Monday, October 10, 2005
Next time, I'm going to refuse to point out where it hurts
Since pointing out where it hurts resulted in the doctor squashing down on the point of pain, which rather sucks for me.
If experiencing a brief stab of pain would somehow magically result in the doctor being able to diagnose what ails me and prescribe something to fix it, I wouldn't mind. I had little hope of this happening. I mostly went to the doctor today to get my name in their system for the boatload of referrals I am going to be requesting, since my previous primary care doctor is no longer accepting my insurance. I also thought it might be prudent to rule out something heinous, like a heart attack or something, although I suspect pain in my sternum to be the result of sleeping funny.
I am sleeping funny as a result of having lower back pain. I have lower back pain (in fact, yesterday I threw my back out doing the incredibly strenuous task of dusting a table) as a result of walking funny for the past five or so months. I have been walking funny for the past five or so months as a result of hip pain which began in March at a library conference. It is a muscle spasm. It is a muscle spasm of a relatively tiny muscle deep in my buttock and the cascade effects have been appalling. My "quality of life" is rapidly becoming an oxymoron, and I hate that I hurt all the time and worry that anything I do might hurt.
Should I blow my nose? Not sure...it might be painful. Should I go to the bathroom? I don't know...maybe I can sit here a little bit longer to avoid the long walk down the hallway. Should I go grocery shopping? No, I probably wouldn't be able to get a close parking spot or carry the grocery bags anyway. Besides which, this latest pain in my sternum makes wearing a seatbelt and steering my car very uncomfortable.
Medications have not helped much. Ibuprofen (in troubling amounts) takes the edge off. None of the other anti-inflammatory medications I have been prescribed have done a thing, although the doctor I saw today just prescribed another one. I'm not sure if I'm even going to bother having it filled. What's the point? Two months of physical therapy didn't do much; I have trouble doing the exercises at home because I do not have a raised padded table and lying down on the floor hurts. The exercises I'm supposed to do for the piriformis muscle hurt my back, and the exercises I'm supposed to do for my back hurt my butt. I have seen a doctor who specializes in back and physical medicine who diagnosed the muscle spasm for what it is and wants me to have an MRI and to try physical therapy.
Now I know how hamsters feel. Gimpy little hamsters with damaged legs who still have no option but to spin the tiny little hamster wheel.
If experiencing a brief stab of pain would somehow magically result in the doctor being able to diagnose what ails me and prescribe something to fix it, I wouldn't mind. I had little hope of this happening. I mostly went to the doctor today to get my name in their system for the boatload of referrals I am going to be requesting, since my previous primary care doctor is no longer accepting my insurance. I also thought it might be prudent to rule out something heinous, like a heart attack or something, although I suspect pain in my sternum to be the result of sleeping funny.
I am sleeping funny as a result of having lower back pain. I have lower back pain (in fact, yesterday I threw my back out doing the incredibly strenuous task of dusting a table) as a result of walking funny for the past five or so months. I have been walking funny for the past five or so months as a result of hip pain which began in March at a library conference. It is a muscle spasm. It is a muscle spasm of a relatively tiny muscle deep in my buttock and the cascade effects have been appalling. My "quality of life" is rapidly becoming an oxymoron, and I hate that I hurt all the time and worry that anything I do might hurt.
Should I blow my nose? Not sure...it might be painful. Should I go to the bathroom? I don't know...maybe I can sit here a little bit longer to avoid the long walk down the hallway. Should I go grocery shopping? No, I probably wouldn't be able to get a close parking spot or carry the grocery bags anyway. Besides which, this latest pain in my sternum makes wearing a seatbelt and steering my car very uncomfortable.
Medications have not helped much. Ibuprofen (in troubling amounts) takes the edge off. None of the other anti-inflammatory medications I have been prescribed have done a thing, although the doctor I saw today just prescribed another one. I'm not sure if I'm even going to bother having it filled. What's the point? Two months of physical therapy didn't do much; I have trouble doing the exercises at home because I do not have a raised padded table and lying down on the floor hurts. The exercises I'm supposed to do for the piriformis muscle hurt my back, and the exercises I'm supposed to do for my back hurt my butt. I have seen a doctor who specializes in back and physical medicine who diagnosed the muscle spasm for what it is and wants me to have an MRI and to try physical therapy.
Now I know how hamsters feel. Gimpy little hamsters with damaged legs who still have no option but to spin the tiny little hamster wheel.
