I'm sorry to everyone who has been mistreated during a Rheumatology appointment.

RA doctors can be cruel and uncaring. I don't understand why they're in this profession if they cannot deal with patients in pain. This is a painful disease, so of course the patient is going to express the painful life they live. First and foremost, we should always be our own advocates.

Biljana, what was your doctor's response to his employee mistreating you? Hopefully, he had a discussion with her/him.

I found these paragraphs on the American Medical Association website. They relate to the Rheumatology profession.

Skills every physician in training should have for rheumatology but won’t be tested for on the board exam: Rheumatology is not an algorithm, and rheumatologists navigate through shades of uncertainty. Unlike specialties where management protocols are checklist-driven, rheumatology hinges significantly on clinical judgment informed by a patient’s history and physical examination. Therefore, it is difficult for any board exam to simulate skills like assessing the inflamed joints of a patient with rheumatoid arthritis.

A good rheumatologist has to be patient and diligent in weeding through the many details in a patient's history, report and presentation to find the key pearls that may suggest disease symptoms, complications or changes in status.

One question physicians in training should ask themselves before pursuing rheumatology: Are you comfortable not knowing what a patient has?

Rheumatologists and their patients often spend considerable time, spanning many months to years, diagnosing and determining the optimal treatment for patients. No two patients with rheumatoid arthritis will respond in the same way to the same medication. A good rheumatologist is comfortable embracing ambiguity and guiding patients through sometimes very arduous processes.

Rheumatology requires a customized approach for each patient. That means working together with the patient to understand their experience and symptoms, identifying supportive treatments and solutions—often beyond the formulary—and sharing insights on the outcomes of each case to increase shared knowledge.

The doctor who treated my symptoms and RA pain the best was my pain specialist who was also an anesthesiologist. She knew how to numb painful spots before they went out of control. And the right meds for control. Her feeling was the only thing worse than neurologists are rheumatologists. Right on.
And she retired with an absolutely useless replacement.
We move quite a bit. I've had 6 rheumatologists in 25 years. One in Toronto was excellent.
One next in Ottawa. First visit, she never left her desk. Said. You have arthritis. It will get worse. Make an appointment for 4 months. Over in 2 minutes and I never went back.
One in Washington DC was fine, but missed that I needed a TKR not PT. Oh, well.

One in Boston caught the TKR diagnosis first visit and got that organized. But then announced he didn't prescribe meds of any kind. WHAT? See your PCP for that. Also said visits every 3 months standard but don't come if you're fine as that wastes his time and he's busy. Never went back. Saw him maybe 3x. Very full of himself.

Next back in Ottawa great rheumatologist who retired after 3 years no replacement. Current one just fine. Listens and RA drugs prescribed effectively. But very slow to refer to specialists so I speak with my PCP who moves things along or tries. This is Canada. Health care is slow. Very slow.

There aren't enough rheumatologists, good or bad anywhere I've lived in USA or Canada.

If the pain is still there, your trip of meds is not working. I know it's hard with some doctors. I had to leave my first immunologist because when the massive doses he was giving me subq every week or 2 depending on which med was giving me major side effects then the subq was really effecting my stomach. He said well what do you want me to do. I said I don't know your the doctor. He said something smart alecy and I didn't go back. He was the only immunologist at the time. I went a year before we got another immunologist in town by the time I got to him my IG level was only 300. It's supposed to be (Phone number can only be seen by the question and answer creators). Because I don't handle high doses my doctor now since 2018 give me low dose infusions and it works. Im not recommending to go off those meds and wait to see where you can find a doc. Ask the doc if you can change meds or up doses. If he's an ass start looking for a new doc. This is your life not his. I wish you luck. It's so hard.

That's okay no matter where you post it. Congrats to anyone who has finished Christmas shopping. Double congrats to anyone finished all the wrapping, bagging, mailing or whatever they're doing.

That's horrible 😔