is it to get into the rheumatologist right away. The dr that the referal is for is not taking new patients until the first of the year. Should I try and find a different one and ask my dr for a referal to him/her?

Honestly, my neuro is way more important to me than my rheumatologist. Rheumatology seems to me a very confused specialty. I have found with most rheumies, unless you display the specific antibody patterns in your blood, they seem disinterested in treating. What I mean is, if your ANA is positive, even highly positive and your ENA (specific for Lupus, RA, Sjogren's, Poly/Dermatomyositis, Mixed Connective Tissue Disease, etc. are negative, they may have nothing to offer. I guess it depends on the clinic, but I have seen several, including a few who drew NO blood and dismissed me with Fibro.

My neuro diagnosed me with Sjogren's and I have yet to find a rheumie who concurred or had ANY ounce of interest in my case. I am still unconvinced that I have Sjogren's altho, other than the specific antibody, I have a classic case. But without more interest in finding the actual antibody, or, any other cause, this is it.

What I am saying is make the appointment....but don't necessarily put all your eggs in that basket. I hope for your sake that you get that gem of a rheumie that wants to look beyond the obvious. (If you do want IVIG, likely the neuro will have more luck with that than the rheumie.)

What I would do if you can finanically is make an apt with another one so you could start testing and then you could see the suggested at a later time. Before I even went to the rheumatologist my neurologist ran a lot of initial auto immune testing too. So that could be an option possibly because if something does show then maybe the neuro can get you in or you would want to see someone else sooner.