What kinds of doctors will I need to treat my autoimmune disease?

Juggling your health care needs among different doctors and other types of health care providers can be hard. But visiting other types of health care workers, along with your main doctor, may be helpful in managing some symptoms of your autoimmune disease. Here are some other kinds of health care workers that may be useful.

• Nephrologist. A doctor who will look at how well your kidneys are working. Kidneys are organs that clean the blood and produce urine.
• Rheumatologist. A doctor who specializes in arthritis and other diseases.
• Endocrinologist. A doctor who specializes in diseases that affect your glands (organs in your body that make hormones). Glands help control the body's reproduction, energy levels, weight, food and waste production, and growth and development.
• Physical therapist. A health care worker who can help you with stiffness, weakness, restricted body movement, and with finding out the proper level of exercise for your body.
• Occupational therapist. A health care worker who can help you find devices or make changes in your home or workplace to make life easier for you. They also can teach you ways to do all you have to despite your pain and other health problems. 
• Speech therapist. A health care worker who can be helpful for people with MS who have speech problems.
• Vocational therapist. A health care worker who offers job training for people who cannot do their current jobs because of their illness or other health problems. You can find this type of person through both public and private agencies.
• Counselor for emotional support. A health care worker who is specially trained to help you to find ways to cope with your illness. You can work through your feelings of anger, fear, denial, and frustration.
• Support groups. Some women find that talking with others who have the same health problem is helpful in finding new ways to cope with it.
• Chiropractor. A type of doctor who might be helpful in relieving some of your symptoms, such as muscle spasms and backaches. But you should only see this type of doctor along with your regular autoimmune disease doctor, not in place of him or her.

This answer is based on source information from the National Women's Health Information Center