These days, doctors specialize. Every doctor has a specialty, it seems. The ones without specialties (family practice, in particular) don't like to touch anything that would be construed as in the area of a specialist. They refer out. Liability, I guess.
The problem is when you don't fit neatly into any specialist's box.
I just went through the worst lupus flare of my life. I knew it was a lupus flare. Come on. This is my body. I know when I have a virus, and when I have lupus. So, to reiterate, I knew it was a lupus flare. The doctor at "convenient care" did not question whether it was lupus, and she treated me for lupus. And the treatment mitigated the problem. My lupus doctor (rheumatologist) was unreachable on the Monday after the weekend I went to "convenient care." In fact, she and her office were unreachable for the entire week after I'd gone to "convenient care." Fortunately, I somehow had the presence of mind to see my PCP (family practice), and she changed my prednisone from a burst to a taper. She looked me over quite closely, and showed me pictures on the internet that matched my rash, and was quite convinced that what I was experiencing was, indeed, a lupus flare.
When I finally saw my rheumatologist, 2.5 weeks after the fact, when all my symptoms had cleared up and gone away and she could finally fit me into her schedule, she said, and I quote, "I am not convinced that what you experienced was lupus."
I guess this is her attempt to pass the buck for not having been able to see me. I had diarrhea (along with everything else), ergo it was not lupus, as diarrhea is not a typical lupus symptom, never mind that it shows up on most lists of lupus symptoms that I've seen. Never mind that all my other symptoms were typical lupus symptoms, never mind that it started as a typical (for me) lupus flare and then progressed into something worse than I'd ever before experienced.
Never mind.
She also told me that she's moving to another state in a few months, to be closer to family.
She ordered another expensive round of lab work for me. We pay out of pocket for this. It generally ranges in cost from $1800-$2400. I just had it done in July. Labs are very important, she says. We need baselines. Now that I am "good," and off prednisone, we need another baseline in the system so we have something to compare against the next time I think I am flaring.
I came home without getting the labwork done. I think I will start looking for a different doctor before this one actually moves away.
Just because.
When you don't fit neatly into the box that they define as their specialty, they just pass the buck. You aren't suffering from what they treat; they are not responsible to treat you.
Specialists. Bah.
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