Doctors knowledge

[susieq051]

Writing to all I don't know much about where other people live or how their doctors great but my doctor just seem to blow me off when I presented him with these symptoms it took another young doctor to convince him that I very well have GCA Had anyone in this community experienced this. I love in the United States Pennsylvania to be exact.

[PMRpro Ambassador]

A lot of us will have met doctors who simply didn't recognise what we had. Even rheumatologists.

[Yellowbluebell]

You wouldnt believe how many stories there are about doctors failing to diagnose and even more worrying like pmrpro says how many rheumatologists get it wrong. Over here we do sometimes have the option to see another gp in the practice or even change practices totally. Not sure what options you have in the states.

[Marijo1951]

I live in the UK (north London). I became ill with GCA in March 2017 and with PMR the following month. I was finally seen by a rheumatologist on 31st July that year. She was able to diagnose me immediately with both conditions. She was too professional to criticise the GP openly for not treating me as an emergency, but it was clear from her attitude that she was very frustrated, knowing that in those 3 months I could have lost my sight at least partially. It was clear to me when I saw him that the GP hadn't heard of GCA before. He, I'm glad to say, retired recently and I now normally see a younger female doctor who inspires far more confidence. In a sense I was lucky as many on this forum waited a lot longer than 3 or 4 months to get the correct diagnosis.

[HeronNS]

First doctor I dealt with was young, I feel thought I was a hypochondriac old woman, failed to diagnose anything. Second doctor, middle aged, recognized symptoms right away. Options limited here at the moment (Nova Scotia) and I was simply lucky beyond measure that doctor number two agreed to take me on as a patient. Between first presenting to Dr 1 and seeing doctor 2 probably about a year had elapsed.

[Hidden]

Hello Susieq051.....I am in 5he US as well and can tell you that there are many of us here that have experienced incompetence/ignorance from health care professionals. I was having debilitating pain for at least 3 months and had gone to at least 4 drs and spent an overnight at a local hospital before I finally diagnosed myself (later confirmed by rheumatologist and response to Prednisone). The ignorance about this condition is so profound that my dr, after i told him about my suspicion that I had PMR, responded by saying I was "too old to have PMR". There seems to be so much needless suffering going on with delays/ignorance in diagnosing this illness. This forum is invaluable and the book by Kate Gilbert was also very helpful to me.

[PMRpro Ambassador in reply to Hidden]

"Too old"!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Hidden in reply to PMRpro]

Exact words....I was 69.

[PMRpro Ambassador in reply to Hidden]

I despair. I really do! When the average age of diagnosis is 72/74, can't remember which...

[susieq051 in reply to Hidden]

I have no problem with a doctor telling me I am wrong but I have a real problem with a doctor when he/she will not come up with a better explanation. Especially when the evidence is staring them in the face. Diagnosis seems simply look at the symptom. Try the most simply help of the medicine that has been proven to work. Why is this such a hard thing.

[susieq051 in reply to susieq051]

The funny part about this, the office where the doctors practice gives the definition of both GCA and PMR as onset 50 years and older if this is the case why screw it up give the benefit of the doubt and help not hinder. My mother's drug cost I st 2500.00 dollars a month for myasthenia gravis and her doctor gets impressive results. So cost doesn't seem to be the issue. Is it health side effects, the alternativeseems worse.

[Dream21]

Yes.