SYMPTOMS ‘UNDERWHELMING’ — by Steve Nadis
Our medical system does not do well with vague, ill-defined ailments. Can you blame it? Last week I visited a foot specialist in orthopedics. My heel has not been normal for more than three months due to something I did in handball or volleyball or both. Yet each time the doctor asked me to do something–walk on my toes, walk on my heels, etc.–or poked me somewhere on my foot, it didn’t really hurt. So he told me my symptoms were “underwhelming” and basically sent me packing. I can understand his reaction though something’s still not quite right down there and I don’t know how I’m going to get to the bottom of it.
Posted by
at
17:35:29
IT’s LYME! It’S LYME!!
No, seriously, docs don’t like to go find problems if they feel it isn’t serious or has a good chance of clearing itself up. Too busy these days.
SO what are the symptoms? A “lump” feel? A sorta strained muscle in a certain direction?
There’s theraputic massage, foot excercises, Dr. John’s Foot Tonic. I like the last one. If it don’t fix it, ya don’t care anyway…’xP
–Dr. Polo
Dr. John’s Foot Tonic? I’ll have to check it out the next time I find myself at CVS with one of those in-store credits we’ve all heard so much about.
The solution is to get your doc to give you a referral to a physical therapist. The PT will come up with all sorts of theories as to what is going on, which are likely to be baloney, hooey, poppycock, balderdash, nonsense or perhaps even bullshit. However, if you nag the PT, they may also give you ultrasound or electrical stimulation, which may fix the problem regardless of the diagnosis.
Another alternative is to stop walking and start slithering, Snake.
Good suggestion, TB (&MP too!). I did, in fact, see a PT but she, like the doctor, couldn’t figure out what was wrong. Too bad she didn’t give me ultrasound anyway. Maybe, as you suggest, it would have worked even if no one could say exactly what problem it was fixing…