I went to my normal doc for my 3 month check up as usual, been getting more and more tired as time has passed. I finally got off of corticosteroids after taking them for a year straight but now I’m just exhausted all the time. She asked if I’ve gained weight nope actually lost about 30 pounds, she looked worried when I said that. She noticed some of my fingers were swollen and had fluid and she said she was worried about that. Sent me to have full blood work done and X-Rays of chest, hands, and wrists. The last thing she said to me before I left was I need you to go get all of this stuff done as soon as possible, she looked me dead in the eyes and said I’m worried so this is important. I thought to myself if your worried then I should probably be freaking out. I don’t know if she said that just to stress the importance of getting this done in a timely manner but hearing her say she’s worried has me in a panic. I went and got all of my stuff done last Friday and still no news which I expected but oh my God i’m on pins and needles.
Hey Leeanngiles,
In these sorts of situations I have found it’s best to be aware, but not alarmed. I make that sound easy, but I know it’s not. You have followed your dr’s advice, you have completed the requested tests. If there is anything of concern then it’s up to your dr to follow through with you. Personally I too have been in this situation where they send you for a battery of tests and now you’re waiting, waiting, waiting for a call that never comes. There are 2 ways to look at this from my experience. 1)the tests showed nothing, or 2)the dr(or their staff) have been snowed down with other patients. If as you say the dr had concerns, and the test confirmed those concerns then you’d expect them to be making contact ASAP, they obviously haven’t, so that could be seen as positive. If you are still concerned or your symptoms seem to be increasing, There maybe a separate issue altogether, those specific test may not cover every scenario and follow up tests maybe required, then you do the follow up and make another appointment yourself…
Well, that would be my advice.
Merl from the Moderator Support Team
That was very helpful advice, most of the time no news is good news that means everyone is happy and satisfied. Thankfully my doc has been very good about following up with me and called this morning to chat with me about the test results and our next steps, she really is a team player and always seems interested in what I have to say and my problems. Some of that might stem from her having an auto immune disorder herself so she’s much more patient than other Dr’s I feel. They are adding another script to the list but other than that she said everything looks normal and that a flare up might have been the cause of my extreme exhaustion which is honestly what it might be from. I’ve had a very trying couple of weeks that I think may have led to a flare up but of a different kind where I was just dead on my feet instead of swollen and achy like I usually am when I flare up. Thankfully I think we’re back on the right track now but Thank you so much for the support. You are great.
No problems. I know for myself I can get SO hung up on what is actually occurring that I can let my mind run away on its own. Sometimes it takes someone from outside my headspace to pull me back down to reality. Often when you are the person tolerating the symptoms all you want is answers and when they don’t come we tend to lose focus, well, I do anyway. Often I end up going down the ‘worst case scenario’ line, when if I just stop, and calmly think about it a bit, I can come up with a much simpler scenario. More often than not answering my own questions, but it takes a calm mind to do so. When I’m in agony my mind is FAR from calm and therefore my self answers are not always logical, hence the need for an ‘outsider’ to identify it for me.
Merl from the Moderator Support Team