OT(ish) Opinions appreciated

At my last GI appoint ( which I've prattled on about elsewhere) we touched on how I'm doing joint pain wise. The Humira is working decently, not as good initially, but still OK. My GI is on the fence with upping my Humira dose, given my CRP levels are going down, so I'm sticking with the bi-weekly, however, he suggested I see he Rhuemy doc and we will revisit doses along with another CRP test because I was mini flaring when I took the last one, doing better now.

The Rhuemy I had prior, she was decent, transferred to a Kaiser in another state, so I have to start with a new one. Sighhhhh, always something. My choices are limited with Kaiser, as everything is in network, HMO style.

I looked at the mini bio's of their Rhuemy docs and saw one that looked like a good fit for me, nice try. Nope, they gave me appoint with this guy, here is his mission statement:


Every patient is different, and each one needs an approach suited to them. I very much like for patients to be involved in decision making, and my treatment plan is based on what I sense from them.
However, I know that many patients need more guidance and have no idea what rheumatology is or what we are treating. I like to offer choices, but I am always happy to suggest, if desired, what I would recommend.

Hmmm? What do all think? Not much to go on and maybe it's just me but the "some patients need more guidance and have no idea" part bugs me a bit. I called back and asked if I could switch to dr I wanted and was told they assign patients according to which doc will help best, lol, the tone was code for " yes hon, we did check your medical records and its a train wreck of disease, so we are putting you with this doctor".

I hope I'm wrong, really hope he's not one of those doctors who steam rolls anything you have to say. His reviews are pretty decent, a couple of negative ones that said he seemed disinterested and not in tune with patient needs. These are reviews Kaiser posts, so they could have cherry picked a lot of good ones and thrown in a couple of negs to make it looked balanced, who knows. I'll find out at my appt next Wed. Never a dull moment.

The previous one dx'd my psoriatic arthritis, took the time to explain difference of that and RA and further explained the type of psoriatic arthritis I have. She was good with my questions and concerns and thoroughly discussed treatments, the concerns of biologics, although, I wasn't ready for them last I saw her. The p arthritis started flaring pretty significantly in Fed-March, along with my UC, which pushed me towards deciding to do the biologic.

I'm sort of leaning that I may need to up my Humira dose to weekly, especially since my GI doc, while not fully on board, is open to it. I'm not thrilled with doing that but I'm not getting as good results for the whole two weeks for my joint pain between doses as I did initially. My next dose is tomorrow but was ready for it yesterday, joints are ouchy.

I guess, I just hope this new guy is receptive to my concerns and feelings about doing what's best to keep improving my UC and joint pain and doesn't blow me off. Humira is not a cheap drug and being on HMO insurance...you bet cost is an issue.

I dunno, this guy will probably be fine, just hate doctor changes.

@Zengirrl, thanks, decided not to stress out about it, just another freak'n doctor to deal with, no prob. If we all got a nickel for everything we had to deal with, doctors and hassling with our medical probs, we'd all be millionaires.

I got other medical fish to fry...

Now I'm pissed at my primary care doctor. When I had my CRP test, I was due to have thyroid test, so since I was at lab, went ahead and had it done. It was a smidge out of range, the min range is .34 and my value is .29 My PCP just sent me a note she was changing my med dosage according to my test, no discussion about it, nada. 😡😡😡😡 Thyroid med changes are difficult for me and being barely out of range like that, especially since I have no symptoms, I don't see the point of wreaking havoc by changing my meds....fatigue, worse sinus probs, heavier periods. Ya, thanks a lot lady, we've discussed these things before. It's obvious you didn't bother to consult my chart or consider all the other medical sh$t I have going on.

Sighhhh, sent her an email back asking if we could discuss before just changing my meds.

Rant over, time to go jack myself with Humira. The fun continues. 😒