#Interventional Pain specialist

[txpainspecialists]

Relief From Neck Pain Conditions: It’s Within Your Reach

Nearly 80 percent of people suffer from neck pain during their lifetime. Several Americans suffer from chronic neck pain. The neck consists of several components, including muscles, ligaments, and tendons.

The neck is a body part that is vulnerable to several painful conditions and injuries. This is because there is an extensive range of neck movements that happen throughout the day. Also, the ability of the neck to function optimally is also dependent on the muscles located in the chest, back, and shoulder.

If neck pain is left untreated, they can turn out to become chronic. Neck pain conditions may include stiffness, soreness, or pain in the neck with limited mobility.

Causes of neck pain conditions

Neck pain is also known as cervicalgia. It is the pain experienced in or near the spine or beneath the head. Neck pain conditions are quite common. Most individuals have neck pain at some point or the other in their life. It is a widespread problem affecting diverse age groups and lifestyles around the world. 

Some of the most common causes of neck pain include:

Holding the neck in the same position for a long time.

Injury to soft tissues (tendons, ligaments, and muscles) within the neck.

Poor body posture with head flexed in the forward direction.

Pressure on the neck causing strains and sprains

Some other causes that trigger neck pain conditions

Whiplash injury

Awkward sleeping position

Mental stress or worry

Cervical spondylosis

Degenerative disc disease

Herniated disc

Osteoarthritis

Rheumatoid arthritis

Cervical spine injury

Spinal stenosis

Compressed (pinched) nerves

Worn-out joints

Inflammation

Abnormal growths such as bone spurs, cysts

Meningitis 

Symptoms of Neck Pain

The symptoms of neck pain vary widely from person to person. Here are some of the most common symptoms of neck pain conditions.

Muscle tightness

Soreness and stiffness

Numbness or tingling sensation

Reduced ability to move the head

Trouble in lifting or gripping objects

Muscle spasms

General weakness

Frequent headaches

Sharp shooting pain

Feeling of fullness

Difficulty in swallowing

Radiating pain into the arms and neck

Visiting a Texas pain specialist for neck pain

Neck pain is not constant. It comes and goes frequently, or may come back intermittently. If you are suffering from neck pain, the major question that arises is when should you seek medical attention or go for neck pain therapy Houston?

In most cases, neck pain goes away on their own after a few days. However, if the neck pain lasts for several days or becomes worse and continues to interfere with day-to-day activities, it is advisable to seek medical help immediately or visit one of the top pain management clinics in Texas.

Sometimes neck pain conditions may arise due to an underlying medical condition such as inflammation, tumor, meningitis, spinal nerve compression, or any possible infection.

You should consult a Texas pain specialist for neck pain immediately if you face the following:

Sudden neck stiffness with difficulty in lifting objects.

Fever and chills

Excruciating pain radiating into the arms and legs

Problems with body balance and coordination

Unexpected weight loss

Bowel or bladder dysfunction

Numbness, weakness or dizziness

Swelling of lymph nodes

When it comes to the health of your neck, it is better to be safe.

Diagnosis of neck pain conditions

Most neck pain conditions are diagnosed and treated based on the symptoms and basic examination.

The best pain management clinics in Texas perform a comprehensive examination and consultation.

The doctor collects information about your medical history and asks questions about the discomfort that you are facing.

During the examination, they will check for any possible signs of swelling or abnormalities.

During diagnosis, a Texas pain specialist for neck pain may also guide you to perform a series of movements and stretches to gauge the pain.

Occasionally, the doctor may also recommend diagnostic imaging tests such as X-ray, CT scan, or MRI.

The imaging studies will provide the doctor with detailed information about the tissues, muscles, and bone surrounding the neck.

They may also help rule out other major underlying causes of neck pain.

Neck pain treatments

While most causes of neck pain eventually disappear within a day or two with rest and self-help treatments at home. However, complex or continuing neck pain conditions may require other pain relief treatments and therapies. These include:

Stretching and muscle strengthening exercises for the neck.

Pain medications and muscle relaxants (anti-inflammatory steroidal medications)

Transcutaneous Electric Nerve Stimulation (TENS)

Steroid injections

Traction

Special neck collar

Hot and cold therapy

Acupuncture

Relaxing massage

Alternative therapies

Deep breathing exercises

Meditation

Stress-reducing techniques

Surgery, in rare cases, if a nerve or spinal cord is being compressed

Preventing neck pain conditions

Here are some of the ways to improve your neck health.

Maintaining an upright body posture

Minimizing the amount of time spent on mobile devices

Stay active and exercise regularly

Stay hydrated throughout the day

Adjust your workstation so that you don’t have to keep your head tilted up or down

Texas Interventional Pain Specialists: A Reliable And Trusted Name for Neck Pain Therapy Houston

The dedicated and compassionate team of doctors at Texas Interventional Pain Specialists led by Dr. Edward Baumgartner diagnoses and treats the cause of neck pain, providing effective pain relief. This pain management clinic in Texas follows minimally invasive pain procedures for treating neck pain conditions effectively.

The unique approach and targeted therapy followed at this clinic minimizes neck pain with a shorter recovery time for patients. This Texas pain specialist for neck pain clinic focuses on alleviating neck pain, increasing mobility, and accelerating healing through minimally invasive pain procedures.

Prior to starting the neck pain treatment, a meticulous examination of patients is carried out at this pain management clinic in Texas. This helps in identifying the underlying cause of the neck pain.

If you are experiencing neck pain, don’t wait till the pain gets worse.

Neck pain conditions should be treated immediately without allowing them to become more severe.

Are you looking at a speedy recovery from neck pain conditions? Do you want to keep your neck pain from returning repeatedly? Schedule an appointment with Texas Interventional Pain Specialists for a personalized pain relief treatment from neck pain.

[ipscindia]

Stem cell therapy for Osteoarthritis knee

Among the chronic Joint pains, hip and knee osteoarthritis (OA) is the most prevalent and is a leading cause of pain and disability in most countries worldwide.

The prevalence of arthritis increases with age and is associated with heavy occupational activities.

242 million people worldwide have symptomatic and activity-limiting arthritis of knee.

Knee Osteoarthritis affects sleep, mood, and quality of life. Pain- both chronic pain and episodic- can result in depression and other mood disturbances, functional disabilities, and work limitations.

OA significantly limits a person’s ability to self-manage other chronic diseases like diabetes and hypertension.

Osteoarthritis knee also, increases the risk of developing heart disease by 50%.

Traditional nonsurgical Osteoarthritis therapies have limited utility and the the treatment effect on disease is very low. Most of the therapies are aimed at controlling the symptoms but have minimal or no effect on disease progression or repair. On the other hand, surgeries such as Total knee replacement and partial knee replacement is unwarranted until the disease progresses to moderate or end-stage.

Stem cell therapy by the Interventional Pain specialist has shown some promising results and has shown disease modification to prevent knee joint destruction. Stem cell therapy for knee arthritis has shown reduction of pain and stiffness, improvement in physical function, maintains cartilage quality with minimal side effects. Cost of the procedure and affordability is a matter of concern and may not be suitable for the masses.

What is the best treatment for early arthritis of knee?

Exercises to strengthen the muscles, regular walks to maintain the flexibility, weight reduction to off load the knee joint and exercises to improve the general physical fitness. These interventions not only will reduce the symptoms but also helps in slowing the process of degeneration.

What are the stages of Osteoarthritis knee?

Stage 1: Minor. Pain on increased physical activities is the main symptom. Modification of the lifestyle, usually controls the symptoms and may even disease progression.

Stage 2 is Mild Osteoarthritis and Stage 3 is moderate arthritis: Disease modifying interventions by Interventional Pain specialist, can only prevent further progression at these stages. The earlier we intervene, the better are the results. Stem cell therapy is best at these stages.

Stage 4: Severe. At this stage, either Knee joint replacement or in patients who are not willing for knee replacement surgery or not medically fit for surgery, pain reduction can be achieved with cooled RF ablation technology.

Is walking good for osteoarthritis?

Walking is a fantastic option for many patients with knee arthritis because it is a low-impact activity that does not put undue stress on the joints. Furthermore, walking can increase the knee's range of motion and keep it from becoming overly stiff.

What exercises should we not do with osteoarthritis knee?

You may need to avoid activities that put too much strain on the joints, such as running and sports that involve jumping, quick turns, or sudden stops.

What blood tests can detect early arthritis?

Osteoarthritis is a degenerative condition and can not be detected with blood tests. Some blood tests are required to rule out other types of arthritis.

Does stem cell therapy work on knee arthritis?

Stem cell therapy has shown some promising results and has shown disease modification to prevent knee joint destruction. Stem cell therapy for knee arthritis has shown reduction of pain and stiffness, improvement in physical function, maintains cartilage quality with minimal side effects.

Is stem cell treatment better than knee replacement surgery?

Stem cell is used in the early stages only to prevent the disease progression but if the osteoarthritis is already in advanced stages, knee replacement is a better option. When knee replacement is not possible, pain specialist may advise you for Cooled RFA of knee joints to reduce the pain.

How painful is the stem cell injection in the knee joints?

Not painful at all. The pain specialist do these procedures under local anaesthesia and under Ultrasound or Fluoroscopy Guidance.

How many stem cell injections are required for OA knee joint?

With the current advanced technology, only one single stem cell injection is required.

How long does it take for knee stem cells to work?

Some patients report feeling better in as little as a couple of days. Stem cells takes some time to act and repair the damaged cartilage and may have full effect in 4-6 weeks time. During this period, your pain specialist will prescribe some medications to control your pain.

Do I need to take rest after the stem cell procedure? Just one to two days of restricted physical activity is sufficient. From the 3rd day, you may start your routine activities. Avoid jogging, running, and strengthening exercises for at least 7-10 days. Avoid overloading (excess force on the affected joint), shearing (pivoting and twisting), or compression on the injected joint.

[dranshulagrawalpainspecialist]

Minimally Invasive Pain and Spine Intervention | Dr Anshul Agrawal

Discover minimally invasive pain and spine interventions with Dr. Anshul Agrawal. Call 70111 56044 for advanced treatments that offer effective relief with minimal downtime.

[certifiedsexed]

You know what genital condition hurts worse than anything else I've ever experienced, and I'd never encountered at all before I developed one?

A Bartholin abscess. I feel like it's important for people to know about them; they're painful, debilitating, misunderstood, and often dismissed by non-specialist doctors as 'going away by themselves'. The gynecologist I saw with my most recent one said she treats 20+ of them a week, but nobody talks about them. There certainly weren't any clinic posters talking about them. Plenty about STIs and pap smears, but no Bartholin awareness.

I would encourage anyone who's factory plumbing came with a vagina, or who cares about someone with that plumbing, to put Safesearch or the search engine equivalent on (because the images that pop up are the worst case scenario, and also NSFW if you're at school/in the office) and look into Bartholin cysts and the abscesses that come from them. The wiki page is a good starting point.

If you notice a lump near the opening of your vagina, get medical help. Don't wait and see if it goes away. My first one I was so depressed that I just pretended it wasn't there, and it went from the size of a grain of rice to the size of a peach in under a week. Imagine something the size of a peach under the skin of your inner labia.

These abscesses do eventually rupture and drain, which stops them hurting somewhat though they still have to heal, but until then the sheer size and painfulness impedes walking, sitting, using the toilet, cleaning after using the toilet, and just about everything else. The pain I had was extraordinary and entirely debilitating, I can't understate that. It's an area with a lot of nerve endings and very good blood flow, you know?

The second one I had I started treatment with Flucloxacillin on day two and it didn't get anywhere near as big or as painful. It still hurt a little, got to about the size of a grape, and still popped after about ten days, but I was able to continue working and mostly get along as normal.

I've been told that once you've had one they're likely to come back unless you get medical intervention so it really is key to not ignore them.

Sorry to be hijacking, I know this isn't entirely about sex ed as such, but like... I went to a school in a liberal area with fairly comprehensive sex ed which included frank and open discussions around health and diseases, and I've been around on the internet for a decade since as well, and had never heard of these until I developed one. I'm still recovering from the most recent episode, and really do not want anyone else to sprout one of these and have no idea what's happening or be dismissed by a doctor and not have the knowledge to advocate for themselves.

I don't think this is hijacking at all. I think this' great information to share, thank you! [This is an article about Bartholin cysts/abscesses, for anyone interested.]

[24-jay-42]

Ashton is not contradicting himself, in fact he is being incredibly consistent.

Ashton is a punk. Now we all have preconceived and general ideas about punk and what it means, But Taliesin has stated multiple times that punk in Exandra is different then punk in our world as The injustices in Exandra are different to the injustices in our world, at least where it concerns Ashton. Taliesin Has described punk in Exandra as quote:

“Life’s not fair. And either you believe that life’s not fair because life is chaos or you believe life’s not fair because there’s a bunch of interventionist assholes above you who have decided you don’t get to be a winner, for whatever reason.— Is it a world Where there are winners and Losers or is this a world where there are Interventionist gods who are like ‘You.’ ‘Not you’"

This is doubled down with the fact that there is seemingly no clear reasoning as to why the gods choose who they like and don’t choose who they like. At least not in any reasoning common folk know of and understand. 

Ashton also has always somewhat respected the Matron of Ravens, Because she is the only god that always keeps her promises and because she is the only goddess who will have to face every single mortal at some point while the other gods get to play favourites. 

Doesn’t help the fact that despite begging a god for help throughout almost all their life, the only time Ashton has actually witnessed divine intervention was when an angel was sent to smite him and his friends down for removing a colonial unwanted ministry from a Village. Of course that would fuel the perspective that the gods are self-serving and only interested in their own gain. 

Which is fair. Why is one person who cries out in pain granted divine repreval and guidance while someone else experiencing the same pain is left to fend for themselves? Why do the gods get to have it both ways where they can plead non-intervention in some cases but intervening in others when it serves them. 

This isn’t about being ‘Deities Specialist Boy’ This is about "Why do you get to decide who is somebody and who is nobody? Why do you decide who is ‘Special’ and who is not with seemingly no reasoning as to why? (other than self interest)."

Ashton literally said himself, to paraphrase: “The gods never chose me so i am not going to choose them. I will Listen which is more than They ever did”

Which he’s been true to. He’s listened to both the Arch Heart and the Raven Queen. The gods that approached him and the rest of the bells Hell and directly to ask for their help.

Which moves onto my next point: The Gods have No checks and Balances. So the gods are free to do whatever they like with no one able to stop them.

As we saw in downfall, and to quote Brennan Lee Mulligan “The Lord of the Hells and the Dawnfather have more love between them then either of them has for [Mortals]” and if you’re a mortal that is horrifying. Because no matter how much suffering they cause, no matter how much love the primes have for mortality, the Prime deities will never put a permanent end to the betrayer gods. They will always live another day to cause misery because the primes don’t have the heart to stop them.

And no one can do anything about that fact.

The Last beings that dared challenge the Gods, the Primordial Titans who were Exandra's original inhabitants and had much of a right to be there and have a say in what’s happening as the primes, Got smited into oblivion. There are no living Primordial Titans anymore. And why is that? Because When the primordials took issue with the gods giving the mortals that inhabited their planet magic and tried to do something about it and take back what was originally theirs, the primes buried them. 

Is there more nuance to it than that? Absolutely. But that is not a stretch of a viewpoint to come to. 

Of course Ashton is going to be attracted to these grand powers that are separate from the Gods, that the gods fear. The Primordials, The Luxon. Because these are the few things that might be able to keep the gods in check, because they sure as hell aren’t doing it themselves. 

And just to address one more thing before I Finish this post. I’ve seen a few post along the lines of “The Gods don’t owe Anyone anything/Don’t have to do anything for anyone”...

Then What’s the Point of having them?

[cannabiscomrade]

It's Gastroparesis Awareness Month

Hi! I have gastroparesis and I'm an insufferable know-it-all so let's talk about it!

Gastroparesis, or a paralyzed stomach, is a condition that causes delayed gastric emptying.

This can cause a range of symptoms and complications:

nausea

vomiting

early satiety/fullness

upper gastric pain

heartburn

malabsorption

dehydration

malnutrition

Gastroparesis can be treated by a gastroenterologist, but often needs to be managed by a motility specialist due to a lot of misconceptions about the condition. Providers, especially in the emergency department, will commonly misdiagnose gastroparesis as cannabis-hyperemesis syndome, cyclic vomiting syndrome, gastritis, food poisoning, etc.

There are several commonly known causes of gastroparesis like vagus nerve damage from diabetes, injury to the stomach, and stomach surgery like hernia repair or bariatric surgery. There are also idiopathic cases with no known cause. Other causes of gastroparesis are:

Connective tissue disorders like HSD and EDS (commonly hEDS and cEDS)

Post-viral (like COVID, viral gastritis, mononucleosis/Epstein-Barr)

Restrictive eating disorders

Autoimmune diseases like Systemic sclerosis (scleroderma), Lupus, Hashimoto's

Central nervous system disorders

Gastroparesis also has common comorbidities with conditions like:

POTS and other forms of dysautonomia (POTS, EDS, and gastroparesis are a common triad of diagnoses)

MCAS

SMAS (which can also present with similar symptoms to GP)

Intestinal dysmotility and esophageal dysmotility disorders (known as global dysmotility)

PCOS with insulin resistance

Endometriosis

SIBO/SIFO

Chronic intestinal pseudo-obstruction

Migraines

Certain medications like Ozempic and other drugs in that class act on the digestive system to delay gastric emptying, which has caused people to be diagnosed with gastroparesis. Some people report that their cases have not gone away since stopping the medication, others report feeling better after stopping. Other drugs like opiates and narcotics can cause delayed gastric and intestinal motility as well, but these are commonly known side effects of those painkiller classes.

Gastroparesis is classed based on severity and graded based on how you respond to treatment.

Severity of delay ranges from mild to very severe, and this is based on your actual stomach retention calculated at 4 hours into a gastric emptying study.

The grading scale ranges from one to three, one being mild and three being gastric failure.

There is no consistent single treatment that is proven to work for gastroparesis, and there is no cure. Treatments can consist of:

Diet changes (3 Step Gastroparesis Diet, liquid diet, oral sole source nutrition)

Prokinetic (motility stimulating) drugs

Anti-nausea medications

Proton-pump inhibitors

Gastric stimulator/gastric pacemaker

Pyloric botox and dilation

G-POEM/pyloroplasty

Post-pyloric tube feeding

Gastric venting/draining

Parenteral nutrition

IV fluids

Other surgical interventions like gastrectomy or rarely, transplant

Gastroparesis is a terrible disease and I hope that if any of these symptoms resonate with you that you can get checked out. I was misdiagnosed for a long time before getting a proper gastroparesis diagnosis, and all it took was a gastric emptying study. This is ESPECIALLY true if you're having post-COVID gastrointestinal problems that are not improving. I almost died from starvation ketoacidosis because of how serious my GP got in a short period of time post-COVID (I had GP before COVID), and now I'm tube reliant for all my nutrition and hydration.

Stay safe friends!

[jaywalkers]

hi róisín, since ur in med, i was wondering : is aftg v medically accurate ?

hihi! i'll preface with that i'm not a med student, i'm a final year paramedic student, but i think my scope and areas of practice fit the antics the foxes get into in aftg enough to comment on it!

i won't talk on aftg's take on medications, antipsychotics or otherwise, because a lot of other lovely people who are far more educated on the topic have written about it! when it comes to aftg's treatment of injuries, though, i do have some things to say.

i'm going to tee up a couple of examples of frontline medical treatment in aftg and make some comments on them! granted they're very messy, but i hope they're understandable enough.

from the best, to the worst:

kevin's hand

i don't think it's unfeasible that kevin was back to playing capacity two years after his injury happened — while i think that his hand was probably severely fractured, and there was likely different fingers involved too, with good surgical intervention (which he was likely able to access) hand fractures, even complex ones, can be healed enough in 4-6 months.

the ligament injuries would be the more pertinent, and i think those would be the more pressing concern for him outside of the healed bones, considering ligament injuries can cause chronic issues not limited to pain. i would be surprised if abby was the sole medical provider for the foxes, because while she does appear to be a well-rounded sports nurse, kevin probably would have needed to work with a dedicated physiotherapist and/or a hand specialist to get the use of his hand semi-back to normal.

other questions abt kevin's medical problems? please observe here

2. neil's wounds post baltimore

when it comes to how these wounds are treated by medical staff, i have no concerns. the hospital neil is brought to by the FBI seems to have treated the wounds well and left him to sleep off any negative follow-on effects from the chloroform. the only thing i have qualms with is the implication from the hotel scene that the hospital has put an adhesive dressing over neil's burn on his cheek, which is a big no in wound-dressing — burned skin is very delicate, and adhesives can damage or rip it away with removal. it's why we use glad-wrap in the prehsopital setting for burns, because it's sterile and not sticky!

abby, when she gets her hands on neil, changes the bandages so the wounds can be visualised and aired out, cleans them again, and then re-dresses them cleanly. i have no issues here.

when it comes to how these wounds are treated by andrew, i have only this text from my brother when he first read the series a couple of years ago

throughout the series, including post-nest, andrew is constantly getting his grubby little mitts in neils fresh wounds. he should not be doing that. in particular in the hotel scene he peels away the adhesive dressing over a burn which is just a recipe for tissue-loss, severe pain, and increased risk of infection. i don't know how abby didn't scream because i would have.

just andrew. in general. yikes, my dude. don't do that.

3. jean

jean. he is the kicked dog of this series and i genuinely don't know how he was alive at the start of the book series, let alone at the end. at the start of the series, he has (according to the EC) experienced not only numerous fractures to various bones, but has had two incidences where he 'bashed his head open on the concrete', and needed 266 stitches total. also ten incidences of waterboarding.

if we break this down: that's two major head injuries, multiple incidences of significant amounts of blood loss, and ten incidences of asphyxial peri-arrest events.

it's further implied by both the novels and the extra content that jean was not given time to heal from these injuries, and instead had to play games. add to that the hours of the nest and the living conditions, and i actually cannot fathom how jean was not yet dead, by either a single incident or the culmination of many. exy is a contact sport. those head injuries, plus an accidental shoulder-check into the plexiglass could have, and should have killed him.

i'm glad he didn't. i think it's important that he didn't. but it is a miracle of biology and the sanctity of his cerebral blood vessels that he stays alive to the end of the books.

---

anyway i hope this all makes a bit of sense! im writing this half-mad with eight hours until my last exam for my 2nd to last semester so i'm running on energy drinks and way too much memorisation work of how benzos work. thank you for the question! and as always, please field more my way i LOVE this stuff.

[jeynearrynofthevale]

Just watched the Connor McDavid: Whatever it Takes documentary and my main takeaway is that he’s insane but here are a bunch of random notes and pics:

““If it was up to my mom, we probably would’ve been a skiing family”

The drive, that’s who he is, he’s always been that way, since he was probably 3 or 4, he refused to let his parents help him get dressed and he would carry his bag everywhere, the bag was bigger than he was

“He’s intense and he’s competitive”

Bobby Orr said when he was 15 that he was gonna be the greatest skater to ever play

Tracy Wilson: Olympian and skating coach “what I love about Connor is it’s all about power, doesn’t matter how it looks, it’s about getting there”

Kassian “we haven’t seen a player like that in the game in maybe forever”

McDavid “at the end of the day, you’re still playing an nhl game, but that’s not much to hang your hat on” in reference to being out of the playoffs

“Right on the post square and I just felt the pain right away, thought I’d just broken my leg into a couple pieces”

They keep replaying him going into the net at top speed and it’s fucking horrible to watch

He whispered to me “I think it’s broke”- Kassian

“I was having flashbacks to Stamkos’s energy and I know stammer really well”

Stamkos texted therapist: “did he break his tibia?”

“If I could do it all over again, you’d like to take it back”- giordano

Team physical therapist asked if he could move his leg and told him he could either try to get up or call the gurney. Connor said “no, no, no” and stood up even though he was worried and thought his leg was going to give out”

“I held it together until we got though the tunnel and then I was just a mess” it took them 10 minutes to get back to the room

He said “stop, just give me a second”

3 guys had to hold him up the way back

Lauren “it was really hard when he called me, he just said “I think I broke my leg””

Brian “he was really upset and in pain, as a parent it’s hard”

Kelly: “it’s the worst thing in the world”

“Maybe in hindsight it would’ve been better if it was broken”

Never realized the infamous scene where Leon squeezes Connor in the hallway is from this.

Grade 2 strain of his pcl

“Hey dad, just want you to know I’m going for a second opinion in Colorado Springs”

Doctor told him it was a full pcl tear where tears on bth sides of his miniscus, “tore the popliteus right of the bone”

Full reconstruction of the knee, pcl, and popliteus would require a year recovery, doctor said he needed to do it asap, within a few day

“He was distraught, very, very under described”

His mom wanted him to have the surgery

Surgical intervention is to give it stability back

Had to make decision in 48hrs about whether or not to operate.

“He was very emotional and it was very difficult for him to talk.”

3rd opinion in LA: 2nd doctor is right about the issues but thinks the surgery is risky and doesn’t believe in it, wants to try to rehab it

Had to make that decision at 22 in 24 hours

Pcl cut right in half, back of knee joint completely torn, popliteus also completely torn, lateral and medial meniscus are both torn, crack in front of tibia from where he hit the post

“Hockey is my life”

He wanted to hear that he didn’t need surgery

His rehab guy literally lived with him

7 days a week, 10 hrs a day

50% chance to get him maybe skating again by end of summer

He was in a hyperbaric chamber daily for 40 days, 2 hours at a time

Claustrophobic in a literal tube

“At one point, doctor cleared him to flex his quad muscle”

They had to keep the injury as secret as possible, didn’t tell Ken Holland how bad it was

He would call his mom right after every mri appointment

He was in the pool all the time working on his knee

While rehabbing, his core specialist was like “might as well work on everything while we’re stuck here” and they worked on his core, pelvic floor, rotational movement, spine, everything

Gymnastics coach also helped

Didn’t want him to skate till September

He went on the ice with just his dad on his doc’s recommendation before September

He was so happy to be back on the ice with his father, completely changed emotionally that day

You can really see how much he loves just skating

He was so happy to know that even if he couldn’t fully heal he could still go on with the brace and skate

He’s so smooth in these skating exercises while in an insane brace

“One thing to be out there playing the game but another to do it at the level he was capable of”

Tracy Wilson did in their own words “edging” with him for afternoons, taking him through all sorts of movements and exercises without his brace

Opening night started to look like a possibility

He wanted to be there for training camp

He decided not to participate in biosteel

He wanted to play in all 7 exhibition games even though most veterans only did 4

“Like my first game all over again”

Seeing him on opening night was incredible for his training people

Okay, seeing the canucks slashing at him and shoving him into the boards in the home opener is now making me so protective

“He willed himself back”

[huntunderironskies]

Just to update on my current status since a few close friends know:

I have severely fractured my ankle (as in, surgical intervention is necessary as a cast alone won't stabilize it enough to heal properly) and will be functionally bedridden for a while. I'm in some pain but a lot less than I would be without medication and we've got a plan moving forward to try and find an orthopedic specialist. My mom is providing at-home assistance so I'm not going it alone.

For people understandably worried about US health care, my home state literally just this month significantly expanded government plan health care benefits so between that and student insurance I should not be falling into medical debt. Things could be a lot worse than they are so I'm relatively optimistic in spite of everything.

[i-like-turkey]

I announced on Twitter that I was taking a step back from social media and fandom to deal with a personal matter. That’s still true. I just need to barf some feelings into the universe. I’m putting them under a cut. This is NOT an easy read and I’m NOT holding back details. Don’t feel compelled or obligated to share my pain. TW: Pet death & grief.

I said goodbye to my little girl on Thursday. She’s been my world since I took her home at the end of July 2012. It was both sudden and not sudden. So I’m in shock, but I’m also not really surprised. There were signs that something bad was looming and I had this gut feeling as early as January that this wasn’t gonna be a good year for us.

This likely all started a long time ago. I took her to the vet in August of 2022 right before we moved east. The vet told me that her heart didn’t sound 100%, but it wasn’t something that needed immediate intervention. She had a little murmur that could indicate heart disease and if it got worse, then I’d need to get her to a specialist to take pictures and then we’d likely get her on some medicine to deal with whatever the problem was.

So I heeded the advice to take a wait and see approach. My baby was acting fine. She made it across the country well. She had energy and life. Not quite her puppy energy, but she was 10, so that was normal. I took her to the vet again this last August and I heard the same thing. She has a murmur. It’s not quite bad enough to get images. If it gets worse, we’ll refer you to a specialist. Ok. Great.

We keep living our life. She still has energy. Lunging at cars and barking at other dogs and trying to get endless pets from all of the strangers we’d encounter while walking in our neighborhood and riding our building’s elevators. I can’t tell y’all how many people would ask how old she was and be surprised when I told them 11.

So we get to January and she’s coughing a bit more than she usually does. Background: for the last few years of her life, she’d occasionally have coughing fits when she got super excited about something or barked too hard at a car. Worrying. But something I’d disclosed to all of the vets we’d seen and they didn’t seem perturbed by it. But now the coughing was every few days instead of a couple times a month or three days of coughing followed by months without a single damn cough.

It got really bad mid January. I took her into the vet. The same one who’d listened to her heart in August. He listened again. Nothing out of the ordinary. She didn’t have fluid in her lungs. Her energy was fine. He sent me home with antibiotics and a cough suppressant and told me to come back if she didn’t improve after a few days of treatment. She improved. Not right away. There were scary times where her breathing was all labored, but after a few days of the meds, she was doing better, and by the end she seemed fine.

And then we get to last Sunday and I hear a cough and that wasn’t good. And then Monday she’s coughing a bit more and I’m getting nervous. I talk to my parents and we agree to not do anything yet because illnesses can linger and her energy was fine. My mom came over that night and we were standing by the laundry closet doors and my pup pulled a toy out of her toy basket and was just running all over the living room with it. She was shaking her head and growling and having an absolute blast flinging that thing everywhere for the entire lengthy time my mom and I were chatting. She didn’t look sick. She looked like a puppy with lots of gray hair.

Then my mom leaves and we sit on the couch and she rolls over for belly rubs and immediately has to roll back over to cough. Then she cuddles up to me and we sit there and watch TV and I pet her and then I take her out and we go through our nighttime routine. She seemed fine.

Tuesday was a good day. She had energy. We played a bit with one of her favorite toys. We had some good cuddles. I only heard a few coughs.

Wednesday morning she seemed ok energy wise. She coughed when she rolled over for belly rubs right after I got home from my morning walk (solo cause it’s long & hilly. She also got one every morning). I didn’t notice anything abnormal during the day. Then we go out for our evening walk and she’s sluggish. That also wasn’t abnormal cause her energy had been fading for the last few years. Sometimes she’d race through our walks. Sometimes she liked to take a leisurely pace. I never worried cause if a car zoomed past she’d lunge and bark and if she saw a dog, she’d lose her mind. But we passed a couple dogs that night and nothing. That had me on edge. But then we get inside and I put on her favorite TV show, Person of Interest, and she was barking up a storm at Bear and seemed fine. I take that as a positive sign and relax a little.

I make dinner. We go to the couch for nightly cuddles. She rolls over for belly rubs. Starts coughing immediately. I pet her through it. Then she cuddles into my side and coughs a couple more times as we sit there. I put her to bed at her usual bedtime. I hear her coughing a few times as I’m struggling to fall asleep. Then I wake up Thursday and she’s in bad shape. I don’t wanna describe it cause it’s too fucking tough to type and traumatic. But I get us scheduled with the nearby vet asap* and I keep an eye on my girl and her scary symptoms. The symptoms subside a bit. Then my mom comes over to help keep me calm as we wait for our appointment time. My baby perks up when she hears my mom knock. She runs from the couch to the door. She’s wagging her tail and barking and jumping on my mom. She goes and chugs half her bowl of water. We sit there with her for over an hour petting her as we talk. She’s breathing ok. Her tail is between her legs, so that’s a sign something isn’t right. But she’s getting all the love from us and seemed happy.

Then we leave. She pees and poops on the way (I didn’t take her out first thing that morning cause part of the scary badness that I’m skipping is that she peed inside). The vet comes in and listens to her. I show a video I took of her that morning. The vet’s reaction said it all. She snapped into action. Took my baby out of the room for x-rays. As that was happening we were going over pricing options with a tech and then shit kinda really hit the fan cause the x-rays were bad. No specialty review necessary. She had fluid around her heart. So we start talking about transporting her to a specialist. They bring my girl back in. The tech just kinda drops the leash and steps away as soon as my girl is through the door. She starts racing directly to me and she collapses. My mom runs for help. They take her away again. The vet ends up doing the procedure she would have sent us elsewhere to do. Basically draining the fluid. It’s blood. They get her stable and hooked up on oxygen and give me the option of trying to get her to the animal hospital for further intervention. But the vet was clear that she’d probably die on the way and it was VERY clear at that point that she wasn’t gonna get better from this. It was a heart tumor. Something had ruptured and started bleeding. There was no fix. So I made the call to let her go. We got my dad and my brother on the line and told them to get their asses over to us. We stood there petting my baby as we waited. Then we said goodbye.

*In hindsight I maybe should have gotten her in the car and driven her to an emergency hospital. But the closest one ISN’T close. And that wouldn’t have changed the outcome. She hated the car enough that she would pant during two minute drives. 40 minutes (assuming relatively light rush hour traffic which is probably a bad assumption so more like 60 min) of that while she was already in breathing distress might have killed her. But assuming we made it, they could have intervened and maybe bought her a day or two. But this wasn’t something she was gonna get better from. That extra time would have been full of pain. So I made the right call. She got more loves from me and my mom at home and got to pass peacefully nearby while she was surrounded by everyone who loved her.

So I’m devastated and completely out of my mind at the moment. I don’t know what’s up or down. I’m keeping myself occupied between sobbing fits by going through all the pictures I’ve taken over the years. It’s a pain in the ass because my storage habits are terrible and my screenshotting habits are worse so I have hundreds of thousands of images scattered everywhere and now I have to dig through them to find my girl.

Here are some painful lessons I’ve learned from this:

Don’t store 77k images in a single folder on an external hard drive. You won’t be able to copy them all over to the iCloud at a single time unless you have a fuckton of available disk space on your Mac. And trying to scroll through the images will push your computer dangerously close to the limits (I really need a new machine 😬)

Don’t rely too heavily on Snapchat to takes pics. It’s fun in the moment, but 5-6 years later you’re gonna cringe & regret that all your cute dogs pics from that era are plastered over with weird graphics. A Happy Mother’s Day pic with my dog on the couch behind me, hearts all above us, and a damn Wookie filter plastered over my face? jfc 🤦🏼‍♀️

Do give yourself a refresher on how Snapchat works lest you go through and favorite a bunch of memories, see a pop up flash about them getting added to a story, and then have a full on panic attack in front of your parents about how you might have accidentally shared semi-naked pics of yourself with the few people that still follow you 😅 (Yes, I’ve been been known to take and share some risqué pics. Yes, I wanted to download them before deleting them. I might be grieving, but I can still see a pic of my 2018 back muscles and think “Damn!” 🫣🤣)

Don’t be so lax and sloppy about your picture storage habits that you’re forced to keyword search your text messages for pictures cause it’s a good way to find out just how many women you’ve texted dog pics to throughout the years 🥴 She was a great wing woman, but she also loved to clam jam me cause she thought she was the one who should be getting kisses when I’d sit on my couch with a woman 😂

Do find a balance between taking pictures of every damn thing and living in the moment. I stopped taking lots of pics since my east coast move cause I wanted to get away from my compulsive snapping. Now I regret not taking at least one daily shot of her sleeping on the couch.

Do have other people take pictures of you and your dog. So far I’ve only found two different occasions on which someone else took a picture of me and my baby together. All other pics of us are terrible selfies or feature just my hand/arm/legs. I have memories of all those moments that I spent with her, but it hurts to not have a father away perspective on them. Part of this is my fault for living thousands of miles from my family, being fairly closed off to human connections aside from shallow hookups and activity buddies, and viewing my home as a sacred domain accessible to people only if there wasn’t another option for where we could hang out.

Thank you anyone who has made it this far. Please go hug your pets and tell them that you love them. If you would like to leave me a note, that’s very welcome. I don’t have the energy to engage, so it’s unlikely I will respond until the day my energy returns. Idk when that will be. Right now I’m still in the sobbing hysterically as I process my new reality phase. I need to get through that before I’ll be ready to start communicating normally. I’m hopeful that I’ll only need a week or two in this phase. But who knows. Grief is hard to predict. All I can do now is stay patient and work through it.

[dranshulagrawalpainspecialist]

Intra Articular Intervention in Indore | Dr Anshul Agrawal

Seeking intra-articular intervention in Indore? Dr. Anshul Agrawal provides specialized treatments for joint pain relief. Call 70111 56044 to explore your options and enhance your mobility.

[3liza]

I need to figure out a way to find a dental medicine specialist who isn't a charlatan because I got a $5000 estimate for what appear superficially to be a few cavities earlier this year. I trusted my scam radar and immediately left the office but now I'm in the unfortunate position of needing a second opinion. im thinking I find one actual dentist with reasonable reviews who seems serious and not franchised, and then also book at the nearest dental school for a tiebreaker. this all sounds exhausting

my supposition is that I have a few cavities and probably need my wisdom teeth finally removed. I think if I actually needed the level of intervention the first dentist suggested, I would be in incredible pain and having a lot more visible and detectable symptoms.

the third issue is that I need someone to ablate the excess tissue inside my cheeks. my incredibly crowded mouth and cheek fat have made it so I cannot close my jaws without biting my cheeks unless I carefully puff them out first or otherwise rearrange my soft tissues. which isn't normal, is stressful, is causing jaw alignment problems, and just annoys me. I think you could just slice off some filets with electrocautery in 20 minutes and be done with it. but I need some sort of medical professional who will actually be on board. cosmetic surgeon might be the only option here

[sassypotatoe1]

A comprehensive list of things chiropractors can treat or cure by clicking your back, according to old lady gossip circle:

Multiple sclerosis

Diabetes

Asthma

Cardiovascular disease

Ibs

Chrons disease

Immunocompromization

Your fight or flight response

Anxiety

Depression

Neurological conditions like tourettes

Lymph node drainage

Infertility

Endometriosis

Pcos

Virtigo

Chronic pain caused by "inflammation" which is not actual inflammation but refers to conditions like arthritis and osteoporosis

Chronic pain in general

Tuberculosis by way of lung massages that put more air in the muscles and makes breathing easier

Difficult pregnancy

It has to be noted that chiropractors can treat exactly 0 of these conditions, and chiropractic "treatments" can not even provide relief for most of these. Chiropractors can massage and stretch you, providing temporary relief for pain caused by injury, muscle tension or cramps. They can not even address the underlying cause of these issues. They do not require a medical degree to practice, and they aren't covered by most medical insurance FOR A REASON. you can get the same effect from your hairdresser giving you a neck massage while shampooing you and that does not cost an arm and a leg.

Chiropractors are exploitative quacks who make bold claims and use big words to make money off your suffering. If you want to treat an injury go to a physical therapist who has a medical degree or sport science doctorate at least, or ideally a biokineticist. If you want to treat ANY OF THE REST OF THESE go to your GP, get a referral to a specialist with a PhD in their selected medical field that they got from medical school, and treat it with clinical evidence based intervention.

For the love of God if you want your back clicked pay a chiropractor a fuck ton of money but don't expect a cure to come for your chronic illness from theatrics and some stretching.