Re: Own help, not docs

[Guest guest]

Try not to get too discouraged. Many docs are little help with this

condition. I finally got " lucky " with the fourth doctor I saw. He

actually took the time to give me a thorough, whole-body exam and was

able to get to the root of the problem.

Keep reading and researching. As we often say here, you have to be

your own doctor. That doesn't mean you shouldn't keep looking for a

doc who can help, only that you can't rely entirely on doctors.

HTH,

Doug

*** Snip

> It seems like doctors are offering little in the way of cures/aid.

> The most helpful advice has come from my own efforts, my own

> research. This is discouraging.

[Guest guest]

The knee is extremely complex. There are many tissues and they all interact.

I'm not excusing doctors -- I think many of them just don't have a clue. And

our collective experiences here are invaluable. I wish more doctors would take

the groups seriously. Whenever I mention that I learned such-and-such from my

Internet CP Group, my OS smirks.

I did learn about McConnell taping from a professional -- a PT. And my doc WAS

right about my side pain (which I'd thought was ITBS) coming from the torn

meniscus. So if you get the right one, they can be helpful. It's very

frustrating finding the right one. The OS in my town who has the best

reputation did nothing for me, and was rude and arrogant to boot (and I'm not

the only one who stopped seeing him because of that -- rumors abound about

this). And in '95 when I had debilitating knee pain and could hardly walk, the

surgeon I found then, who was the team doc for the Sac. Kings, did a LR and it

was miraculous. Later, though, in '99 and later, he was of NO HELP AT ALL,

didn't even order an MRI, which, if he had, he would have seen that I had a torn

meniscus. He gave me about 5 wrong, off-the-wall, dismissive diagnoses. I

don't know what happened to him between '95 and '99 but he changed. This also

happened with my formerly wonderful dentist. I don't know -- maybe docs go

through a midlife crises and lost their ability to diagnose or something.

Ann

Own help, not docs

I find it very scary that what has been most helpful (knee bands &

orthodics) didn't really come about because of doctor suggestions,

and I've been to plenty of different docs in different medical

facilities, some of them very reputable. My father had purchased the

orthodics from an infomercial, no less, ages ago (but I never used

them, didn't need them at the time) and my boyfriend talked me into

using an ACE bandage since the one-time taping had gone well. Plus,

he and these boards led me to glucosomine (whether or not that

works...)

It seems like doctors are offering little in the way of cures/aid.

The most helpful advice has come from my own efforts, my own

research. This is discouraging.

[Guest guest]

I did learn about McConnell taping from a professional -- a PT. And

my doc WAS right about my side pain (which I'd thought was ITBS)

coming from the torn meniscus. So if you get the right one, they

can be helpful. It's very frustrating finding the right one. The

OS in my town who has the best reputation did nothing for me, and

was rude and arrogant to boot (and I'm not the only one who stopped

seeing him because of that -- rumors abound about this). And in '95

when I had debilitating knee pain and could hardly walk, the surgeon

I found then, who was the team doc for the Sac. Kings, did a LR and

it was miraculous. Later, though, in '99 and later, he was of NO

HELP AT ALL, didn't even order an MRI, which, if he had, he would

have seen that I had a torn meniscus. He gave me about 5 wrong, off-

the-wall, dismissive diagnoses. I don't know what happened to him

between '95 and '99 but he changed. This also happened with my

formerly wonderful dentist. I don't know -- maybe docs go through a

midlife crises and lost their ability to diagnose or something.

I'm sorry to hear about that. Hmmm... an LR was miraculous... that's

good news, at least.

[Guest guest]

Yes, although I had a lot of pain the first week after the LR, after I got used

having a knee again, I had zero pain until I changed jobs 4 years later &

started getting ITBS in both knees (cortisone zapped the ITBS in the left knee,

but not the right -- in the end, after 5 years, I had a torn meniscus & CP -- if

I'd gotten the right care when it started, I could have at least avoided the

CP).

Ann

Re: Own help, not docs

I did learn about McConnell taping from a professional -- a PT. And

my doc WAS right about my side pain (which I'd thought was ITBS)

coming from the torn meniscus. So if you get the right one, they

can be helpful. It's very frustrating finding the right one. The

OS in my town who has the best reputation did nothing for me, and

was rude and arrogant to boot (and I'm not the only one who stopped

seeing him because of that -- rumors abound about this). And in '95

when I had debilitating knee pain and could hardly walk, the surgeon

I found then, who was the team doc for the Sac. Kings, did a LR and

it was miraculous. Later, though, in '99 and later, he was of NO

HELP AT ALL, didn't even order an MRI, which, if he had, he would

have seen that I had a torn meniscus. He gave me about 5 wrong, off-

the-wall, dismissive diagnoses. I don't know what happened to him

between '95 and '99 but he changed. This also happened with my

formerly wonderful dentist. I don't know -- maybe docs go through a

midlife crises and lost their ability to diagnose or something.

I'm sorry to hear about that. Hmmm... an LR was miraculous... that's

good news, at least.