New doctors are always a tense encounter, even if there are no medical complications in your life.
I was both excited and nervous when my Rheumatologist appointment finally came around ( had to wait almost 2 months from when I called for an appointment). I know that this will be the primary doctor I work with for pain management and staying as active and strong as possible. In my mind, I wanted her to be well informed, have things to teach me, as well as listening to my point of view, research and experiences thus far.
I think it will work out well. She was informed about EDS, and told me one or two things I did not know. She taught me that my right hip popping and clicking( which it has done since my teen years) may not be a tendon problem, but might be joint deformation or damage. We are getting an XRay as a baseline, so we can track any changes and better anticipate a course. She did a thorough joint exam and confirmed that the joints where I currently have the worst pain were cases of tendinitis, and that I should treat any new points as we move forward as if it were tendinitis, and not just a general ache to ensure faster recovery. Some of it is in joints that have been active for so long that I did not realize it was an issue- I had just adapted to it. It was good to have it pointed out . I say once again- thank $Diety for refreezable cold packs ;-0
She was a little too fast to offer meds and I had to push harder than I liked for alternative treatments. It was good not to have to argue when I asked for two different doses of Naproxen ( wanted a lower one for good days), but kind of scary how fast she was writing a script for more serious pain killers. I got it filled, and hopefully it will be a bottle that just sits in the cupboard unused for a long time. Once I pushed for things to try to try to improve, she wrote a script for PT as well. [side note: I have had my PT eval and have my first session in the pool next week. I will write more on PT after that- but the eval session has me very excited] Time will tell, and hopefully we will get on the same wavelength quickly.
I was very encouraged by the fact that she was excited to have me see an EDS expert in June, and that she purposefully made our next appointment for AFTER that point in time, so she could learn what he thought and take that into consideration for my treatment plan. Hopefully his words will help shake her out of a “you know we can not cure this” mentality and up into my thought path of “can’t be cured, but impact can be alleviated”.
All in all, it is nice to have a new rheumy, and I think we might get along OK.
