thought it couldn't hurt to see the hand specialist the next day (Thurs.)

but thought a biopsy of my nodules might be unusual.

So, I went and felt the consultation was pretty much a complete waste of time.

I

went through all the trouble to get him all my MRI's, X-rays, and reports as

requested and it was obvious he never looked at them. Nor did he read my chart.

He comes in and says, " So you're a healthy woman, what are you here

for? " I

said, " I am not a healthy woman " , and then he starts to read my

chart!

Basically he said that he felt he would only biopsy if no doctor had clue what

was wrong with me and that I should get a second opinion. When I told him I had

one

yesterday he said he knew who she was and that she was good. He said that the

likelihood

of cancer was very small and he agreed my hands definitely looked deformed. My

other

doctors don't seem to think that is a big deal!

This was really weird, I don't know if he was testing me or what but when I

told

him that I was here to have my nodules examined and possibly biopsied he said,

" What are

nodules? " I started to explain, haltingly, b/c I was in shock and then he

said, " Wait, let

me save you the trouble, I'll read your MRI report. "

I kid you not about this visit! I guess I am going to wind up going to the

Rheumatologist I saw yesterday as I obviously have to pick one, take her BW and

X-rays

and wait for 6 weeks to see her again.

After this appt. today, I got in bed, ate half a pint of Ben and Jerry's and

took a nap.

Meanwhile, my hands go untreated...

Thanks for reading,