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Sep. 24th, 2008 10:04 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
the_rckI had planned to go to the farmers' market and the post office today, but my ankle started hurting yesterday, and I thought I'd better be sensible and limit the stress I put on it. Right now, it's not hurting too badly. It twinges when I move wrong which basically means any wobble to the joint. That got me out of bed early because I couldn't move my leg without pain. The weight of the blankets was enough to move the foot off from straight.
I got up a little after six and rummaged in a cupboard until I found the padded ankle splint I used many years ago. It's got to be eight or nine years old, and I'm not sure it fits quite right, but it let me walk Cordelia to school. It goes along both sides of the ankle and calf, so I can't wobble too badly. I'll probably take it off later, but I think I'll want it at night so that I can sleep.
I'm about 85% sure this is tendonitis. I get it extremely easily and have only avoided it in recent years by limiting what I do pretty thoroughly. When I move wrong, I get pain up the outside of my led, starting at the ankle and heading halfway to the knee. I've iced it and taken some anaprox for the inflammation.
Pity anaprox doesn't help this sort of pain for me. It's good for certain types of headaches, for menstrual cramps, for fevers and pain from sore throats, but it does damn all for joint and muscle pain for me. Ibuprofen is even more useless. It doesn't help joint and muscle pain and has the added minus that I react weirdly to it--- The moment I stop taking it, whether I've taken it once or taken it for days, I sleep for about twenty hours straight. If it helped the pain, I might consider that worthwhile and work something out to have somebody look after Cordelia during the crash, but it doesn't help pain, so I might as well stick with anaprox. (The only NSAI I've ever had help with tendonitis was lodine. Unfortunately, that gave me cramping gas so bad that I couldn't stand upright. Not worth the price.)
I'm debating seeing my doctor for this and for the tendonitis in my right elbow. There's not a lot she can do for me except to document it, though. I mean, she'll tell me to rest, to ice it and to keep taking a NSAI of some sort because that should help the inflammation even if it does nothing for the pain. She might suggest PT, but PT would mean an awful lot of walking which would make the ankle worse. I don't think I'd get enough out of PT to make it worthwhile. I've had tendonitis dozens of times in the last twenty years and seem to recover best when I can minimize the fuss.
I haven't had a lot of tendonitis trouble since I stopped working. The only previous incidents I can recall had to do with pregnancy and early parenting (I strongly remember tendonitis in my knee from how I climbed into bed while holding Cordelia when she was a newborn. I just had to stop doing that and recovered pretty fast).
This time, the elbow trouble comes from having carried too much for too long the first time I went to the Wednesday farmers' market the first week of this month. I think I aggravated the problem by continuing to lift things and by crocheting. Right now, I can't lift a glass of water without pain. Grasping, lifting and anything that twists my forearm at all hurt. Brushing Cordelia's hair is hard because I have to remember to move my arm at the shoulder (I suspect that it looks utterly ridiculous).
I've tried wrapping it, and that helps. It's just awkward to do and painful to wear. The Ace bandage tends to slip toward the joint from the upper arm and then bunch up. Compression around the elbow is hard on the inner elbow. I can only tolerate the discomfort for about half an hour, so I'm saving it for times when I really need to use the arm for something.
I rather wish I weren't so right handed.
I got up a little after six and rummaged in a cupboard until I found the padded ankle splint I used many years ago. It's got to be eight or nine years old, and I'm not sure it fits quite right, but it let me walk Cordelia to school. It goes along both sides of the ankle and calf, so I can't wobble too badly. I'll probably take it off later, but I think I'll want it at night so that I can sleep.
I'm about 85% sure this is tendonitis. I get it extremely easily and have only avoided it in recent years by limiting what I do pretty thoroughly. When I move wrong, I get pain up the outside of my led, starting at the ankle and heading halfway to the knee. I've iced it and taken some anaprox for the inflammation.
Pity anaprox doesn't help this sort of pain for me. It's good for certain types of headaches, for menstrual cramps, for fevers and pain from sore throats, but it does damn all for joint and muscle pain for me. Ibuprofen is even more useless. It doesn't help joint and muscle pain and has the added minus that I react weirdly to it--- The moment I stop taking it, whether I've taken it once or taken it for days, I sleep for about twenty hours straight. If it helped the pain, I might consider that worthwhile and work something out to have somebody look after Cordelia during the crash, but it doesn't help pain, so I might as well stick with anaprox. (The only NSAI I've ever had help with tendonitis was lodine. Unfortunately, that gave me cramping gas so bad that I couldn't stand upright. Not worth the price.)
I'm debating seeing my doctor for this and for the tendonitis in my right elbow. There's not a lot she can do for me except to document it, though. I mean, she'll tell me to rest, to ice it and to keep taking a NSAI of some sort because that should help the inflammation even if it does nothing for the pain. She might suggest PT, but PT would mean an awful lot of walking which would make the ankle worse. I don't think I'd get enough out of PT to make it worthwhile. I've had tendonitis dozens of times in the last twenty years and seem to recover best when I can minimize the fuss.
I haven't had a lot of tendonitis trouble since I stopped working. The only previous incidents I can recall had to do with pregnancy and early parenting (I strongly remember tendonitis in my knee from how I climbed into bed while holding Cordelia when she was a newborn. I just had to stop doing that and recovered pretty fast).
This time, the elbow trouble comes from having carried too much for too long the first time I went to the Wednesday farmers' market the first week of this month. I think I aggravated the problem by continuing to lift things and by crocheting. Right now, I can't lift a glass of water without pain. Grasping, lifting and anything that twists my forearm at all hurt. Brushing Cordelia's hair is hard because I have to remember to move my arm at the shoulder (I suspect that it looks utterly ridiculous).
I've tried wrapping it, and that helps. It's just awkward to do and painful to wear. The Ace bandage tends to slip toward the joint from the upper arm and then bunch up. Compression around the elbow is hard on the inner elbow. I can only tolerate the discomfort for about half an hour, so I'm saving it for times when I really need to use the arm for something.
I rather wish I weren't so right handed.
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no subject
Date: 2008-09-24 02:28 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-09-25 01:52 pm (UTC)I'd do a walk-in, but the timing is bad what with needing to work around kindergarten. Of course, it's entirely possible that, by the time I can get in, the ankle will be feeling better.
no subject
Date: 2008-09-24 02:29 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-09-25 01:54 pm (UTC)I suppose it's a little weird that I treat tendonitis like a head cold. That is, it's something that happens, that's normal, that isn't worth bothering a doctor over because there's nothing to be done but wait to recover. Actually, I'm more likely to go to the doctor over a cold because of the asthma. Hm...
no subject
Date: 2008-09-25 04:12 pm (UTC)(Case in point: I don't go see a doctor when my ankle goes out, unless it does something weird. I have weak ankles. I put a brace on it, mutter, and am more careful for a while 'til I think it's settled down. Or, I don't go in with a sinus infection until the usual things they tell you to do have been tried and failed.... Though right now I would because some of the 'usual things' are on the 'with caution during pregnancy' list, but.)