My New Rheumy Appointment

[Guest guest]

Hello All,

I finally had an appointment with a new Rheumy on Wednesday. As I told you

I've had a bit of a struggle in finding a Rheumy who is aggressive enough with

my disease.

Here is basically what he told me. The main areas of pain I have is my jaws,

neck, right hip and right knee. My knee only hurts because the pain is traveling

down from my hip, there seems to not be a problem with my knee. He told me the

problem he has with putting me on big drugs like metho and enbrel is that it

really will not help the places I have pain in, and the damage they would cause

my liver and the side effects are too great. All the places I have pain in are

permanently damaged, I need surgery on my neck and jaws and most definetely a

hip replacement. I have NO cartilidge left in my right hip joint. But he said

that we are going to have a hard time finding a surgeon who would do the surgery

on me at such a young age. And I did give him the argument about baby's and

children having hip replacements and he said he knows that but it will still be

rough finding a doctor. He did take more X-rays and he is going to compare them

to the ones I had a year ago to show

that I qualify for the surgery. And he is thinking of putting me on pain

killers since that is really the only thing other than surgery that will help me

with pain.

So it was a good visit but a bit disheartening because I know that I have a

long ways to go before I get any real help.

Thanks for listening,

[Editor's Note: , I'm glad you finally got in to see a rheumy you

believe is aggressive. It bothers me, however, that he won't put you on MTX or

Enbrel because while those medications cannot reverse the damage you already

have, they can help stem the progression of the disease so that you don't get PA

in places you don't already have it - and that's important! In addition, while

some people do develop liver problems on MTX, the majority of people taking it

do NOT. I don't know why he has assumed that you will be one of the minority

that would. So, for what it is worth, I think you would be wise to seek out

another rheumy and get a second opinion as well as discuss the points I just

made with the first rheumy. Just my opinion... Kathy F.]