Saturday, October 31, 2009

and the ortho says....

Frozen shoulder. He didn't think the tear was significant.

I don't know. Maybe? He didn't seem convinced himself. He kept asking me if my shoulder was stiff, and I kept telling him I couldn't move it through it's full range. That's different from stiff, right? Stiff is where you move slowly, but after a while, it isn't so bad. I wish doctors would use the same language the rest of us use. It would make things so much easier.

And he doesn't seem to understand the connection between shoulder problems and hand problems. Or he doesn't talk as if he understands.

Anyways, he prescribed PT. I'm willing to try just about anything, but I am dubious since he decided against any specific instructions to the therapist, on account of him being not so sure himself. Well, maybe I'll be pleasantly surprised with an unusually good therapist.

4 comments:

FridaWrites said...

You never know--some of them seem to get it if they've worked with a lot of patients with a specific problem.

One Sick Mother said...

Stiff? what is stiff? We EDSers can't conceptualize the term "stiff", in the same way that most normal people simply can't get their heads around EDS.

...and I include that ortho in that list. It sounds like he hasn't a flaming clue. If you can, I would seek a second opinion.

Seriously: PT *shouldn't* make things worse, but the unhappy fact is that it can. Especially without specific instructions from the doc. My PT prescription from the rheumy read like a novel (as opposed to the one-liner from #6 -a neurologist)

good luck.


sounds like the ortho doesn't get EDS at all.

yanub said...

OSM, you are likely right. He doesn't get it, and isn't likely to get it. I mean, if I tell him straight out how it is, and he dismisses that, how can I trust him? And I feel more confident about my own assessments after the latest (different issue) doctor visit.

And I needed to read what you wrote about "stiff." It is hard to remember, and to conceptualize myself, that other people operate with completely different understandings of how the body is supposed to work.

Frida, finding such a doctor is quite a task, isn't it!

FridaWrites said...

Yes, it is very daunting to find a new one! OSM is right that PT can also make certain conditions worse rather than better (thus hastening surgeries the orthos make $ from).