Maybe it's because of the thyroid - Internal or General doctors have to
be experts in everything!

I saw an internal medicine specialist for a good number of years when I was pretty sick, about 15 years ago now and prior; he 'specialized or had an interest in' auto-immune illnesses and so was even better than the local rheumatologist IMO, as he was truly interested and compassionate; (the story was that his dad had died from SLE and never had been dx'd appropriately due to the 'era').
Turned out that he was an excellent diagnostician and always came through with the answers and the right treatments in a crunch for me and so he was superior to the choice of a rheumatologist referral at that point.
If I were you, I'd give this IM guy a chance and see if he can help you.... if not then ask for a referral to a rheumie!
You know, it is always a bit intimidating no matter which new specialist you are referred to but the doc who is referring you, the PCP, may know more than you about this guy and he may be better for you too.... let's hope anyhow!
Good luck with it all....!!
hugs,
Shelagh

Linda
An internal med dr discovered my lupus.  I'm not hung up on seeing a rheumy.
In fact, I don't even have one right now.  There's so much autoimmune
disease where I live that even family physician's are quite knowledgable.
I'm using a family physician for pain and all my problems.

Try the internal med dr and see how it goes.  If you have organ involvement,
you'll need a rheumy but otherwise, this dr might be a good fit for you.
Nicole

My interernal medicine doc originally diagnosed lupus, or kept saying it HAD
to be lupus. He sent me to 4 different rheumatologists who didn't concur
(we've all been there, right?), but the 5th one did & he's head of
rheumatology at Cleveland University Hospital. Now my internal medicine doc
won't treat me for lupus, which is kinda a pain in my ars because I live in
Akron & my rheumy is 45 miles away, while my internal doc is only 2 miles
away. I'd much rather drive the 2 miles vs 45 miles. So if your local guy is
willing to treat you & is knowledgeable, I'd say go for it.

Candi

I have 7 doctors and 1 psychologist to juggle. Granted it's work for
me, but I wouldn't have it any other way. I think of it like a small
business.Yeah your coworker knows sort of what you do --and could
cover you for vacation in a pinch. But you're the only one who really
knows the intricacies of your day to day job.

So heading to a specialist (to me) is like getting the biggest bang
for my buck. Yeah I could leave it up to my primary. You know a good
doctor when they can admit that an issue is beyond their skill and
knowledge.

In fact I had been seeing a pulmonologist who never said "I can't
figure it out le'ts send you down the line." When I was hospitalised
at UCLA (for 3 weeks this May) they found a whole load of issues (hole
in my heart, pulmonary arterial hypertension, possible scleroderma,
definate MCTD, 3 strokes...). And statistics said with the issues I
have untreated I had 6mo-year. And I agree, I felt like I was losing
the battle. Now they have me on a whole new and different course. I've
been out for a week and accomplished in that week what I had in the
last 6 months. I have a whole new perspective on my life. Plus the
bonus? Now they predict me living well into my 80's.

Good health is so worth a drive. UCLA is about 3 hours away. I'd much
rather sacrifice time and gas money than my life.
Tara