Need to find a new rheumy- in lots of pain everywhere- please give your opinions!

Hi all, I've been putting off finding a new rheumy for months, but I'm going to have to. I wanted to explain my situation to y'all and ask for your opinions on everything. The current rheumy I see doesn't take insurance- or takes a couple of very obscure insurances. Whenever I would see her, my co-pay would be like $160.00. Financial times being what they are, we can no longer afford doctor bills like that. I kept seeing her because she is very nice and I felt like she believed me and was actually helping me. She diagnosed my fibro and my RA. However, there are certain things that she seemed to ignore that I thought was kindof odd. All my fingers have been becoming deformed, especially my middle fingers. I actually had someone ask me if I had broken my finger before and was that why it is so bent! I also have ridges and pits in my fingernails, which I thought might indicate psoriatic arthritis, but she was dismissive of that as well. I mean, my thumb nails have horizontal and vertical ridges and little tiny pits in them. She actually told me at one point that "everyone's fingers start to bend as they get older"! I also have little white bumps under the skin on some of my knuckles which could be nodules? But she didn't seem to think that they were anything to be concerned about.
For a long time she kept pushing prescription NSAIDs on me, and I think I must be resistant to them ,because none of them work. I have tried Cymbalta, Wellbutrin, Effexor, etc. and most of them made me agitated after a while. Finally a couple of months ago, she gave me a prescription for Vicodin over the phone, and then refilled it for me one month later. But I have the feeling she's going to want me to come in before she gives me any more. It works for a short while, and of course, I worry that she is going to think I am just drug-seeking if I ask for more or something stronger.
So I need to find a new rheumy that is in my insurance, and I'm nervous about blowing them away with all my pain issues when I first see them. I was reading an article on "How to be a good patient" and one of the things it said was, don't overwhelm your doc with a huge list of ailments. They like to deal with one or 2 things at a time instead of a bunch of different symptoms. Which I understand, but if I went to the doctor every time I had a different symptom, I would be there every week!
I mentioned in another post about an old hip injury that has been bothering me, and that is going to be one of my major issues. Also, my knees and ankles bother me sometimes, and my lower back, and my elbows, and of course the fingers. So do I just ask the doc if I need to get everything x-rayed? I mean, I am curious to see what all is going on in my joints. I have osteoarthritis in my neck, and I'
m pretty sure I have TMJ, and my ankles click and pop whenever I walk up stairs. But I have no idea how much to tell a new doc on the first visit. How do you get all your issues addressed at the doctor?

Moggy why hasn't she put you on methotrexate??? I mean its been around for 20 years and is suppose to stop all that joint deformity from happening!
I mean you could have a mixture of osteo and RA but the disease sounds as if it is still active. My Dad has OA and his fingers are bent with it but my student with RA has horribly deformed fingers, RA tends to be more based on the knuckles, so her fingers have terribly swollen knuckle joints.
Any way it sounds as if you need to see a new rheumy and at least get another opinion and as you said an x ray or MRI to see just how your joints are progressing.
My local doctor deals with my pain meds, I only get the RA meds off the rheumy, but she knows what I'm on.
Go see your local doc and get a new referral to someone who can help you. No point wasting your money. listening isn't enough you need treatment...best wishes, golitho

This question is for golitha...why do you get your pain meds from your reg doc when the rheumycan give them to you?

Moggy...Ihave just recently been diagnosed with RA so far the only major problem i have are my shoulders hurting.....sometimes i can't lift ;my arms at all.....the smaller problem is my knee...it feels like its going to break at times......the one thing that confuses me is that when diagnosed the doc said that if you have symptoms on one side you will also get them on the other side....which I have not......honestly moggy I think you  need a new rheumy one that has a great reputation..i work in the health field and asked coworkers and some of the docs for a referral....i have one of the best rheumys around....he explained it all to me and he listens.....and treats as needed......good luck with it....

Hi Moggy, so sorry to hear about what you had been through, Having arthritis is not a fun thing and it really hurts, I have arthritis and I know exactly what you are going through. as far as I know, wellbutrin is an antidepressant, my doctor gave it to me when I was having my anxiety and I got a seizure by taken that meds. scare the heck out of my sisters and luckly I was with them at the time the seizure happen.

however, the NSAID should work for you for the arthritis, but you might have to take a higher dosage. but if the meds really does not work, there are a few TNF meds out there that works great for RA. Remicade, Humira, samponi, enbrel are injections. they are administer once a month and you be good for the rest of the month until your next infusion. they are extremely expensive and cause thousands of dollars per usage, but most of the insurance should cover it and there are some co-pay assistance out there that helps out, such as Remistart for Remicade, the healthwell foundation, and patient access network, etc. They can help out with the reimbursement of your co-pay.

as for looking for a new doctor, the best is to call your insurance and ask them which doctor is on their network near by your area. good luck

Definately worth all the hassle Moggy! Get that energy together and talk to people, see if your local doctor can recommend someone?
Sunshine, my GP is more readily available so I originally went to her for help with pain, she sent me on to a PM clinic and they gave her their recomendations and she has been dealing with me ever since. My rheumy is kept in the loop and is happy for me to be on the patches.
I'm in what is called a shared care plan. So all my specialists know what I'm prescribed etc. As I have gynae issues as well as a bad chest. That way no one prescribes something that upsets my other meds or whatever.
It works well for me, goltiho

I guess I had such a bad experience, I caught pneumonia and so had to come off all my rheumy meds except prednisone while I was recovering from the illness, so of course I flared badly. Had costochondritis along with pleuracy and bady needed pain killers just to breathe.
After that experience they just kept up the scripts. I've never really become pain free again, but have times like now where I'm more manageable and I'm wondering if I can come off my pain patches.
You could ask for codeine to go with the tylenol, to help you out. They were always happy to prescribe me panadeine forte here in Aus , not sure what the equivalent is for you. But worth an ask.
I guess if you're in pain they can tell whether their meds are working where if its masked they can't? Could be their reasoning?
I just don't know Sunshine, write a pain diary down, what you can and can't do. That might wake them up to how bad you are.
Best of luck, golitho

Thanks for all the replies everyone! I wanted to give you an update and answer some questions.
Sjkly, No, my doc didn't tell me that Wellbutrin, Effexor, or Cymbalta were NSAIDs. My rheumy put me on Cymbalta for fibro. My psychiatrist put me on Effexor and Wellbutrin when we were trying to find an antideppressant that worked for me.
I do not take NSAIDS as it seems I am resistant to them. I have tried Tylenol, Advil, Aleve, and several prescription ones. They work for a short time- a week- and then stop, or they don't work at all and give me a horrible side effect like diarrhea. I also have to be careful which ones I take because I have high blood pressure.

So I went to see my psychiatrist earlier for a med check. I asked her about the pain medication. She said that my regular doc should be able to give me pain meds and that I didn't need to see my rheumy all the time. So a couple days ago I went to my regular doc for some hip pain I've been having (that's a different post). She said that it could be bursitis, and that I should get an x-ray, and that she would write me a scrip for an NSAID. I told her that I seem to be resistant to them and that I had tried the one she wanted to give me. I told her that my rheumy had given me a course of hydrocodone and that that seemed to work, but I wasn't sure how she felt about that. She gave me a small scrip for hydrocodone and said that she couldn't give me a lot of it. She said I could also try prednisone, but she would put me on a dose like starting out at 60 mg. and tapering down from there. My rheumy used to only let me have 10 mg of pred for a week and then 5 mg. the next week! I may try the large doses of pred next, I don't know. But I am going to make an appointment with a new rheumy soon.
Thanks for all the replies and well-wishes!