Changing Rheumatoid Arthritis Doctors

Published June 30, 2012 | By Tanya Martin

Good Rheumatoid Arthritis care can be hard to find.

How do you know when it is time to find a new Rheumatoid Arthritis doctor? I guess I have hit my point of no return. Today I made an appointment with a new doctor, another one that was recommended to me. It is time for me to move on, I deal enough with the confusion with this disease, I do not need the stress of conflicting statements from a doctor. Maybe I was spoiled by my Indiana doctor, one that listens, willing to discuss issues and give me his opinion based on the information he knows. I guess I found I had a doctor that was not really listening to me.

What do you look for in a Rheumatologist? How often have you moved on to a new doctor? Where do you turn for advice or a referral of a doctor?

I was really shocked when I was told that Cimzia would not work for me if it didn’t work after the first two shots. From what I have read it can take up to three months. When I mentioned that to the doctor he just said if patients do not noticie at least a 10-20% difference after the first dose of two shots then it probably would not work in three months. When I tried to express I have seen some change but had an extremely stressful week he just went on with he did not think it would work. So I am confused.

But that was not all, I also was notified that I would have to replace the shots they gave me in the office. Originally I was told they were free samples and not to worry about it. This was my second visit just to get shots, double dose of Cimzia. By the time I left the office during the second visit for shots I was told that they had been using other patient’s Cimzia on me and expected to get more free samples from Cimzia but Cimzia cut them off because he had received more than any other doctor in the area. How did this become my problem? Now I owe them 4 shots? Each shot is around $1100 and I have to pay out of pocket and then send into my insurance company for a refund. I do not understand why he would use other patient’s shots and say they were samples in the first place.