Rheumy appointment today

Abbey

Spork Queen
I'm jumping in here late, and I apologize.

I don't really have much advice other than when I was in a major medical crisis, the best people to give me help was at a major medical university. They care because they care...and they have a job to do in order to get out.

I don't know where you are, but a 'teaching' place is a good and cheap alternative. I went to USC. They were wonderful.

Sending you good vibes.

Abbey
 
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flutterbee

Guest
Thank you for the good vibes Abbey.

My last rheumy was at OSU hospital. The doctor I had when I had the heart attack - the one that told me 6 weeks prior that I had chronic fatigue and was just going to have to learn to live with it - worked for OSU Medical Centers - it was a satellite office, not at the hospital. She's also the same one that treated me like I was drug seeking when I had the second bleed after the second heart cath. The first one was right retroperitoneal. She ordered a CT after the second and wrote NO NEW BLEED on it. All of my other doctors that have read that report say that I did, in fact, have a new bleed. It mentioned evidence of a prior removed hematoma and a small hematoma in the left extraperitoneal. First heart cath went in the right groin, second one in the left. Not hard to figure out. It's excruciatingly painful and she treated me like I was drug seeking. They had me on IV dilaudid for 2 1/2 days at the hospital with the first one. Then when I was having the allergic reaction to the Plavix and was on benadryl and steroids, she told me she couldn't see me until June. It was April when this was going on.

The doctors (GP, cardiologist, neuro) I see now are all affiliated with another hospital group that is non-profit. The heart hospital I was in is part of that group and is listed in the top 50 heart hospitals in the country.

I have really good doctors. The cardiologist is among the best in the state. People come from all over the state to go to that group. My neuro fellowed at Mayo Clinic. I do realize that and know that I'm fortunate in that respect. I am just so frustrated by the lack of a sense of urgency. I've been looking into these specific issues for almost a year now and am not much further than I was when I started. Everyone keeps thinking the next guy will have the answers and they don't and in the interim, nothing was really being treated. I mean, so what if nothing shows up on the bloodwork. I have physical symptoms that you can see and feel. Treat them.
 
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flutterbee

Guest
Tia - You might want to read this article. It really breaks down the different medications and cardiovascular risk.

http://rheumatology.oxfordjournals.org/cgi/content/full/44/12/1473

In addition to disease-modifying effects in RA and SLE, hydroxychloroquine [Plaquenil] has been attributed with a beneficial effect on lipid profiles [59, 60] and an anticoagulant effect [61], the latter being of particular relevance in the antiphospholipid syndrome. It is intriguing that non-use of hydroxychloroquine has been associated with vascular disease in at least two studies in SLE [18, 62].

However, there have been significant concerns regarding the safety of anti-TNF-
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therapy in patients with accelerated atherosclerosis and associated cardiac failure. In patients with moderate to severe chronic heart failure (CHF), the RECOVER and RENAISSANCE randomized placebo-controlled trials of etanercept reported lack of benefit [66], and the ATTACH study of infliximab reported worse outcome with treatment [67]. These reports led to recommendations that anti-TNF-
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therapy should be avoided in patients with NYHA Class III and IV CHF. However, a recent observational study of 13 171 patients with RA reported that although CHF was more common in patients with RA compared with osteoarthritis controls, anti-TNF-
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therapy was not associated with higher rates of CHF in RA [68].
Enbrel is an anti-TNF. You should definitely discuss this with your doctor.
 
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