A Young Wife’s Tale

Oh, how far we’ve come in our journey with Psoriatic Arthritis. Remember the awful rheumatologist in New Jersey who wanted to take David off the Humira? He didn’t believe David had psoriatic arthritis. David had a great visit with his old Dallas rheumatologist last week. David and I told the doctor how well David has [...]

This rheumatologist did not talk over him. She asked many questions regarding David’s psoriasis, which was nice, since most rheumatologists focus on the arthritis part of psoriatic arthritis, especially since David never complains about his psoriasis. She listened to our answers and repeated back to us what she was hearing. At one point, during family medical history, she asked us to clarify if a relative had irritable or inflammatory bowel syndrome. She didn’t freak out the way other rheumatologists have when he mentioned having taken medications such as Wellbutrin and Celexa.

Towards the end of the appointment, she told David she wants him to get back to exercising. She emphasized that David do an exercise he enjoys. If you enjoy your exercise routine, you’re much more likely to stick with it. She seemed full of common sense.

Hallelujah! David’s bad rheumatologist refilled his Humira. He doesn’t believe David has Psoriatic Arthritis and wants him to discontinue Humira. I was worried he was going to give me a hard time about the refill. We’re still waiting for our new health insurance cards so we can start looking for a new rheumatologist. But, we’ve got another 90 day supply of Humira!

David and I became active on his company’s health insurance Saturday. We had been on the contract company’s health insurance, and the last two months we were on COBRA. I’m really happy to be on the new insurance. The benefits are a lot better.

Now we just need our insurance cards. David’s out of a few prescriptions, and I’m anxious to get on the health insurance company’s website to search for a new rheumatologist.

There’s a couple at our church here in New Jersey with a daughter who has multiple health problems, including lupus, seizures and a form of arthritis. As it turns out, they took her to David’s rheumatologist, the one who doesn’t think he has psoriatic arthritis.

I’m tired of defending David’s diagnosis of Psoriatic Arthritis. He was diagnosed, and rediagnosed by two rheumatologists. A family doctor saw copies of David’s labs and concurred with their diagnosis.

Every doctor we see wants to go over David’s medical history to be sure the diagnosis is accurate. Every nurse and dental hygienist*. It’s a good thing, in that doctors are paying attention. If there is anything else that could possibly be contributing to David’s joint pain, one of these medical professionals will catch it. (We are currently exploring the possibility that David has fibromyalgia in addition to arthritis.)

It’s a bad thing, in that some doctors don’t believe David has arthritis. One doctor even questioned the diagnosis because David is “awful young to have Psoriatic Arthritis.” With that doctor, I chose to ignore all of her comments on arthritis because she obviously knows less about arthritis than I do, and apparently has never heard of juvenile arthritis.