Question about switching doctors

iVillage Member
Registered: 06-11-2004
Question about switching doctors
16
Wed, 02-16-2005 - 2:48pm

Hi Everyone

Happy belated Valentine's Day

Here's a dumb question, but I knew you ladies would understand....

Has anyone ever switched doctors and wished they hadn't? I felt I had a good partnership with my doctor and then I relocated and my new doctor is wanting to take a completely different diagnosis and route and I don't relate to him at all.

I'm really frustrated and "doctor spooked". Does this happen to you?

(I made an appointment to talk to my previous dr. in April.)
Susan

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iVillage Member
Registered: 11-03-2003
Wed, 02-16-2005 - 3:22pm

Susan, no question is ever dumb and yes, we do understand.

Molly

Avatar for beviej
iVillage Member
Registered: 03-25-2003
Wed, 02-16-2005 - 4:02pm
(((((((( Susan))))))))Just yesterday the surgeon i went to for my hand said to me I don`t get that you have RA. Spooked I wanted to smack him around. I knew I had OA in my hands but this guy didn`t seem to want to take the time for me to tell him my med. hystory either. He finally said well yes I guess you can have both WHAT?! Guess?!!!!Well he`s s surgeon what does he know bout RA?! Rite?!I have only had this God awful disease for 12 yrs. But no I will keep him for this suregery. I amjust happy he`s not my rheumy.
AS for regretting and going back,that is your rite. I am sure the Dr would understand or at least he should.Good luck. Bev
iVillage Member
Registered: 03-25-2003
Wed, 02-16-2005 - 4:26pm

Susan,

After 3 years with my first rheumy, we moved and I had to find a new one. After 6 months of every test under the sun, this new rheumy tells me I do not have anything rheumatologically wrong with me!! I was in shock!! No FM, no RA!! nothing!!! I went back to my first rheumy confused and upset. He said I was in remission and I definetly have FM. He told me to find a new doctor, that he wanted me to have one that was closer than he was, but that he would treat me till that happened. He treated me till my eye doctor finally got me in to see a rheumy he recommended. I am still with him and happy. I still like my first one better, but a 2+ hour drive over the Sierra Nevada Mountains to Reno is not worth it. He feels that if my knee were to blow up, I would need immediate attention. So, Susan, I suggest you do go back to your old doctor and then if he is too far away, find a new one!

Good Luck,
Hugs,
Vicki

iVillage Member
Registered: 06-11-2004
Wed, 02-16-2005 - 6:56pm

Thanks for the reassurance. This rheumy said doesn't think that my low back pain is caused by any inflammation - even though it's present on the x-ray. My first rheumy has been insistant on it for the past year and wants to keep it in control. I believe her - everything I have read on spondylitis backs up what she's telling me and the symptoms I'm experiencing.

The second rheumy thinks (and he's not certain) that I have FM and that the low back pain is not worth taking MTX for. I was mad. I mean, this thing HURTS! I quit my job because of it, I can't do the activities I use to be able to do, I can't sit for very long without discomfort, I can't drive for more than 15 minutes at time without discomfort, I can't be on my feet very long....etc, etc. And NSAIDS don't do anything for it.

I am not stupid about this - or my body or medical sciences in general.

Argh! I'm anxious to talk to my first rheumy.
Thanks - I needed to vent!
Susan

iVillage Member
Registered: 11-03-2003
Thu, 02-17-2005 - 2:01pm
Good grief, Bev!

Molly

iVillage Member
Registered: 11-03-2003
Thu, 02-17-2005 - 2:07pm
Susan, I'm glad you vented!

Molly

iVillage Member
Registered: 02-17-2005
Thu, 02-17-2005 - 8:45pm

Yes, I had something similar happen. I had to change doctors because the first one hated me and the second doctor didn't have privledges at my hospital (the only hospital in town). So this is my third RA doc. He has made it pretty clear he thinks I'm doctor shopping for pain pills - but in reality I just wanted someone who didn't loath me because I'm overweight (I live in CO where skinny is the norm). So now I'm stuck with a jerky doctor and I'm afraid to go anywhere else for fear I'll be further labeled. Its very frustrating.

Avin

Avatar for dfyrabnd
iVillage Member
Registered: 03-25-2003
Fri, 02-18-2005 - 3:01am
Susan, a little over a year ago i started having severe lower back pain that nothing seemed to help. I could barely walk and was thinking I'd spend the rest of my life in a wheelchair! My rheumy was sure it wasn't the RA saying it never affects the spinal vertebrae. Hmmmm? X-Rays showed narrowing disc spaces and the Orthopedist I saw said it was Degenerative Disc Disease with acute inflammation. I was sent to a pain specialist and got a series of 3 epidural steroid injections in my lower back.I felt almost immediate relief and within just days the pain was almost completely gone. For the most part my back pain has been practically non-existant since then. I have lately been having some minor pain in my lower back again but nothing like before. I know they limit the amount of steroids they can shoot into you, but if this starts up again I will be racing back for more epidural injections. The injections by the way were very expensive but my insurance covered it all. How good is your insurance? Can you get a referral to a pain specialist? Some doctors just aren't very good at dealing with pain and think a few NSAIDS will do the trick. Keep bugging your rheumy for a referral to pain management. The epidurals don't help everyone but it is definitely worth a try.
iVillage Member
Registered: 11-03-2003
Fri, 02-18-2005 - 1:34pm
Avin, I'm very sorry you're having such problems with doctors.

Molly

iVillage Member
Registered: 11-03-2003
Fri, 02-18-2005 - 1:43pm
Thanks for your post, Diane.

Molly

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