If it hurts, don't do it, right?

[teh_blumchenkinder]

Okay, time for teh's Special Strangeness Corner.
Also, paltry evidence for the ADD/Autism spectrum... (the question is: sensitivity to pressure, or something else?)
anyway, rambling aside here goes.
I am not overweight, and even when I was close to being underweight, it was like this. Only recently have I thought about this enough to get my words together and describe it fully enough, 'cuz I'm sick of it. I want to lose weight, and not be in pain. grrrr
Bare feet are good to walk in right? Well, after a few hours on my feet, my heels ache like crazy, and I have to sit down (like, about 4 hours of normal back and forth, no heavy lifting, just cleaning at a leisurely pace...) and then my calves and everything up to mid-thigh hurts like I've been run off my feet! As in "Crap I need a massage/hot bath with smelly oils/pain medication." It goes away after an hour or two.
My knees hurt when I kneel, no matter what-- a few minutes in and I'm nearly crying from pain. Same with resting some weight on my wrists, when I'm on the ground on all fours-like. My palms kill me so badly... the pain radiates up to my shoulders and neck if I don't listen in a few minutes. As far as I can tell, my knees and wrists are not abnormal-- they look very normal to me and in comparison to those I've seen! No bulgy bits or anything...
When/if I'm on my back, my lower back (right above my butt) hurts, like in the position you're in under a car or a sink. Sometimes a brace of some sort like a pillow or a blanket helps. Sitting's just fine, though, as is lying on my bed... sometimes I'm stiff in the morning if I've slept on my back.
I take vitamins, and as far as I know, I'm a very healthy person-- I've been into the doctor's and such, and they've never mentioned anything...
I'm not fishing for a diagnosis, just a direction to go in. I'm not exercising because of this-- the only things that don't hurt are swimming (which is bad for my poor hair) and bicycling (which I don't have a bike, and I'm lucky to get a seat that doesn't make my butt hurt like it's being split in half )-- and mats only stave off the hurt for a minute or two more. Web searches have gotten me stuff like "rheumatoid arthritis" and stuff... which I don't think is right...? Anyway, am I crazy, or is this an actual thing?

[MaggieTheCat]

Doctors probably won't find anything unless they know what to look for. If you've never described your problems to them in detail, they won't know how to start to diagnose.

I'd recommend going to a chiropractor, if you haven't been to one before. They specialize in bone and joint problems and will generally try to find...less invasive ways to help than MDs will. Where MDs want to prescribe pain killers and surgery, chiropractors will try other treatments first, until there are no alternatives. (I know not all MDs are like that, but in my experience, more often than not they are.)

They're generally not too expensive to go to if you don't have insurance. The first chiropractor I went to was not covered by my insurance, and adjustments ran $40-60, depending on what all he was doing. With insurance now, my new chiropractor's appointments are $20 for everything.

[Nyoibo]

When you're on your back does lifting your knees a bit help with the lower back pain, by lifting I mean bringing your feet towards your butt to raise your knees.

The pain in your heels and legs sounds like it may have to do with your posture and the way you walk and stand, if you can find someone to do a postural assessment that would be good, a Chiropractor may do it but the majority of them are mostly concerned with the spine, depending on where you are (don't know which country) A decent massage therapist should be able to do it, and if they can't fix or relieve the problems then if they're any sort of responsible they'll refer you on to a doctor, they may do that anyway if they suspect something more serious.

[Cookie]

A Chiropractor is a good call and maybe a rhumetologist. The latter can help point you to a good diagnosis for everything from arthritis to fibromyalgia to all sorts of things I don't even know about relating to pain like what you're describing. From there, you can talk about the best treatment plan for whatever it actually is.

[teh_blumchenkinder]

Niobyo, I do know what you're talking about-- I'd say 60-70 percent of the time it doesn't help... sometimes it makes it worse. When it does help, it's when I've taken it all the way and rolled it to where my lower back's curve nearly touches the ground-- I really can't get it to touch the ground, bringing my knees up to my chest sort of deal.
I've only ever been checked for scoliosis and such at school, you know the type of exams... I've only been to a chiropractor once, maybe...
I'll see what I can do about getting an appointment... and it might even be covered by insurance! I probably have horrible posture, it's a lazy slouch when standing... not many people realize yes I have boobs!
Also, will investigate wtf a rhumetologist is-- I knew/encountered it at one point...
Thank you!

[Nyoibo]

Souns like part of it is that you have a massive lordosis going on, which will cause back pain and may be responsible for some of the pain in your legs.

[teh_blumchenkinder]

Lordosis? ... (checks Wikipedia)
Swayback?
If I have one, it's really minor... which, for the spine, there's no such thing as minor, especially in a woman. (our skeletons are wack yo.) Will mention it tho. At first I thought you were trying to say 'lardass' in a latinate manner! I'm only at the upper reaches of my BMI recommendations, trust me...

[Seshat]

Regarding exercise:

* if it hurts in the joints or the bones, discuss it with a physiotherapist.

* if it hurts in the muscle, it's either 'good ache', which is the achey pain of a muscle that's growing more fibres, or 'bad ache', which is damage.
If it's 'good ache', you can keep going and doing what you're doing.
If it's 'bad ache', discuss it with a physiotherapist.

Pain in walking is probably worth discussing with a podiatrist - they can assess whether your walking posture is bad, whether your legs are different lengths, whether you have misshapen feet, etc.

When talking with the physiotherapist, ask them to assess you for 'trigger points', or other things that cause radiating pain. Basically, explain to them what you explained to us.

Swimming: use a swimming cap, and a hair conditioner designed to protect hair from chlorine. Or swim in a salt-water pool.



Finally: if you're completely unlucky, you might be like me and suffer from a pain disorder. In which case, a course of study with pain-specialising physiotherapists, occupational therapists, psychologists and rehabilitation-pain-specialist doctors will probably help you. A bit.

[teh_blumchenkinder]

I seem to have "in the joint" pain before any sort of burn from muscle-- I've felt both, I used to lift weights in high school (for about a semester).
I'm trying to remember what it was like before puberty... I'm pretty sure I had the knee and wrist/palm thing back then. Not sure about the foot thing though...
Podiatrist. They usually have separate offices, like dentists and chiropractors have, yeah? (in the U.S.)
They have salt-water pools? ... and I should bug the swim team for what they use... heh.
I hope I don't have a pain disorder! No one else in my family does... well, except for maybe Mom's bio-dad-- I know jack-all about him. (yeah, I know not all of it's genetic. It'd just be even more unfair than those types of things are already.)

[Seshat]

I seem to have "in the joint" pain before any sort of burn from muscle

Get medical advice. In the interim, restrict your exercises to things which don't trigger the in-the-joint pain. (EG: my physiotherapist wants me to continue to do squats, but to stop before the knee pain happens. So I do really shallow squats.)

Supported exercise, such as swimming or water aerobics or hydrotherapy, is also fine. And water aerobics and hydrotherapy can be done with your head out of the water, thus keeping your hair dry.

Podiatrist. They usually have separate offices, like dentists and chiropractors have, yeah? (in the U.S.)

In Australia, they do.

They have salt-water pools? ... and I should bug the swim team for what they use... heh.

Salt 'chlorination' exists. It's more commonly used in private pools than public, I assume it's either not cost-effective or it's not as effective at the scale of 'cleaning' that public pools require.

Do investigate for salt-chlorinated pools. You might be able to find specialist pools, such as hydrotherapy pools, which are heated and salt-chlorinated. These would be more expensive, but the cost might be worth it to you.

I hope I don't have a pain disorder! No one else in my family does... well, except for maybe Mom's bio-dad-- I know jack-all about him. (yeah, I know not all of it's genetic. It'd just be even more unfair than those types of things are already.)

I know you didn't mean it that way, but .. this hurts. My parents had no way of knowing, in 1968, that Auntie Carol's peculiarities were a result of an illness. And she was only Mum's cousin anyway - noone would have said 'oh, don't have children, they might turn out peculiar like your cousin'.

Noone yet knows if fibromyalgia is genetic anyway, but it does seem to be more common in families. But it's this weird, recessive thing. Me. My mother's cousin. Their grandmother's sister. Skipping whole generations, and rarely seen down a direct line. Plus, of course, we can only hypothesise about its existence in people who are no longer alive. (The diagnosis has only existed for a few decades.)

I think I overpersonalised your comment. And if so, I apologise.

On the other hand - yes, the possibility it's genetic IS one of the reasons I refuse to have children. I almost wish my brother had chosen not to, too.

But at least I can provide my list of diagnoses to my niece and nephew, and have them hand that list to every family doctor they ever have. Just in case they, or their children, get one of them.

[teh_blumchenkinder]

<snip>
I know you didn't mean it that way, but .. this hurts. My parents had no way of knowing, in 1968, that Auntie Carol's peculiarities were a result of an illness. And she was only Mum's cousin anyway - noone would have said 'oh, don't have children, they might turn out peculiar like your cousin'.

Noone yet knows if fibromyalgia is genetic anyway, but it does seem to be more common in families. But it's this weird, recessive thing. Me. My mother's cousin. Their grandmother's sister. Skipping whole generations, and rarely seen down a direct line. Plus, of course, we can only hypothesise about its existence in people who are no longer alive. (The diagnosis has only existed for a few decades.)

I think I overpersonalised your comment. And if so, I apologise.
<snip>

What I meant by the comment was "Having a pain disorder is awful. I hope I don't have one. Having it be a surprise would be even worse. " I mentioned genetics because the sources of disease are 1) environment 2) genetics 3) stuff taken into the body. I'm pretty sure I'm not irradiated... could be tho, seeing as I was in England twenty-five years ago, and I still live 'upwind' of major testing grounds in the U.S. (which have documented diverse health problems)... and like I've said, if I've 'poisoned' myself somehow (through intake or environment), not much else has happened because of it as far as I can tell.
I'm sorry I hurt your feelings, even on accident.
EDIT: I don't know what I'd do if I had genetic issues on the decision to reproduce, and I won't get into the Debate here (fratching territory, most likely), but I also don't mean it as an insult to your family, either. They had no idea! It's sad and upsetting for someone you love to be ill/in pain.
EDIT: also, thank you for being a responsible relative and giving medical information to your nieces and nephews! I have several areas, mostly on my mom's side, where we have no information. Some of which it's because the relative ran off, others it's where they died early, some it's misdiagnoses... you get the idea.

[Seshat]

I'm sorry I hurt your feelings, even on accident.

It's okay. Even while I was feeling hurt, I knew it was accidental and probably me misunderstanding you.

EDIT: I don't know what I'd do if I had genetic issues on the decision to reproduce, and I won't get into the Debate here (fratching territory, most likely), but I also don't mean it as an insult to your family, either. They had no idea! It's sad and upsetting for someone you love to be ill/in pain.

It's a very hard decision for most people. It was a bit easier for me because there's no possible way I could care for a child - I'm too disabled.

EDIT: also, thank you for being a responsible relative and giving medical information to your nieces and nephews! I have several areas, mostly on my mom's side, where we have no information. Some of which it's because the relative ran off, others it's where they died early, some it's misdiagnoses... you get the idea.

It's vital. Absolutely vital, especially if it's information like 'hey, there's heart disease in the family dude'.


But we're way off the original topic. Did my comments earlier help you? It really does sound to me like you have medical conditions which need to be looked at.

[teh_blumchenkinder]

Yeah... a bit OT, oui?
Anyway.
Yeah. it does helps my scattered brain since I'm focused on other things right now-- homework, class, friends-- I'm even sorting all of my stuff out! (I have a bajillion boxes and clothes and dislike cleaning... so after *counts on fingers* 7 years of hauling mystery boxes, I'm getting it done! It's also finals season in my area so
I'd forgotten that my joints feel the same way about half the time when I'm dead exhausted and need sleep more than anything. Also if I don't get enough potassium (I suspect.) I hadn't drank any milk or orange juice for a few weeks (I was trying to go off cow milk, and juice is full of sugar that isn't the best for you-- the actual fruit is better) and my knees hurt, just like they had been abused... and they hurt for several days. I bought a thing of oj 'cuz I was craving it like crazy that day, and a few hours later *poof* gone.
But, as I mentioned, I'm taking vitamins now.
I called the student insurance (I have it thru the university, 'cuz everyone's got to have insurance at MyCollege, thru them or anyone else, you just have to have it!) and they cover specialists, chiropractics, vision, dentistry... a bunch of stuff! It's even fairly cheap for my age range...
Anyway, I'm scheduling a dentist app (haven't had one in years, bad teh I know) and a chiropractic one... probably sometime in May or June. I thought it was going to be ugly, navigating papers and phone trees, but it really wasn't. Yay!

[Seshat]

Good. Excellent.

Also see a general family doctor, booking a 'long appointment' if that's at all possible, and explain the whole pain thing. Tell him/her you want it properly studied, to find out what it is, and you're happy to get referrals to specialists.

You may need to see a bone/joint specialist, a physiotherapist, a podiatrist, etc. It may end up being annoying as hell seeing so many specialists. But do it while you have insurance.

[teh_blumchenkinder]

Yeah... I graduate in a year.