[ejw1959]

Had my first rheumy appt. yesterday. He seemed to be knowledgeable about lupus, but I won't know for sure. He did tell me that someone who has had a family member, like my mom, who had lupus, can test positive but not have it. I don't know about that, but we will see. I do not have a face rash, at least I don't think so. I do have what looks like sunburn over my nose and to my cheeks, if this is the rash, I don't know. He did not notice it. He said that we were going to do all the blood work before he starts any meds. Which is what I wanted. I don't want to take anything unless I have too. He also is checking my thyroids, my hormone levels. He wants to make sure my night sweats and hot flashes during the day are not mentapause. The thing is about a year after I had my partial hysterectomy, I went through the hot flashes for about a year, then they went away. A few years later they came back. He left the room, came back in to ask if I had kids, I said yes, and if I had any miscarriages, I said no. He left, came back in, and asked if I ever took a blood thinner. Told him only when I had my total hip done. He asked why I had that done, I said I had AVN. Couldn't give him a reason why I got the AVN. That did concern him somewhat. Someone had mentioned that they ask questions without reading everything you had already wrote down. I wrote that down. Anyways, had my blood drawn today, 9 vials and peed in a cup for them. Next appt. in a month. I keep copies of what test are ordered also. He even gave them a sheet of how he wanted a particular test ran. The lab told be that was because sometimes it is ran wrong. I didn't think that was a good thing. They are supposed to know what they are doing, right?

 

[KarolH]

Hi ejw...

It sounds to me like this doctor is on the ball. Please keep us posted as to how the results come back. I hope you get some sort of answer to all that is going on with you.:wink2:

As for labs making mistakes, it happens all the time and YES, they should know what they are doing. Things that make you go hmmmmmmmm!

 

[debatat]

Hi, it sounds as though your doc was very thorough, which is good. If a family member has lupus other family memebers can have a positive ANA test. For example I have lupus, and it is expected that my brother would test positive for ANA, but it doesn't mean he has lupus. It explains it in the lupus book by Daniel Wallace.

I hope the tests provide you with some answers so you can get some treatment sorted. It is good your rheumy was nice as it is important to have a good relationship with your doc.

Deb

 

[Katharine]

Hi

It sounds as if you had a pretty good appointment for a first go but that you'll have to wait to see how it follows up next month. It does seem that he took it very seriously and is looking into it properly.

Katharine