UPDATE: New Rheumatologist Appt

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Hi everyone! Sorry it has taken me a couple days to update! I have spent the

past few days getting my son ready to go back to college. He went back today.

While I will miss him tremendously, I will NOT miss the extra laundry, dishes,

and increase of my food bill! hee hee

A little background as to why I decided to see a new rheumy: I have been under

the care of the same rheumatologist since 2001 when it was determined I had

Fibromyalgia. I also had a positive Lyme titer in 2002 or 2003. I have basically

seen my rheumy on an as needed basis when I experienced a flare in my Fibro.

Since having gastric bypass surgery in 2005, my symptoms have only gotten worse

and have been specifically in my hands, fingers, and wrists. My rheumy treated

this as a fibro flare and at no time ordered any more testing. Feb 2007 I tried

Lyrica with horrible results. I gained 15 lb in 4 weeks and my fingers became so

swollen that my family doctor actually treated it as an allergic reaction and

told me to never take it again. Oh and that 15 lb? Still there. :-(

Fast-forward to November 2007. My 38th birthday to be precise. Sharp pain in my

left eye which got worse over several days. Redness and deep, boring pain led me

to seek help from an ophthalmologist. I was diagnosed with Scleritis. About 50%

of those who develop scleritis have some underlying autoimmune disorder. My

ophthalmologist ordered a bunch of bloodwork and referred me back to my rheumy.

My rheumy got me in very quickly and advised me that he had never seen a case of

scleritis without rheumatoid arthritis and ordered more specific testing. I

received a call on Dec 11th that my IgG test came back positive and that I

indeed do have RA. So..... I went to see him to discuss options as far as

medications are concerned. We decided on Plaquenil because I have been having

problems with elevated liver enzymes which r/o methotrexate and one of the meds

was a sulfa derivative and I am allergic to Sulfa.

So.... My concern started after I started asking my present rheumy questions

about my diagnosis and prognosis. I didn't feel as if I received a clear

explanation of my diagnosis. I had more questions than answers. Alot of my

questions were related to being a gastric bypass patient and he could not answer

them. after a week or so of Google and thinking, I decided that I NEEDED to go

somewhere that could possibly help me further so I went to arthritis.org and

decided to look for a rheumy who was close to Philadelphia. I came across Dr.

Elana Eisner, Googled her, and was delighted to see that her practice has a

website and was pleased with what I saw so.....

Friday I traveled to Willow Grove for my appointment with Dr. Elana Eisner at

Rheumatology Specialty Center. The office was very easy to find and my husband

and I ended up with an hour to spare so we found a Panera Bread and had a quick

lunch beforehand!

I first met with Joan Rooney who is the Nurse Practitioner for the practice. I

really liked her. She was VERY thorough and answered all of my questions. One

thing that I thought was particularly interesting is that the whole practice

uses laptop computers rather than charting by hand. She spent a good hour with

me going over present symptoms as well as past history. She then conferred with

Dr. Eisner who came in with Joan to talk to me about the findings of my exam.

To make a long story short, they are repeating all of my bloodwork as well as

ordered Xrays of my hands and wrists. While I do have a positive IgG RA factor,

none of the other blood tests I had run can confirm RA. I still could have RA

but I could also have something else. I def have osteoarthritis but I already

knew that. ;-)

I think what Dr. Eisner most impressed upon me is that while I did have a case

of an inflammatory eye disease and have a positive RA factor, I may not have

full blown RA. Meaning... I may not need to be on Plaquenil. Meaning.... I may

not need any treatment now at all. She and Ms Rooney also answered all of my

questions to my satisfaction which means alot.

I have a follow-up appointment scheduled in February and am anxious to see 1)

what my test results say and 2) how I feel after actually being on the Plaquenil

for 7 weeks at that time.

In all, I was very pleased that I made the decision to travel that far to see a

doctor. I was impressed with the level of professionalism as well as

friendliness of the staff. I am also thankful that the weather held up! We made

it home in an hour and twenty minutes which is a new record for us! *wink*

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