The First Dr. Appointment aka The ‘Possibly’ Appointment

By the time I finally got in to see my GP, my hands were pretty bad. So were my feet, but that’s another story. At the time, I didn’t know the foot pain was part of the RA.

 

Anyway, I go in and tell him about all my complaints. I had quite a few since it had been a couple years since the last time I saw a doctor because I hated my last GP. I saved the best for last because I wanted him to focus on it…my hands. He looks at them (I didn’t have any visible swelling at this time or stiffness. Just pain to touch and during movement), manipulates the joints, and then gives me the look. If you’re chronically ill, you know the look I’m talking about. The ‘let’s humor her’ look. He did do it in a nice way though since it was my first visit to see him, and I’ve since come to like and respect him as a doctor.

 

So he decided most of the problems I was having were related to hypovitaminosis D including my “fibromyalgia” that was diagnosed when I was 18. I’m guessing he took one look at my pale skin and decided I wasn’t getting enough vitamin D.

 

On a side note, my last doctor used to put fibromyalgia in quotes in my file. I got copies of my chart from him, so I got to see it. In other words, he didn’t believe I had fibromyalgia. Hello! I was diagnosed by a doctor! I didn’t make it up! See why I didn’t like my last GP?

 

He also mentioned rheumatoid arthritis during the appointment. I told him, no way, it wasn’t going to be RA; it was going to be something he could fix. He laughed, (I was being funny during the appointment, so it was okay that he laughed J), and said that it was “possibly” RA. He used that word, possibly, and that’s where the post’s title comes from. But, he felt it was more likely it was the hypovitaminosis D causing the joint pain.

 

So, blood tests, x-rays and a follow-up appointment were scheduled. Find out what happened at my second appointment tomorrow.

 

The invisible,

S.