Find a rheumatologist in Northern Colorado

Try getting into Dr. Thakor at the Arthritis and Rheumatology Clinic of Northern Colorado, in Ft. Collins. He took me as a patient, immediately, after my PCP sent him my bloodwork. I travel from Wyoming (2.5 hours) to see him. His practice uses texting, so if I have an issue or question, I text his PA. They are very responsive.

I'm partial to medical centers affliated with State Universities. Fort Collins seems like a good place and there are probably several rheumatolgists.
https://medschool.cuanschutz.edu/education/programs/fort-collins-regional-medical-campus
https://www.fortcollinsarthritis.com/
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State Universites usually expand and tend to have clinics that serve more remote areas of the state.

You do not need a rheumatologist. Your PCP should be able to deal with it. I live on the western slope of CO and the couple of Rheumatologists that exist will not see, according to my PCP, a PMR patient because they are so busy with other (more important?) patients. I did just fine with my PCP. She and I worked together via the medical portal (web-based) that we have. Good luck.

@ropnrose
Thx so much for your quick response and recommendation! I’ll “check him out” PBK

@petermccarville
Thx for your response…my PCP diagnosed PMR several years ago and has been managing it with me but is concerned about my long term use of prednisone and decided I should see a rheumatologist…the one I’ve seen once seems to be dismissing the dx AND my suffering so I am looking for another who might be more knowledgeable/ experienced with PMR….PBK

@pbk128 . I too have been dismissed by doctors. Nothing more discouraging. Yes, being on prednisone long term is not fun nor good but the key is tapering as soon as one reaches a comfortable level with it in terms of pain reduction. A month of good pain reduction with prednisone and then tapering should start. This chat room has some amazing help with tapering, FYI. You also might want to look into Kevzara or Actemra. These are both biologicals that help with tapering.

@petermccarville Thanks for your response…my research for Methotrexate, Kevzara and Actemra indicates that all of these take weeks to months before they begin to work and longer for full effects plus the side effects are way more toxic than prednisone! Plus you would be subjected to double side effects while taking both… PBK

@pbk128 . Welcome to the wonderful world of PMR! where if the disease does not do you in, the meds just might! In all seriousness....I am not sure about the side effects of the biologics being as toxic or more than prednisone. That is probably debatable. There are some folks on this chat room that might want to chime in on that. And, , remember, these are just published side effects. Not everyone has them and they are not guaranteed to have them. For example, having heart issues, bone density issues, and diabetes certainly makes taking prednisone more risky than if you do not have these conditions. I had no co-morbidities and did not have any side effects other than a tremor that went away as I tapered, thin skin, and some stomach issues as I tapered that went away. I was on prednisone for 9-10 months. I am not sure where you are in the disease cycle and your journey with prednisone, but nothing is risk free. Evaluating those risks based on your current health is something that you can do with your doctor. Having a rheumatologist who does not agree with your Primary Care doctor is another issue. What did this rheumy think you were dealing with if not PMR? Did they suggest any alternatives to diagnosis and/or treatment?

@petermccarville

Thank-you for trying to set the record straight. It amazed me how many people thought staying on prednisone for the rest of my life was a better option than trying Actemra. I was nearly talked out of trying Actemra. This happened on another PMR forum that advocated for a prednisone dose increase instead of taking Actemra. The most outspoken person was a self proclaimed PMR expert who was entitled to know things that research says nobody knows. The claim was that prednisone side effects are easy to manage compared to all of the risky side effects of Actemra.

My rheumatologist didn't twist my arm to get me to try Actemra. He simply made the point that I would not know if Actemra would work unless I tried Actemra. My expectations were so low by then that I tried Actemra fully expecting it to fail. I did a slow taper from 10 mg to 7 mg. I tapered by 1 mg per month for the first three months. Then I tapered by 1 mg per week to 3 mg because I wanted to get the "inevitable" flare over with. I needed to stay on 3 mg for 6 months only because my cortisol level was too low which was a prednisone side effect. I needed a long time (about one year) to taper off prednisone because of adrenal insufficiency and not because Actemra took a long time to take full effect.

I think prednisone works great as a short term medication. The long term side effects are proportional to cumulative dose and duration of use in my opinion. Twelve years of prednisone compared to the 6 years I have been on Actemra---I would take the 6 years of Actemra every time and pretend the 12 years didn't happen.

Its not exactly Northern Colorado, but National Jewish in Denver is actively growing their Rheumatology clinic and is easily accepting new patients. If you setup an account on their website, it's pretty easy to get an appointment in less than a week. I'm about 1 hour away from National Jewish but all the Rheum. are very booked around me.
I was seronegative but responded to prednisone. My PCP tried and was not able to get me a referral. I tried the National Jewish website on a lark and it gave me an appt in 2 days(!!!!) with a NP who evaluated, ordered a bunch more tests and told me to see a MD in 4 weeks after all the tests were back. My PCP did a referral to send over my other results.
Got the MD appt in 4 weeks, and despite being seronegative, the Rheumatologist agreed with my PCP's diagnosis of PMR, which helped with my piece of mind.
The additional tests also included physical assessment that confirmed the type and location of inflammation from PMR, and also found some steroid-induced myopathy.