Got to the point of rehearsing conversations daily so decided might as well get it over with!
It did not go at all as I wanted, I wanted her to seriusly consider my suggestion that it is AS and listen to me recounting my history and how it fits. But she did not. She didn't listen to anything I said except to rebuff it with her facial expression and words.
Do you know that whether you can touch your toes is a reliable diagnostic tool for AS? Yeah me neither! Bloody years of yoga to be able to do that, and she should see me try first thing in the morning!
I told her, history of SI pain then joint pain, not being able to bend my neck in the mornings, heel pain, family history of back pain and humped back etc etc. She told me she thinks it can't be AS because I can touch my toes. Suggested fibro, which doesn't fit my symptoms properly at all.
Still, it is not for a GP to diagnose or not, and she has referred me to the musculoskeletal specialist who does visiting appointments at the surgery, and arrnaged blood tests for ESR, ANA, CRP, Rheu factor, LBP and full blood count. Not a proper rheumatologist but it's a good start. And she did agree that she definately would not suggest it is depression.
Onwards.... well what I want to know now is- I know I flare within a few days if I eat starch- blood tests are on Monday, is it worth the suffering of eating starch now in hope of increasing the chance of getting a positive CRP. CRP was normal before when I was inflamed as hell, but if there's a chance of getting some kind of indicator from the blood tests so they don't just assume fibro...
She said she considered doing HLA-B27 as well but decided not to, thanks for sharing that with me!
Last edited by Horsewoman; 01/11/12 11:19 AM.
