Since everyone is dying to know... my visit with Dr. Edmond went well. The wait was more than reasonable - my appointment was at 9:30 and I think I was done around 11. He's also SUPER close to work so both of those are huge pluses! 🙂
Dr. Edmond was really nice and even though our visit didn't take long I didn't feel rushed. The main thing I went for was my psoriasis / psoriatic arthritis and while I didn't get a referral to a rheumatologist (like I was so determined to do), I am ok with that. Dr. Edmond explained that he normally doesn't send patients to a specialist unless the medicine that he wanted to start me on doesn't help. Since it sounded like he had a plan I felt comfortable with that.
SO... I am going to start taking Methotrexate tonight. It is an immunosuppressive drug so if you're sick - stay the hell away from me. 😂 (But I'm not kidding.) It sounds like it's a pretty serious medication... which to me is kind of scary, but I'm serious about keeping my joints healthy. Thankfully I only have to take it once a week so I will like that better than twice a day like I was having to do with the Diclofenac. I had to take Diclofenac with food so even if I wasn't hungry I was eating just so the pill wouldn't upset my stomach. I was NOT a fan of that.
So according to the page I linked below this seems like the right course of action. Diclofenac (an NSAID) isn't controlling my inflammation so now we're moving on to DMARDS, (which actually treats the psoriasis and arthritis rather than just the symptoms). I think I like that better. The only down-side (besides the host of serious side effects that I'm going to try hard not to think about) is that it can take several weeks for me to notice a difference.
Anyway, Dr. Edmond wants to see me again in a month so that is my plan. 🙂
https://www.psoriasis-association.org.uk/treatments-for-psoriatic-arthritis/dmards