Less than satisfactory telephone consultation

[Devoid]

Hi all , after singing the praises of the dentist last week I have had a very disappointing consultant appointment today. Firstly it wasn’t a consultant but one of the team. Having discussed my medication and health, he went off to discuss with the consultant that I had stopped the methotrexate. He came back to say they wanted me to take it so that when I come off tocilizumab after a year I will have the methotrexate to keep the inflammation controlled. I asked him to look over my history because the reason I went on tocilizumab was that on 40 mg of pred and 25mg of methotrexate the inflammation wasn’t controlled!!!. When I mentioned last weeks webinar he said he wasn’t aware of it, surely if they are working in this field they should at least be interested. Rant over

[SheffieldJane]

It’s because we have to stop Tocilizumab after a year - driven by cost rather than clinical judgement. Some kind of safety net. Ideally an extension of Tocilizumab would be granted. I agree, the absence of curiosity is staggering and it’s changing. I am finding more and more research and articles on the internet. The development in 4 short years has been amazing.

[Jackoh]

Totally understand the rant!! 😱

[Devoid in reply to Jackoh]

Thanks it needed to be said , I was feeling really positive before the phone appointment and came off in tears, every time he said I hear what you are saying I could tell exactly the opposite was the truth!! Now to try 10 mg of methotrexate, just to satisfy them, but I certainly aren’t persevering as I gave it long enough before.

[Jackoh in reply to Devoid]

Don’t blame you x