u/BackgroundIron5890

Hi! This is more of a vent than anything but could use some advice if anyone has experienced something similar. I'm 24f and was diagnosed with RA when I was a year old. I've lived with it my entire life so pain, discomfort, and stiffness is very familiar. My entire life I've had great rheumatologists (all women) until the past couple years when I got a new one (a man). He's not a bad guy, never made me feel weird or uncomfortable in any way, (besides once when he tried to tell me I didn't *actually* know if I wanted children or not) and seems very knowledgeable. However, he is really big on the whole getting off the medication thing. Which is great, but the issue I'm running into is any pain or concern I bring up, he chalks up to literally anything else. It just feels like he's not really listening or taking me seriously. We are now in the process of weaning off one of my medications (methotrexate) which is great and I'd love to be off it, but since then I've been feeling much more sluggish, stiff, and having more pain in general in places I haven't had pain in awhile and I'm worried he's not going to listen. We have a check in appointment here in a couple months to see how it's going, so I'm just wondering if anyone has any advice on how I can express my concerns with him shutting them down or blaming something else.