A Very Helpful Pain Management Appointment
[ Thursday June 1st 2023 at 11:00 am ]
Today's pain management appointment was very helpful. It was a 20 minute appointment. The doctor spent 40 minutes with me. It got him behind on his schedule. But he didn't want me to leave without looking at what I had prepared for the appointment. I brought a list of my questions, a list of the medications I am using (time and dose), most recent latest blood screening results and photos of my knee to show what evolved since my previous appointment.
The upshot is that I've further damaged a tear in my right knee joint. That explains the vast bruising, pain and surge in inflammation.
The doctor helped me with pain control and also with practical ideas for helping me try to do more with my life. I have a whole bunch of home work to do before going back to him again in September. I like this doctor. He took the time needed to understand me and let me be my own person. This is opposed to the typical stereotype of what happens to a person who lives with severe pain and has given up on life. Although I honestly think why is trying so hard to help me is because of me trying to make something out of my life.
In terms of medication he tweaked one of the medication doses for soft tissue pain. There are a group of epilepsy and anti depressant medications when used at 30% of the dose designed for these 2 ailments works on the nervous system to suppress soft tissue pain very effectively. The small change he made has allowed me to wake up without my knees being bright red first thing in the morning, fresh out of bed. This was very helpful. At least I am getting a few hours without being in pain each day.
He also asked me to start taking vitamin D3 each morning. The idea behind this is to help me body come through a setback faster and have more energy. After 5 days I could tell a difference. It is gentle. It is helping.
Then there are a bunch of strategies I am to try to stabilize my knee and help it behave better. These I have to go 1 at a time for several days so I can sort through what has worked and what didn't. I have my next appointment lined up for September 2023 to further discuss how the strategies worked.