I went for my 3 month appt with my rheumy today,and I am just as confused as ever.
as a refresher I have had spondylitis or AS since I was 20, just diagnosed in oct.now 46. The doc started me on enbrel with in 2wks all of my old muscular back pain was gone, but soon after I developed alot of odd pains, never experienced before. tinnitus, ankle pain, heel pain, stiff hamstrings, pain in my wrist, extreme fatigue. after 6 weeks of enbrel she advised me to temporarily suspend it, until the new symptoms disappeared, then resume. I stayed off of it for 6 weeks. Alot of but not all the symptoms went away, then I resumed the enbrel, heel pain has done nothing but get worse. as well as leg stiffness. Back pain is still better than it was.
Today she said my symptoms were "wierd" told me she wants be to start taking naproxen again, and quit the enbrel for 3 months. If all of these symptoms go away, then we will look at humira. I had taken naproxen and ibuprofen for 20 yrs till they just plain stopped working. Im just not sure about all of this, it just doesnt make sense to me. Today when I walked into the clinic, i was the only patient there. during my journey to find out what was wrong with me. I went to pain management docs, neurologist and orthopedic surgeons. A couple of these docs told me that I needed to see a Rheumy. When I told them I already had and appt at this hospital. 2 of them told me, it was a good place to be diagnosed, but not treated. even though the clinic was empty, she still only spent 15 minutes with me and seemed rushed. I am wondering if I should move on. Should I give this doc more time? I dont want to be a patient thats hopping docs all of the time, but when your only seeing them every 3 months it dont take long to run into yrs. I am getting very discouraged. I have had this for along time, it just seems like these people just dont give a rip. I am quite distressed.
