Saw the rheumy yesterday. He is so empathetic and thorough I felt well cared for if not well when I left! Had a flare last week and had been bumped up to 40mg from 20mg for 5 days which took care of the flare. Since I had dropped to 20mg 48 hours prior to my visit with him he was able to examine me while I was 'flaring' which was useful because the last time I saw him I was still at an even higher dose and he couldn't really evaluate me totally. We had a great discussion of my symptoms, frustrations and I gave him an article that I found on another blog which is a transcript of a meeting between the European and American rheumatologists which has some good material in it. He was so open to it and we had a great discussion about the differences in treatment between overseas and here in the US.
So I'm now going to do a dead slow taper, as tolerated, 2.5 mg at a time. Going to do 40/35 every other day for a few weeks, then 35/30 etc. until I get to 20 again then an even slower one. We discussed other treatments and agreed that I'm not a good candidate for any of the immuno-suppresant drugs out there, and he likes that I'm seeing a naturopath and doing complementary treatment. He was upset that I have this damn disease at such a young age, was very sweet!
Will not see him until January because my new insurance (State Sponsored) isn't accepted at his practice. Hopefully Social Security Disability comes thru and I'll then have federal insurance that they do take. In the meantime he said to just call with any questions and he'll answer them. He gave me a 50% discount on the visit since I had to pay out of pocket. All in all a good visit.
Rheumy visit today.
My First Rheumy Visit
Rheumie appt cancelled AGAIN!!
My Rheumy Retrospective 
Productive rheumy appt
