Another odd appointment

daffy2

On Monday I had a rheumatology appointment, to discuss as I thought the results of a recent X-ray suggesting an inflammatory cause for the OA in my hand. However it turned out to be about telling me I should have Prolia injections for my osteoporosis, and telling me I was at high risk of fractures just doing normal activities. No questions about what brought me there, virtually no attention paid to arthritis, some perfunctory examination. She was a pleasant person, but couldn't seem to get beyond the OP. It was all most unsettling, not least because I went through all that horror story stuff 2 years ago when I was first diagnosed, really don't need to re-visit it, and haven't ruled out drugs, I'm working with my GP on the best way forward. What seems bizarre though is that she knew I had fallen downstairs, as she'd asked about the multi-coloured face.If her version of my situation is correct shouldn't she have sent me off to be x-rayed to establish if I had fractured?
Not a good start to a week that's not turning out to be one of the better ones...

stickywicket

Oh daffy, it never rains.....

I can only assume she'd seen the x-ray and decided yours was not an inflammatory arthritis but it would have been nice to be told. I expect, being taken by surprise and in your current situation, you didn't think to ask.

It's good that communication was there so that she knew about your fall and I can understand her wanting to push the osteoporosis meds in the circumstances even though I, too, have refused alendronic acid. Should she have sent you for an x-ray? I don't know. I think whoever dealt with you initially should. Now, every department seems keen to push the medical buck elsewhere.

Do you have a follow-up appointment or is that it?

daffy2

Sticky I have no idea what happens now. This appointment was a referral from my GP as a result of something mentioned in a radiographer's report on wrist and ankle Xrays I had done at the beginning of the summer(at the GP's behest not rheumy).
I have a GP appt in a fortnight so perhaps I'll find out more, if she has a report by then, and perhaps she will also have a report from the ortho triage farce in August(as of last week it still hadn't been received).It's all very frustrating - I want to find out as much as I can about the arthritis and scoliosis in order to be able to make informed decisions about how best to manage problems that occur, and the GP is trying to help by making referrals, but if those appointments are just going to be medics having a go at me for not currently taking OP drugs then I'm not going to get very far. It's not even as if what I was being told was any help, in fact some of it was just plain wrong in both cases. It's not very helpful for the GP either, whose job it is to manage these conditions as they are not the concern of hospital clinics.

stickywicket

It sounds as if you have a good relationship with your GP and that, itself, is very valuable. It also sounds as if, between you, you will eventually hammer out good and useful solutions. I can hear and understand your frustration but wheels do tend to grind along much more slowly than we'd wish. In the interim I'm afraid I can only suggest a tripe poultice which might do as much good and less harm than other stuff

dreamdaisy

Oh Daffy, I too can hear the frustration in your words and remember those feelings very well. As Sticky said things grind along in their own good time, the NHS can react very speedily with emergencies but the day-to-day stuff can sometimes proceed slower than an arthritic tortoise. :roll: It is difficult when there is more than one condition to be taken into account, then factor in the who-deals-with-what aspect of it all and we, the ones who matter, get lost. DD