PCP not giving referral to rheumatologist
I've (37M) been dealing with pain around joints all over my body for ~3 years and my PCP hasn't really be doing much to try to diagnose it so I started booking my own blood tests ~2 years ago.
My RF has been elevated (200-400) for at least those 2 years and hsCRP has also been elevated (2-5). I asked to get a referral a while ago just based on those tests + the symptoms but they did sed rate, ANA and their own hsCRP and they said those came back normal so he couldn't give me a referral.
More recently I ordered my own test for CCP and that came back >250 which I figured would be enough to get a referral based on what I've read (something like 95% of CCP positive=RA?). I went back and he ran some more blood tests to rule out things like lupus and sjogrens and sent me for an xray on my hands because 2 of them have had swollen knuckles for a while. Their office called me twice to let me know that I for sure do not have RA and to let them know if I want pain killers to deal with any pain. They don't seem very interested in trying to figure out what the problem actually is and how to fix it if it's not RA, which really annoys me.
It started by happening to 1 joint at a time (and maybe once every couple months) but more recently it has affected multiple joints at the same time and very frequently. It sounds like palindromic rheumatism to me but obviously I'm not a doctor. I'm currently looking for a new PCP to try and get a referral, but was wondering if that is even worth the effort. Am I crazy to think that with the symptoms + high CCP I should at least be able to get a referral?