Medical follies...

[neotoma]

So, the doctors decided I don't have sinusitis, and wrote me a script -- that the pharmacy can't fill until tomorrow. I should have just asked for the script back and tried a different pharmacy, because I am quite miserable.

I did get a bit more of an explanation about the ongoing medical mystery, though. They're waiting to see if anything else happens, basically. It's not reassuring. Currently, the worst symptoms are the intermitent cold spells and cold intolerance.

Basically, my hands get extremely cold at random times. gblvr has been unlucky enough to be with me when this happened, and she noticed that the cold was all the way up mywrist and that my right hand was colder than my left. If I'm at work but not actually handling samples when this happens, I will pull on my winter gloves, because my hands ache a lot when they are that cold. It passes after a while and my hands gradually warm up, but it sometimes happens twice or more a day.

Also, if it's below 75 degrees F, I feel chilly. At home, this isn't too much of a problem, since I can put on my bedjacket and pull my wool throw over my shoulders. At work, this is more annoying -- I tend to bring my big wool sweater (it looks like I skinned a Wookiee!) and curl up in a corner as much as possible. I also turn on the space heater in the break room during lunch and direct it to blow on my feet.

The fact that they've found 'tiny' and 'mild' bone spurs in my knee might explain some of the joint pain I have, but the fact that my problems with my hip is on the other side makes me think that an osteologist is not going to help that much.

Currently, my doctor wants to wait and see, since my blood tests came up clear. I am thinking that I should start looking around for a second opinion; maybe see an internist after I'm over the cold, so that I don't have extraneous symptoms confusing the issue.

Comments

[gblvr.livejournal.com]

I was talking to my mom about this, and she suggested that your hip pain may be from compensating for the pain in your knee -- if you fix the knee pain, it may help with the hip pain.

[neotoma.livejournal.com]

But I don't HAVE knee pain, not the way I have hip or foot pain... and not on the same side. It just seems uber-weird that a problem in my left knee would manifest in my *right* hip...

[gblvr.livejournal.com]

Compensation pain wouldn't be on the same side; you get it because you favor one side over the other, and it strains the muscles, tendons and joints on the *opposite* side from the original pain. When my left leg was all screwy because of a staph infection, my lower right back was pretty bad (worse than normal) because I was compensating for how much my leg hurt....

[neotoma.livejournal.com]

I suppose I should find an osteologist, then... :P

Not til after Thanksgiving, though, because I am going to miss enough working days this month already...

[executrix.livejournal.com]

I think gblvr is making a lot of sense. My suggestion, though, would be a sports podiatrist (for orthotics) and/or an Alexander practitioner, because whenever there is a weakness or imbalance, then you're likely to end up with pain and limitations from trying to compensate.

[sanj.livejournal.com]

Have any of your doctors mentioned this one yet? My best friend from college has a mild case of it, and her feet and hands are also always freezing.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Raynaud%27s_disease

[neotoma.livejournal.com]

Well, if it *that*, then I'm fucked in my current job seeing as how I work with ultra-low freezers.

The doc did ask if my hands turn blue, but I haven't noticed that, though they do get really pale in the cold spells...

[gblvr.livejournal.com]

So...what do you think of *not* cooking for Thanksgiving, and just going to mrshammill's instead?

(http://mrshamill.livejournal.com/173477.html)

[neotoma.livejournal.com]

I think it sounds like a plan. I can bring pie or ice cream, or both...

[kamiki-seto.livejournal.com]

I had some similar symptoms and was recently diagnosed with Ankylosing Spondylitis. Many doctors miss it because it doesn't really show on blood work, and doesn't show on X-ray until it's fairly advanced. Women have a different set of symptoms than men, which is just starting to be recognized. I'm a nurse, fairly well informed, and never suspected.

Instead of an osteologist, think about a rheumatologist instead. The inflammatory/autoimmune group of arthritic conditions can be subtle to differentiate and diagnose and you really want an expert doing it. (Do you have any autoimmune health problems such as psoriasis, thyroid problems, endometriosis, allergies, iritis, inflammatory bowel disease, exczema? Reynaud's can be autoimmune-based, too.)