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Basically, I am finding it hard to accept that doctor would not see you before August.
Accept what you want. He's going on vacation and appointments are scarce this summer. That's the first available and to be honest, I didn't really push it. I guess I could have been more demanding but I'm sometimes a pushover that way.
My current plan is to get through this flare-up the old fashioned way and then push for a diagnosis and not sweep it under the rug like I did last time.
My insurance allows me to see any doctor of my choice as and when I need them. Am I missing something here on your insurance front?
Sounds like you have good Medical Insurance. Mine is very inflexible about things like referrals or seeing anyone but your primary care physician. Any special requests have to go through the system and then you get a notice in the mail accepting or denying it. Considering there's this thing constantly in the news called THE HEALTH CARE CRISIS i figure I'm better off than most, but obviously not as lucky as you.
I'm thinking of switching to Kaiser Permanente. I hear it's easier to see specialists because they have alot of their staff all in one building with one billing system etc. I like my doctor though, and he's rare in that he's a cardiology specialist that works as a primary care physician.
Just got back from the Doctor and he ordered blood tests including uric acid and other indicators. He can't refer me to a specialist until these are back and he won't see me again until August. He said the only thing Insurance would let him do at this point is physical therapy.
I can do the blood test any time. Should I wait until the knee joint feels better to get an accurate UA level?
In the meantime I need to get better! This is terrible! I'm on vacation and sitting in the house on the computer. Bah! Can't even have a drink.
Thanks for the response. Yep, the fact that it’s my knee joints makes it less certain. If it wasn’t for the fact that I had a textbook toe flare up I would say I was stretching a bit thinking it’s gout. For what it’s worth, I recently had a chiropractor friend examine me and he told me if the uric acid reading was high he would say it was gout. The Dr. Appointment is tomorrow so hopefully I’ll make some progress. The non-stop pain, sleepless nights and lack of mobility are depressing me. I’m certainly not hoping for a confirmed diagnosis of gout but I need to get better! If the Dr. is just scratching his head I’ll push for colchicine to see if it helps. I won't leave the office without an Uric Acid test result or an order for the lab test.
Anybody out there have a similar experience? …or have gout flares that are or were primarily in the knee joints?
Apparently the opposite is true. Amlodipine is a calcium blocker.
Calcium channel blockers are among the medications that can be beneficial for both medical conditions. These are fairly new but highly popular for treating both gout and high blood pressure.
Because gout and hypertension are often diagnosed fairly close to each other you might find treating them both with calcium channel blockers to be beneficial. Taking calcium channel blockers and gout interactions can be among your best defenses against another painful attack.
