(no subject)
"Pain is scary..." (Jayne Cobb, Firefly, pilot episode)
Yes, Jayne. Yes it is. Especially when one doesn't have health insurance and really doesn't know what caused it or what to do about it.
So my left hip has been acting up for the past week or so (week and a half?). Generally nothing major, just hurts if I move it the wrong way - but of course, I'm not certain what "the wrong way" actually is. And when I catch it at the wrong angle, it hurts like hell.
But, of course, it was acting better over the weekend - enough so that I actually forgot about it (I know, I'm a freak)... and went to my dance class.
Which was, apparently, a really bad idea.
That night and most of the next day (Monday night/Tuesday morning), it was excruciatingly painful. It wasn't so much a problem of catching it at the wrong angle as it was that there was no RIGHT angle. I could barely walk. The pain slooooooooowly eased off during the day, to the point where I felt able to go and shower around 3 pm (already barely able to stand, and now I'm going to go stand on a wet and slippery surface? um, no, thanks). And when I was very gingerly hoisting it up and bending over to wash it, something popped, just a TINY bit. I wasn't even sure I'd really felt it - but since then, it's been back to the way it's been for the past week or so.
Which is reassuring, yes? Well, it is. But not as much as you'd think. Because something is STILL wrong. And I haven't the faintest idea what. I've had knee and ankle issues forever, of course, due to my dancing, but I've NEVER had hip problems before. There is no old injury that could be flaring up. And frankly, what it feels like is that it's just slightly out of the socket and the muscles that normally hold it in place are spasming.
The really fun part about that, of course, is that even if I had insurance, I wouldn't know who to go to in order to get it back INTO place. My first thought was chiropractor, but I don't actually know that they do hips, per se. We have a massage therapist attached to the birth center who is also a chiropractor - since I know her, I was hoping there was a chance I could have her work on me for a more affordable cost. But I called her early yesterday (around 8:30 am) and it's now past midnight and she never called me back. :/ Someone I work with recommended someone else on my Facebook, but since I don't even know if chiropractors deal with potentially subluxated femoral heads in the first place, I'm a little shy of calling up a complete stranger to say "okay, so, I don't know if you do this, and I have no insurance and not much money but you don't know me from anybody but can you cut me a deal anyway?". Call me crazy, but it feels a little weird. Otherwise, I don't know, physical therapist? Sports medicine? I don't know anybody in either field. Osteopath? Seems like something that Dr. Goering might do - but from what I know, his practice is always full - and I don't actually know him, I just know people who know him. Doesn't give me much leverage.
Last night, it hurt so badly that if I'd had insurance, I would have gone to the ER. And probably tried to wake someone up to take me, since I really don't think I could have worked my clutch. Ironically, it is less painful tonight - but I'm having more stress. Probably because I didn't really sleep at all last night - but I napped quite a bit during the day, so I'm really not sleepy. When I went to bed, I took tinctures for sleep, pain, and anxiety - but they didn't do the trick. When I got up just now I took another dose of those plus some of the three more anxiety ones I have steeping - they're only 3 weeks along, so not "ready" yet (4 weeks minimum, 6-8 is more "done"), but I figured they might help a little bit, at least. Hoping they'll kick in someday, I really don't want to get my sleep schedule totally blown to hell two days before my main on-call section of the week.
Wonder what the odds are that a chiropractor I've never even heard of before today a) can fix this, b) will give me enough of a discount that I can afford it, and c) would be able to squeeze me in tomorrow, so I can actually walk and not worry about it since I'm the first person on call on Thursday and Saturday...
(oh yeah, and I have ballet and yoga on Friday - I really don't want to skip them, but I also don't want a repeat of whatever-the-hell I did to it in jazz on Monday night...)
Yes, Jayne. Yes it is. Especially when one doesn't have health insurance and really doesn't know what caused it or what to do about it.
So my left hip has been acting up for the past week or so (week and a half?). Generally nothing major, just hurts if I move it the wrong way - but of course, I'm not certain what "the wrong way" actually is. And when I catch it at the wrong angle, it hurts like hell.
But, of course, it was acting better over the weekend - enough so that I actually forgot about it (I know, I'm a freak)... and went to my dance class.
Which was, apparently, a really bad idea.
That night and most of the next day (Monday night/Tuesday morning), it was excruciatingly painful. It wasn't so much a problem of catching it at the wrong angle as it was that there was no RIGHT angle. I could barely walk. The pain slooooooooowly eased off during the day, to the point where I felt able to go and shower around 3 pm (already barely able to stand, and now I'm going to go stand on a wet and slippery surface? um, no, thanks). And when I was very gingerly hoisting it up and bending over to wash it, something popped, just a TINY bit. I wasn't even sure I'd really felt it - but since then, it's been back to the way it's been for the past week or so.
Which is reassuring, yes? Well, it is. But not as much as you'd think. Because something is STILL wrong. And I haven't the faintest idea what. I've had knee and ankle issues forever, of course, due to my dancing, but I've NEVER had hip problems before. There is no old injury that could be flaring up. And frankly, what it feels like is that it's just slightly out of the socket and the muscles that normally hold it in place are spasming.
The really fun part about that, of course, is that even if I had insurance, I wouldn't know who to go to in order to get it back INTO place. My first thought was chiropractor, but I don't actually know that they do hips, per se. We have a massage therapist attached to the birth center who is also a chiropractor - since I know her, I was hoping there was a chance I could have her work on me for a more affordable cost. But I called her early yesterday (around 8:30 am) and it's now past midnight and she never called me back. :/ Someone I work with recommended someone else on my Facebook, but since I don't even know if chiropractors deal with potentially subluxated femoral heads in the first place, I'm a little shy of calling up a complete stranger to say "okay, so, I don't know if you do this, and I have no insurance and not much money but you don't know me from anybody but can you cut me a deal anyway?". Call me crazy, but it feels a little weird. Otherwise, I don't know, physical therapist? Sports medicine? I don't know anybody in either field. Osteopath? Seems like something that Dr. Goering might do - but from what I know, his practice is always full - and I don't actually know him, I just know people who know him. Doesn't give me much leverage.
Last night, it hurt so badly that if I'd had insurance, I would have gone to the ER. And probably tried to wake someone up to take me, since I really don't think I could have worked my clutch. Ironically, it is less painful tonight - but I'm having more stress. Probably because I didn't really sleep at all last night - but I napped quite a bit during the day, so I'm really not sleepy. When I went to bed, I took tinctures for sleep, pain, and anxiety - but they didn't do the trick. When I got up just now I took another dose of those plus some of the three more anxiety ones I have steeping - they're only 3 weeks along, so not "ready" yet (4 weeks minimum, 6-8 is more "done"), but I figured they might help a little bit, at least. Hoping they'll kick in someday, I really don't want to get my sleep schedule totally blown to hell two days before my main on-call section of the week.
Wonder what the odds are that a chiropractor I've never even heard of before today a) can fix this, b) will give me enough of a discount that I can afford it, and c) would be able to squeeze me in tomorrow, so I can actually walk and not worry about it since I'm the first person on call on Thursday and Saturday...
(oh yeah, and I have ballet and yoga on Friday - I really don't want to skip them, but I also don't want a repeat of whatever-the-hell I did to it in jazz on Monday night...)