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["Lynda" <lurine AT com-pair.net>]

Son #3 is going to have to figure something out for chronic pain.  He is the 
one who gave me every gray hair I have!  Hyper-active (not ADD, just always 
going, going, going) from the age of 9 months (when he learned to walk) on. 
And an accident, not waiting to happen but happening.  22 stitches in the 
arch of his foot at age 5 (glass buried at the base of a slide), concussion 
and whip lash age 6 (playing hockey), broken pinkie finger age 7 (playing 
football), back injury (speared in back by another player, Pop Warner 
football) age 8, 9 stitches to close up his ring finger (another kid cutting 
firewood with a little hatchet) age 9.  Plus a hip pointer, groin pulls, 
hamstring injuries and blew out both knees playing soccer and basketball. 
Two more back injuries playing football.  Cracked both knees and one elbow 
when he was run off the road while roller blading.  Oh, did I mention he 
almost lost his leg due to an infection that got into the bone when he ran 
into a bent up license plate (his shin).  And about another dozen injuries. 
All before he was 20.

He has chronic all over the body pain.  He's working at trying to figure 
something out to alievate it.  He can't sleep.  Occasionally, he gets a full 
nights sleep but most of the time he doesn't.  By the end of the day he's 
stiff and he wakes up so stiff someone has to help him get out of bed.

I told him that he needs to do something because he works all day but you 
need to get some sleep some time or another or he's going to end up causing 
himself more injury working half-asleep.

So, he heads off to see a doctor.  Takes in his list and unfortunately he 
gets the new breed of "doctor," an FNP (Family Nurse Practioner).  She never 
so much as hints she might like to look at his back (I'm no doctor and don't 
play one of television either <g>) but I can see the wanky discs in his back 
and the knotted muscles.  She doesn't do any of the other stuff the orthos 
usually do (toe stand, heel stand, muscle reflex, finger grip, needle wheel, 
etc., etc., etc.).  She isn't interested in hearing that he's been taking 
some Ibuprophen I had with no results.  She isn't interested in getting his 
prior medical records.

Her answer is "we'll test your thyroid."  Huh?  And when he asks about 
*doing* something about pain (thinking PT, chiro, TENS, ultrasound, pain 
management clinics, etc.), she says, "oh, you'll get YOUR OWN [emphasis was 
her's] ibuprophen."  Ah, like because the prescription is in his name it 
will work better?

I am really disgusted with the medical profession in general and 
specifically medical care in "poor" communities!

Lynda
"Facts do not cease to exist because they are ignored."  Aldous Huxley
----- Original Message ----- 
From: "EarthNSky" <erthnsky AT bellsouth.net>


> I saw my rheumatologist yesterday-regular visit.  I've been having more
> flares recently, mostly in my feet, with sore, tender, growing nodules
> at my metacarpophalangeal joints of my forefingers on both hands.  In
> the last 6 months, I've also noticed an increase in my OA
> symptoms...left knee, right hip, both shoulders, cervical and lumbar
> spine, etc.  I should own stock in BenGay and Capsaicin creams!  It is a
> good thing that I like the smell of menthol!
> I was diagnosed with OA at the same time as RA, but for the most part, I
> only have OA problems if I overdo it, or if the weather stays nasty.  A
> gazillion others have the same issues so I know I am not alone.  Today,
> my doc gave me a referral to a foot surgeon and lidocaine patches for
> localized pain.  I cut one down and placed it on my bunionette (a
> bunionette is on the outside edge of the foot by the pinkie toe-it has
> nothing to do with size-just bunionettes deform the pinkie toe and
> bunions deform the great toe, pushing both towards the center of the
> foot.)  I have both like the image shown and the bunion looks worse than
> the bunionette, but the bunionette causes me the most pain.  It is not
> an RA type pain, more like tendinitis, you know, a burning, tennis
> elbow/carpal tunnel type of pain.  So I put a patch on my foot at about
> 4:30 in the afternoon.  I removed it at midnight before taking a shower.
>  You can leave them on for 12 hours-12 on 12 off.  For the almost 8
> hours I wore the patch, I did not have even one pain in my foot.
> However, the pain re-emerged within 10 minutes of taking off the patch.
>  I am hopeful that it continues to work to take the edge off as that
> will enable me to exercise more.  Sometimes I skip the bike ride and the
> fence/mailbox walk simply because I can't deal with more pain.  Today
> was such a day.  With relief from the patch, I took a nap instead.  If I
> can exercise more, especially more regularly,(everyday instead of 2 or 3
> days a week) I can drop even more weight and meet my goal of losing 50
> pounds, which will of course also take a load off my skeletal system and
> joints.  According to the doc, I've lost 11 pounds in 3 months just by
> drinking more water, exercising a little, drinking far fewer cokes, and
> substituting unsaturated fats from plants for the saturated animal fats
> when I can.  I haven't gone overboard or anything, I'm still a major
> carnivore, but I'm trying to make healthier choices and eat more veggies
> and such.
> I thought I would mention these patches in case others might benefit.  I
> was told that I could use them on any part of my body(back, shoulder,
> knee, arm, ribs, etc.)  I wish I had had something like this back when I
> suffered from CTS daily.  Of course it does nothing to stop the cause of
> the pain-other meds do that, but it surely will increase functionality,
> and give me a bigger buffer on pain and my mood.  When you deal with
> chronic pain, you become less tolerant of things and you loose your
> emotional buffer.  Anyway, ask your doctor about these things. They were
> originally approved for the pain of shingles, I think.
>
> I'd like to know how some of you manage chronic pain.  Do you live with
> a bucket of ice, pay for acupuncture, smoke dope, drink vodka???  How do
> you get to sleep when you have mild or moderate pain?  Has anyone tried
> biofeedback?  Hypnosis?
>
>
> --
> "The budget should be balanced, the Treasury should be refilled, public
> debt  should be reduced, the arrogance of officialdom should be tempered
> and controlled, and the assistance to foreign lands should be curtailed
> lest Rome become bankrupt.  People must again learn to work, instead of
> living on public assistance."
>
> --Cicero, 55 BC
> http://erthnsky.blogspot.com/
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