I have just one nerve left...
My side hurts almost all the time. After the three million tests to determine that I have no horrible liver-eating amoeba or need to have my gall bladder removed, they sent me to a GI specialist. This fellow looked at me, asked me a couple questions, poked me in the side, and said, "I don't think that pain is from your gut. You have a pinched nerve."
I suspect that it is a combination of my muscle imbalance (brought on from bellydancing), my bike accident last summer, and the massive amounts of driving...although I still worry about amoebas. (Doesn't everyone? Especially when every freakin' doctor asks you if you've been drinking unfiltered water from lakes, and I have to say yes because I have done some open-water swimming in the past couple years.)
I now get to go to something called a "pain clinic". All they do there is specialize in treating pain. I've never heard of such a thing before, but I think it's a great concept because they tackle things using not just pain meds but physical therapy and psychotherapy as well. It turns out that it isn't just a pinched nerve but some sort of pain around two of my ribs as well...which got me thinking about the bike accident and how I fell on that side. (Incidentally, the bruised shin is still not healed, either.)
Fortunately, I didn't strike them as being traumatized by my pain, so my treatment will consist of medication and physical therapy. While part of me feels like this is overkill, the pain has also been going on for well over a year now (getting worse, especially when I do stupid crap like fall...and sit), so I don't think it'll be going away by itself. The down side is that the time at the doctor's office has been rather time-consuming. However, I imagine it'll be worth it. I hate it when I'm sitting in class and start having upper body spasms. I suspect more than one of my professors has noticed and thought I was doing some sort of bizarre desk dance to my private earworm...one that really has a lousy sense of rhythm.
I suspect that it is a combination of my muscle imbalance (brought on from bellydancing), my bike accident last summer, and the massive amounts of driving...although I still worry about amoebas. (Doesn't everyone? Especially when every freakin' doctor asks you if you've been drinking unfiltered water from lakes, and I have to say yes because I have done some open-water swimming in the past couple years.)
I now get to go to something called a "pain clinic". All they do there is specialize in treating pain. I've never heard of such a thing before, but I think it's a great concept because they tackle things using not just pain meds but physical therapy and psychotherapy as well. It turns out that it isn't just a pinched nerve but some sort of pain around two of my ribs as well...which got me thinking about the bike accident and how I fell on that side. (Incidentally, the bruised shin is still not healed, either.)
Fortunately, I didn't strike them as being traumatized by my pain, so my treatment will consist of medication and physical therapy. While part of me feels like this is overkill, the pain has also been going on for well over a year now (getting worse, especially when I do stupid crap like fall...and sit), so I don't think it'll be going away by itself. The down side is that the time at the doctor's office has been rather time-consuming. However, I imagine it'll be worth it. I hate it when I'm sitting in class and start having upper body spasms. I suspect more than one of my professors has noticed and thought I was doing some sort of bizarre desk dance to my private earworm...one that really has a lousy sense of rhythm.