PLEASE RESPOND RIGHT AWAY-Who would you go see?

Sariah,

To answer your first question, I think you are doing the right thing in going to the podiatrist. Be sure, however, to tell him everything you can about your disease. Take him a list of all your meds, a list of all your diagnoses, and a list of your doctors. It sounds like your rheumy is your only doc, so give the podiatrist the name and address of your rheumy and then ask him to send your rheumy a copy of his report.

As far as your question about experience with different specialists, I'll tell you how I handle that. Of course, keep in mind that I have insurance. First and foremost, I have a PCP (primary care physician). She gives me physicals, pap smears, and takes care of things like my hiatal hernia, colds, sinus infections, etc. Every time I see her she goes over the list of all my meds, makes sure my shots are all current, looks at my recent labs, which she may or may not have ordered, answers any questions I have, schedules my mammograms, schedules my bone density tests, and so on. She refers me to specialists. She referred me to my rheumy and they work hand in hand and the rheumy sends a report to the PCP every time I see the rheumy. When my foot was hurting, she referred me to a podiatrist. I had a stress fracture, so he sent her a report about that and treated my foot. I had a growth inside my mouth so she referred me to an oral surgeon who performed oral surgery on me. He sent her a report. There are others, but I think you get the idea. Lupus is only a part of me. I've heard hippi here on the forum refer to her PCP as the hub of the wheel and all other specialists are the spokes of the wheel. That way one doctor knows everything about me. I'm so fortunate to have found a PCP who is very organized, thorough, intelligent, and is always prepared to send me to someone else if I have a problem that's not in her specialty. She is an internist, and internists are well trained in diagnostics.
She doesn't treat my lupus and if I ask her anything about it she tells me that I should save that question for my rheumy.

I was having lots of migraines so I went to see my PCP and she gave me a script which helped stop them in their tracts. When I saw my rheumy, I mentioned the migraines to her and she thought they might be a side effect of the cellcept so since we cut my dose in half we'll see if my headaches get better.

I'm usually not this long winded, but it's two am so you know what that does to some of us. I hope I haven't confused you more or told you more than you wanted to know. But this system really works well for me.

Finally, I should tell you that I get to know the doctors' nurses real well. They are so knowledgeable and can be very very helpful. I also know my pharmacist almost as well as I know my good friends. He takes such good care of me, makes sure my meds don't conflict with each other, and gives me personal service. I can call and ask him any question I have about meds. There have been times when he has gone home and done research for me and called me the next day. These folks want to help us. It helps to develop relationships with these folks.

I'm glad you came here and I hope I see you again. This forum is filled with the most wonderful, caring and informative people. It has become my second home, and I can come here and rant and rave or cry and whine and the people here are always there to help me. So join our happy little family. We'd love to have you.

Let me know what you find out about your foot.

Take care,

Pat

My lupus once attacked my foot and I had horrible pain and swelling -- couldn't touch the foot anywhere or walk on it. This lasted about 6 days and then went totally away. My guess it that there is more than lupus inflammation going on if it's been 3 weeks and you don't have other signs of a lupus flare - ie no fever, no overall body aches & pains. So I agree - see ye ole foot dr!

Lynnwood, that's so interesting. When I was 14 my left foot swelled up to twice it's size, and hurt so much that my mother put a shoe box under my sheet so that the sheet wouldn't touch my foot. It was unbearably painful. After a few weeks I had exploratory surgery. We were overseas and the surgeon flew tissue up to the Mayo Clinic and they didn't find anything wrong or abnormal. The swelling and pain went away on their own. My current rheumy thinks that was most likely caused by lupus. What a strange disease we have.

Good luck at the podiatrist tomorrow, Sariah.