Soooo,
I saw the doctor yesterday and the visit went okay. Sometimes I really like her and sometimes she comes up with weird answers to problems.
Though I had told her that I�m having muscle pain and headaches and the pain is so bad I can�t sleep. I mentioned that my mom and aunt have fibromyalgia and that their symptoms at the onset were very similar. Having another inflammatory auto-immune disorder, there is a higher likelihood of having fibromyalgia. There�s a specific exam they do involving 11 (?) trigger points. She didn�t do it. She did talk about my jeans were a little tight and probably pressing on my nerves. Um, okay, but I don�t wear jeans every day and the pain is every day. (and yes, I am concerned about the stupid tight jeans and I�m making a plan stan).
So she said that my muscles are inflamed but didn�t really give a cause. Her solution was to use a steroid cream to reduce the inflammation. She didn't want to give me an oral steroid because they can cause so many problems with your body in general. The steroid cream is supposed to get directly to the muscles and reduce the inflammation. She rubbed some in when I was there yesterday. It helped a little but not enough relief so that I could sleep. I ended up taking half an ambien because it hurt too much and I couldn't relax.
Then she also recommended that I boil lamb shanks and drink the broth because that will give me glucosamine.
I've actually been thinking about changing doctors because she's kind of far from my house, but I really like her, she's very thorough, always spends a lot of time with me, etc. But some of her doctoring is almost like voodoo medicine! I think another doctor would have done the evaluation for fibromyalgia (which she didn't do even though I have classic symptoms and told her that my aunt and mother both have it and there is a genetic link) and given me something for the pain. I'm going to wait and see if the steroid cream works. If it doesn't, then I will finally make the doctor switch. As for boiling the lamb shanks, lady I don't have that much time in my day.
It was all I could do not to laugh... she asked me where I was from. I said I was born here but my ancestry is Irish, and a few other places. So for the rest of the visit, she kept referring to the Irish as "your people". "Your People" do it like this. Where "your people" are from.. blah blah blah. It was so surreal. It wasn't even like being at an MD. I thought maybe I was at some herbalist or something. And I�m all for holistic approaches but boiling lamb shanks? I swear if the cream doesn't work, I'm so outta there. All I want is relief from pain and I don't care how I get it.
Here is heidiann�s reaction:
BOIL LAMB SHANKS????? well, janet, i think for your pain you should wrap seaweed around your head, put shells on your breasts, and dance around screaming that you're the lady of the ocean. for the glucosamine.
Priceless.
As for the lamb shanks, I don�t have that kind of time. Sorry, when I�m in pain at midnight and feel like all my muscles are cramped up and I just want to get to sleep, there�s no way I could possibly go boil lamb shanks and make a lovely broth. So, if the steroid cream doesn�t work, I�ll be changing doctors. She�s actually usually a good doctor but I�ve been considering changing for a while because she�s kind of far from home and so when I get referrals or need to have tests done, I have to drive far for all of those as well. So this might be the motivation I need to do that.
