Rheumatologists

[Urtica]

I have just read the post by The Great Pretender “I’m Cured” and I see nothing changes! Luckily I have been off pred since September 2019 (diagnosed in December 2016 after 6 months of pain). I was one of the 20% whose blood test showed ‘normal ‘. I was wondering what is the ratio of male/female rheumatologists in the uk as most people on this site seemed to refer to them as Him. Would a female be more sympathetic do this horrible illness do you think? Probably not - a horrible female locum doctor who I saw when I thought I might have GCA told me that most women “wanted “ to be on steroids when nothing was wrong with them as their tests were normal!

[PMRpro Ambassador]

I hope you made a complaint about her!!! Why the hell would any woman WANT to be on a drug that leads to weight gain etc???????

[123-go in reply to PMRpro]

And thinning skin that easily bruises and/or risks to bone health.....

[PMRCanada in reply to PMRpro]

Or thinning hair, frequent urination, and sweating??

[Constance13]

What ??? I wonder if she was qualified at all!

[Longtimer]

The first Rheumy I saw was female, I had been warned about her!....she said, listen to me and don't ask questions!...you will be off Pre d in 2 years....

The ridiculous locum you saw obviously went by blood test results and not symptoms.......

[SnazzyD]

I have had four men and two two women, one face to face and one by phone. One, the only consultant I ever saw, was courteous but distant and didn’t look up from her notes much. Wasn’t really interested in how I was beyond the usual social enquiry that doesn’t encourage one to be candid. At that point I was on low figures and ready to lock horns confidently with anybody if necessary so she didn’t push having bone meds and getting off 2mg in two months . The other one also fairly recently and a registrar, was very friendly and listened properly but didn’t know her stuff. Apparently GCA is “monophasic and won’t ever recur” so I could relax now. The one by phone was brilliant. Caring, engaging, bright and could think outside the box beyond gold standards. She put things into the context of my life and the possible connection with another rare condition I have without waving it along because it didn’t have an easy answer. For the first time I made a plan with another doctor that was logical and practical based on common sense.

[GOOD_GRIEF]

I would like to know who the women are who "want to be on steroids".

Moonface, weight gain, all the attendant risks, and you don't even get high!

[Urtica in reply to GOOD_GRIEF]

😁 She offered to give me 40mg of pred (if I wanted it). Luckily my husband was with me to confirm what I was hearing. I told her I didn’t want to go blind but equally didn’t want to increase my dose from 2mg to 40mg unnecessarily . I had no faith in her so left and phoned our optician who immediately offered me an appointment and who thoroughly checked my eyes. He could find no sign of anything untoward so I decided not to increase my dose. I forgot to mention that I had previously been to A&E who had put me on a precautionary dose of 40mg for 3 days with instructions to contact my GP!

[TheMoaningViolet]

It's frightening that people can have these prejudices and feel free to speak them out loud. I had one each, a private male rheumatologist whom I have only seen twice and an NHS female one who is very nice to me (though our first meeting didn't start very well). She gave me some good advice but probably didn't specialise in PMR (as not many of them do).

I have however chosen a very specific, female GP to be in charge of my case as I was sure she would understand me a lot better, be more sympathetic and she also happens to be a wonderful person in every way, so I have been very fortunate.

Still, if I didn't have this forum and all the support and information available here, I would have been lost during the pandemic.

[Urtica in reply to TheMoaningViolet]

Yes this site is so helpful. I never saw a radiologist just the GP but we moved house and the next GP’s are atrocious. Although I had never heard of GCA until I joined this site. You would think that anyone diagnosed with PMR would be warned of the dangers of GCA.

[TheMoaningViolet in reply to Urtica]

Yes, this is the main thing to be alert about. Whenever I have any type of headache I am thinking about GCA, but I don't think any of my doctors ever mentioned it to me. Perhaps they didn't want to frighten me?My husband and Google (as well as this website) enlightened me.

[Miserere in reply to TheMoaningViolet]

I've never seen a GP or anyone else. At least she made the diagnosis and does follow me on reducing and increasing doses so I can't complain. She has never made any mention of checking BP or taking calcium/vit d or carrying a steroid card but we seem to rub along. I agree - this site has really been the best friend I could ask for on this journey - long may it continue and may all of us improve.

[TheMoaningViolet in reply to Miserere]

I am not sure I was warned about many things by my doctors. To give my rheumatologist credit, she is always checking my CRP, ESR, liver, bone, and renal profiles, but vitamin D3 or HbA1c was only ever checked by my GP (on my request) and when I ordered blood test kits at home. She did tell me to take magnesium and go to Pilates lessons, but there was no other lifestyle advice. I think she assumed (correctly) I didn't need any advice otherwise I am sure she would have told me more. My blood pressure is traditionally low and I tested it a few times at my GP's. I had my eye pressure tested a few times, the advice is to do it every 3 months. I wear sunglasses religiously to prevent cataracts. I could go on...😆

[piglette]

I have had two male and two female rheumatologists. Only one who was female was any good.

[123-go]

How rude, inconsiderate and unprofessional! I would have had to keep my hands in pockets if that had been said to me on one of my 'rage' days.

[winfong]

Well, I've certainly seen my share of specialists in the last couple of years. I've seen some correlation between gender and emotional intelligence, but it really comes down to individual differences.

I've always said that a good doctor's got to know the science stuff & the people stuff. What I've also found is actual real world instances of the Dunning-Krueger effect. Basically, that's a fancy psychologist's way of saying know enough to know you don't know. In other words, if you're brand new to something, you don't know all the things you don't know & that leads to a lot of false confidence.

[Urtica in reply to winfong]

She was in her fifties so one would assume she should have known about PMR/GCA.

[winfong in reply to Urtica]

Right. I was probably commenting more just in general, and keeping in mind especially the Great Pretender's trainee.

You introduce an interesting wrinkle - age. We normally associate youth with lack of knowledge & old age with wisdom. Sometimes, though, it's the opposite - the newbies have learned all the latest & greatest, and the old sages are sticking with what they learned a hundred years ago. There's a bunch of biases that I could cite, but it's really "You can't teach an old dog new tricks."

As for your particular MD, sounds like she fails both the science & the people parts. Maybe that's why she's a locum

[Sharitone]

What a dinosaur!

[Urtica in reply to Sharitone]

I agree. That’s a polite way of saying it😁

[Bridge31]

I’ve only seen one , he was an arrogant male, after the second appointment I decided not to see him anymore. Standard instructions including take AA despite a healthy Dexa Scan. The second appointment was 5 mins of …I’m not really interested so I’m not really listening.Goodbye, next please.

Later during lockdown I had a call from his secretary offering me a phone consultation for £150.

[DorsetLady PMRGCAuk volunteer in reply to Bridge31]

I trust you declined 🤨

[Bridge31 in reply to DorsetLady]

I did !

[Urtica in reply to Bridge31]

Oh dear 😊 The horrible Locum doctor is still at the surgery 2 years later but as all of the doctors have left, or will be soon, who knows what will happen. Hopefully an improvement??

[cranberryt]

I have seen both a male and a female. Both were rude and condescending but perhaps in different ways. I went back to my GP who is caring at least.

[pmrgcavictim]

Hello Urtica. Your comment "would a female be more sympathetic" is for me a sore point, in my PMR, then also GCA journey, which started in June 2018. Fortunately a blood test ESR of 174 confirmed the diagnosis. Last year a female rheumatologist told me to "STOP" taking Prednisolone because it is dangerous. I was on 9mgs at the time. Lucky for me I was on this amazing forum, and new better. I will have to check out The Great Pretender item you mentioned. Trevor.

[Urtica in reply to pmrgcavictim]

Yes this Forum gives you so much information and support. I had never heard of PMR and the initial GP didn’t give me any guidance as to what to expect.

[Skysey]

Hi Urtica. I certainly wouldn’t choose to be on steroids and accompanying meds! I don’t know anyone who would! I have had a male locum rheumatologist who was lovely and listened to my symptoms. I was able to email him directly to check blood results etc. I now have a female rheumatologist who has been professional and courteous. It is more difficult to contact her as I need to go through her secretary. I have been lucky so far. 🙏it continues this way.

[Urtica in reply to Skysey]

You sound like you have struck gold!