A Visit with My Rheumatologist

Today I went to see my rheumatologist for the first time since February.

I told her that up until last week, I've been feeling progressively worse, and that the week before last had been the worst week since I'd been on heavy-duty meds and, in fact, I had been going to tell her that I thought the meds weren't working very well. But last week I had a really good week (figures! just before I go to the doctor!), so that's changed.

She checked me over and I have no inflammation.

My bloodwork's been fine.

Confirmation that I have Raynaud's disease – check.

She asked about infections – nope, none.

When I mentioned my drippy nose, she said, "Allergies."

I said, "No. I don't have allergies, and it only began when I started the Methotrexate and Enbrel and that was in the winter."

When I mentioned pain, she asked where, and I told her. I said I've been having more pain now overall than I had, other than right at the beginning. And I told her about getting back into exercising on a regular basis.

She said that the pain was from exercise and muscle soreness and getting back into it.

I said, "No. This pain is from RA. I know what exercise pain feels like and this is different. I'm on the elliptical, and first my left foot hurts, then my right foot, then my left knee starts, then my left elbow. It's pain because of the RA."

Not to mention I have the pain all the time and had it before I started exercising.

Surprising response from her, I think (although, in the interest of full disclosure, I hadn't said exactly when I started exercising and when – exactly – I started having the pain).

Don't get me wrong – I like my rheumatologist. She immediately launched an aggressive attack on my RA in term of meds, etc. She answers my questions. She responds to my e-mails. She renews my prescriptions without making me come in for an appointment.

I just think it's odd she thought my pain was the result of my renewed exercise.

Of course, the appointment was way too short, and I thought of all sorts of things I should have said after. Not things I wanted to cover off: I had all my questions, and we went over them all, and I got all those questions answered and got all the prescriptions I needed renewed. What I mean is things I thought of in response to the conversation. Things like, if the exercise is the cause of the pain and not the RA, what explains what happened the other night? It was the Thursday night of that bad week. I was just sitting at my dining table, not moving my feet at all, and I'd been there a while. All of a sudden, I felt a sharp pain in my left foot, so sharp I gasped out loud and then started crying.

That's not from exercise. That's from RA.