Author |
Message |
Mameblanche
Member
08-24-2002
| Tuesday, May 08, 2007 - 7:44 pm
Sounds like a plan with lots of options to me Nancy! Good luck and keep us posted, please. (Gentle hugs)
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Sunshyne4u
Member
06-17-2003
| Thursday, May 10, 2007 - 1:59 am
i like the idea of calling the Head of Orthopedics at the hospital. Different doctors are better at some types of diagnosis. Since you may not be a surgical solution, a doctor who does 'all round' treatments may be in order. A surgeon will immediately want to operate. GOOD luck!
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Nancy
Member
08-01-2000
| Friday, May 11, 2007 - 4:31 pm
thanks--i'll go that route i think--right now its not sooo bad and actually something other than surgery might work--my dr. spends less than 5 minutes per visit with me and basically says 'where does it hurt'(not how)--moves my knee up and down--tells me what the xray said and basically let's wait 6 more weeks--no suggestions for exercise--no therapy suggestions--no let's try an arthritis med first nothing! 
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Mameblanche
Member
08-24-2002
| Friday, May 11, 2007 - 7:42 pm
Will you be able to get hold of your exrays from his office to take to the NEXT doctor? If so, that might save some time in the diagnosis second opinion stage.
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Sunshyne4u
Member
06-17-2003
| Friday, May 11, 2007 - 11:26 pm
my dr. spends less than 5 minutes per visit Nancy, here in Canada our appts times are supposed to be Ten Mins for a short appt, Twenty for a long one (like a pap exam or physical) I go in with my cellphone alarm ready to go. When the doctor comes in I put it on the desk and set it for the ten mins. you can find out how much time is allowed from your clinic....If they dont answer maybe try the Ministry of Health (or Medical Services plan) whomever actually PAYs the doctor funds. Some doctors gouge the system by shorting their patients so they get paid for 12 patients an hour instead of 6.
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Nancy
Member
08-01-2000
| Monday, June 04, 2007 - 3:44 pm
well my knee dr. said my pain is consistent with a meniscus tear. He said he 'wishes' i were in more pain tho--(right now its about a 4 out of 10--so for now we're going to try 6 weeks of physical therapy and then if still nothing he'll set up surgery. I also put in a request for my records and will give them to my bro who will give them to his friend(orthro. surgeon) and see what he thinks as well..so while nothing definitive yet at least i feel some progress instead of all this wait and see stuff. That being said--if i do have a slight tear will p.t. harm it? I do have arthritis in that knee as well so he wants to strengthen that i'm just so tired of the wait and see stuff isn't 8 months long enough to see??????????
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Costacat
Member
07-15-2000
| Monday, June 04, 2007 - 4:13 pm
Your PT should know that there's a possiblity of a slight tear, and create a regime around that. Be sure to divulge all info, so that they can create an informed therapy plan.
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Nancy
Member
08-01-2000
| Monday, June 04, 2007 - 4:15 pm
thanks costa! 
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Ginger1218
Member
08-31-2001
| Tuesday, June 05, 2007 - 3:45 am
Nancy, did they do an MRI? An MRI can show if there is a tear. Have they tried to give you a cortisone shot yet? I tried everything before I had surgery on it. But 8 months is ridiculous
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Nancy
Member
08-01-2000
| Tuesday, June 05, 2007 - 3:58 am
yes they did an mri and a cortizone shot--cortizone shot did next to nothing--the mri showed an abnormaility--which the dr. felt "COULD" be consistent with a slight tear and/or just the arthritis in my knee--but where i am able to 'walk' (albeit not as much as i would normally be doing) and my pain level currently is around a 4 out of 10 he doesn't want to do surgery just yet.
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Costacat
Member
07-15-2000
| Tuesday, June 05, 2007 - 5:06 am
And I meant "regimen" instead of "regime". Duh! I just had a cortizone shot in my shoulder (rotator cuff). And it made things WORSE!!!!
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Ginger1218
Member
08-31-2001
| Tuesday, June 05, 2007 - 5:34 am
I had the cortizone shot too, did nothing. I am also having trouble with my shoulder - had a cortizone shot, did nothing.
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Mameblanche
Member
08-24-2002
| Tuesday, June 05, 2007 - 7:01 am
I had a cortizone shot in my knee a couple of years ago, and it was more painful than my knee pain!!! AND it didn't help one little bit. But dh swears by them cuz they work for him. (shrug)
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Costacat
Member
07-15-2000
| Tuesday, June 05, 2007 - 9:20 am
I know this is the knee thread, but... DAMMIT!!! So, I got hit by a car a year and a half ago (pedestrian vs auto and the auto won). And I've had pain in my left shoulder pretty much since then. I've been trying to ignore it. You know the Ignore Theory... if you ignore it maybe it'll go away? Well, it hasn't. So a month ago I go to the doc, and he does the cortisone. Doesn't do squat. So last week back to the doc, and he refers me to an ortho guy. Today? Ortho guy is sending me off for an MRI. The contrast kind, where they inject die into you. Lovely! <sigh> (BTW, I asked ortho guy about the shot today. He said if they don't get it in the exact right place, like if they get it into soft tissue, it will end up causing pain or not relieving the pain it's supposed to. Nice, yes?)
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Mameblanche
Member
08-24-2002
| Tuesday, June 05, 2007 - 9:48 am
(((((COSTA)))))
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Nancy
Member
08-01-2000
| Tuesday, June 05, 2007 - 2:11 pm
Costa==that is what happened to my knee--the pain was actually worse--the dr. said i should feel less pain in 2-3 days and pain-free in a week--umm NOT even close!! I Had just a normal mri not w/contrast that wasn't really all that bad. i had heard stories of feeling claustrophobic but with mine anyway my head was completely out of the machine so that was OK 
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Nancy
Member
08-01-2000
| Tuesday, June 05, 2007 - 2:14 pm
oh and ignore i hear ya--i first hurt my knee--mid-october--walked around disney in pain--aggravated it more in november playing laser quest on a 'team dynamics' thing for work--waiting till my physical in december to tell my dr. how sent me for xray the first week in jan and i saw the ortho for the first time feb 5th and now he's been 4 months..
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Costacat
Member
07-15-2000
| Tuesday, June 05, 2007 - 4:09 pm
Well, I figure my claustrophobia will kick in, PLUS the die, so I'm screwed! And don't you love the "oh, it'll feel better in two days" and OH NO IT DIDN'T!!!!!!!!!!!!
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Nancy
Member
08-01-2000
| Tuesday, June 05, 2007 - 4:17 pm
LOL costa yeh i kept thinking OK when does the 'better' part kick in cause it sure as heck wasn't better it was in fact worse! and better didn't really kick in--only back to the same pain level. grrr never again on that one..
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Costacat
Member
07-15-2000
| Tuesday, June 05, 2007 - 5:25 pm
At least you got back to the same pain level. After the initial two weeks of agonizing pain, it's better but not where it was before! He made it WORSE!
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Nancy
Member
08-01-2000
| Tuesday, June 05, 2007 - 6:02 pm
it took probably a good 3 weeks costa(which is not 'normal') but it did get back to the same pain level--butof course every one is different and as you stated a lot has to do with where how the needle is placed.
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Hypermom
Member
08-13-2001
| Tuesday, June 05, 2007 - 9:46 pm
Nancy, I had a meniscus tear about 15 years ago. I had PT, but after having a "soft" cast on for 6 weeks and using crutches to let it heal. Have you had a cast?
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Seamonkey
Moderator
09-07-2000
| Wednesday, June 06, 2007 - 12:55 am
Nancy, I'm sorry they can't be more sure of things. Hope the PT helps and if a tear can heal, that is great. I lived with basically no ACL (anterior cruciate ligament) for 15 years and then after some not so nice falls, and increasing instability, had a second MRI and that showed I by then had a complex tear of the <I forget which> meniscus, so I had that repaired AND the patellar tendon graft to replace the ACL, plus a graft of cadaver cartilege (allograft). I'm happy that they had somewhat better techniques (mostly the cartilege graft, I gather) but considering all I wasn't able to do for those 15 years, I should have had the operation sooner than I did. (I also had a custom carbon/titanium knee brace (CTi) for a number of years and it allowed me to move around well, this was before the tear, so the only time it was painful was if the knee went "out", the brace kept it stable, but eventually it started causing nerve irritation, yikes. I've never had a cortisone shot and hope I never have to. My brother had them in the knees when he was young, ack. Costa, I'm really sorry to hear you have rotator cuff problems. So very painful and so slow to heal. I did avoid surgery, did PT for quite awhile and more home exercises with bands but then it became "frozen" and I just didn't use that shoulder much and slowly it improved, but it was at least a year I'm taking a friend in on Thursday for her knee surgery.. after months getting cortisone shots after a bad fall, she finally pushed them for an MRI. They had been reluctant to consider the fall, even though the really bad pain started after that fall, plus instability, but she has rheumatoid AND osteo arthritis. Anyway they did discover a torn meniscus. Her doctor claims she will be able to walk out of the surgi-center with no crutches! So it is not the same surgery I had, just arthroscopic. I really hope it will be a huge success for her. Costa, still just wincing over your pain.. I really do understand.
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Ginger1218
Member
08-31-2001
| Wednesday, June 06, 2007 - 3:48 am
Costa I am waiting for the results of my shoulder MRI. It has been hurting me since after my spinal surgery, (I thought they maybe did something when they positioned me on the table), and I was living with it, but it has gotten so bad, I can barely pull my pants up or down. I am in very bad pain. (I don't tell many people because it gets embarassing after a while to be constantly in pain)
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Sunshyne4u
Member
06-17-2003
| Wednesday, June 06, 2007 - 4:36 am
the cortisone shots increase scar tissue which increases the problem. Would never suggest them unless all else has been tried and failed. Costa, you've given me my laugh of the day. they inject die into you I sure hope you meant Dye. To inject someone with Death is a harsh treatment LOL actually it is contrast media but I know it is sometimes called dye. *** 6 weeks of physical therapy and then if still nothing he'll set up surgery if you can, try to find a physio which uses Laser therapy to advance the healing. Just hands on and Moving around will probably not help you considering the long time it has been untreated. if MRI and xrays arent seeing a problem, I'd be pretty unsure about having surgery. Is it possible the Doctor just wants to do some arthoscopy to look around>?? That isnt really surgery but is done under anesthetic due to pain.
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