Hi there, I am new to this site "family", that's what it seems like.. very caring, helpful people.
I think Seenie had given me a website to look for a Rheumatologist. But would anyone happen to be from the New Orleans area and know one? It's worth a shot to ask...
It can be so frustrating to find a good rheumatologist. We all would like to have someone with an excellent and warm bedside manner, AND superb diagnostic skills. For some reason, it seems that we get one or the other! What I recommend (if your insurance allows) is getting a referral from your family doc to a rheumatology department at an academic center. For example, I live in Maryland and we have Johns Hopkins, George Washingon University Hospital, UMD, etc… There’ll be one in your neck of the woods, but it might be a drive. Get your diagnosis here. They will be more up on the new treatments and protocols more than your average Rheumatologist. Once they determine your plan of care, you can either: continue treatment there, or get a referral to a doc more local to you who will follow the plan of care.
This is something I wish I had done, and is my new goal for the next few months. I’ll be working on getting that referral to GW or Hopkins set up.
No, it wasn’t Seenie, but she did give you a book recommendation. If my memory serves me correctly, there is a directory of PsA docs (clinics?) in the back of the book. That might be helpful. I’ll look at my copy when I go upstairs.
Meanwhile, you can search in “Members” for, say, Louisiana. You may find members there who you could ask. A stab in the dark, but who knows what it will turn up.