Today's Doctor Visit

Confused, Annoyed and Frustrated

Granted most folks don’t enjoy going to the doctor.  I came very close to canceling this appointment as I had a list of other things that I could have done.  Talladega, 8^th grade community service project, laundry…well you get my drift, just about anything beats a trip to a medical professional!

Since appointments are hard to reschedule with my doctor I decided to go ahead, spend the $20 bucks on gas and create another medical bill. This was my first visit since starting the biologic cimzia.  And since I hadn’t been on any type of DMARD for about four months, I’ve noticed a good bit of inflammation and pain in several (or most) of my large joints.

My current doctor is really young, like maybe 12.  Not really, but isn’t it weird when you finally start to get older than the doctors?  I wanted to ask for his driver’s license or school ID.  He is very thorough and seems to at least take more interest in my overall well-being than the previous doctor.

However, when I went through my current state of RAD…severe pain in knees, hips, lower back, shoulders and wrist, his response kind of put me off.  He said that the resulting pain was not from the RAD inflammation but due to osteo damage.  Duh…what?  I was a bit confused.  He said if I had insurance, he would send me for physical therapy and maybe injections in the knees.  I was thinking more like can’t you do some X-rays and check for damage first?

Apparently I haven’t been exercising enough either.  I have orders to walk 10 minutes a day. EVERYDAY.  And, he said not to sit for more than 15-20 minutes at a time, which isn’t a problem unless you are driving somewhere.  Maybe he and my hubby are conspiring against me to get all that laundry caught up.

He also recommended that I start water aerobics/swimming when possible.  I will definitely be joining the swim place as soon as we get relocated.  Aleve for pain, prednisone as needed and continue the cimzia to give it more time to work on the RAD.

All of this cost $88 bucks and two hours of my time.  Maybe I am just being an impatient patient.  But I want to feel better. NOW.  RIGHT NOW.  Is that so wrong?????

Yes, this is a whiny post…hoping my fellow RAD rheumies can give me some advice and my well friends will hunt me down and gently kick me in the rear!