doctor

Knee

Posted by Lisa Eirene

I’ve been dealing with a knee issue since December. I had tendinitis in my right knee. I think it was from one of the knee machines at the gym (which I quit using). I was going to PT and haven’t been seeing any improvements. I saw Ortho in June and got an MRI, which of course was inconclusive.

The diagnosis is “mild chondromalacia of joint and quadriceps tendinitis”. But honestly my Ortho Doc is baffled.

I decided to spend the summer going to PT and trying to see what happens. There was a lot going on with moving, selling our house, etc. PT wasn’t really helping, though and a lot of the exercises I was trying to do was making it WORSE. It was SO frustrating! And my physical therapist was frustrated too!

I recently started doing acupuncture and was actually seeing some differences–which was weird because all the times I’ve ever tried acupuncture, I never really saw any results. But this time, it seemed to help. It gave me a few weeks of relief! Then my benefits ran out. My physical therapist plead my case to my doctor for a referral so I could keep going and that finally got approved! So in a few weeks I’ll go back to acupuncture and see if that helps.

Which brings me to this week. It’s been two weeks since I’ve been to acupuncture and this week my knee pain flared up again. I had a follow-up appointment with my Ortho doc Thursday and we chatted. He gave me two options–the cortisone shot and “dry needling“.

He said that the dry needling is different than acupuncture and can be more painful. He said he’d want me to take a few days off to rest after that but with the cortisone shot, I would be ok to go to work and move around and stuff (I just couldn’t work out for two days).

Since he’s not 100% sure on what my knee issue is because the MRI didn’t really show much, he said the cortisone shot was the best bet for now to see if it would just “reset” my body. Sometimes you need to reset the pain centers and then your body can heal. I had the same issue after my ankle surgery 15+ years ago and ended up getting a cortisone shot in my ankle (it was horribly painful!!!!) and then within a week my pain was gone and I had no more issues. I know some people need to have multiple injections, but I’m hoping I’m a one shot and done person. (Crossing fingers!)

So he thinks that I have fluid and inflammation in that area at the top of my kneecap (see picture above with the arrow). The pain is at the top of the kneecap, where it meets my quad. Stretching doesn’t help. Bending my knee hurts. Stairs hurt. It’s a very odd injury.

He sprayed my leg and knee with this stuff and then gave me the injection. Unlike with my ankle shot, it was one shot and it wasn’t painful at all. Then I went to work. I was stiff and a little sore but I was able to walk and didn’t feel miserable or anything.

It will take 7 days or so to see if the shot did anything. Right now it’s a guessing game. The naturopath doctor I saw suggested I try PRP therapy. I asked my Ortho Doc about it and he’s a HUGE fan. As a sports medicine doctor he thinks it’s a great thing and wishes that HMO’s would try it. It’s still controversial and they aren’t quite sure how or why it works for some people. But he raved about it and said if I could “afford it” (I can’t) I should try it. Time will tell. Right now I’m doing what insurance covers–the cortisone shot and acupuncture each week.

Back in the Saddle Again

Posted by Lisa Eirene

I started this post about a month ago and then life got nuts. So I am trying again. LOL

I took a month off from doing the keto diet. I honestly just COULD NOT deal with it while we in the middle of buying a house/moving, etc. It was so overwhelming I couldn’t mentally handle it.

Keto is a lot of work. I mean, once you get a handle on it and have a rotation of meals and snacks, you don’t really have to think about it TOO much but you still have to track everything and check everything to make sure your macros are correct and you are eating the correct amount of fat and low carb counts. So it takes a lot of mental energy. And I just couldn’t do it while I was doing everything else.

So I took a break. For about a month. (Honestly, back in the day when I lost 100+ pounds originally and just counted my calories, that was A LOT easier, you could eat whatever you wanted and just counted your calories, didn’t take a lot of mental energy or thought.) I ate whatever I want, not much different but I did eat carbs. And I enjoyed the hell outta ’em!

And my pants were tight.

So here I go again. I am back doing it and I won’t be taking a break (as far as I plan right now). We are going to Hawaii for my birthday and I’d love to lose some weight before our trip! That is my goal. I have 5 months! Let’s do this.

I recently found this Kombucha that is lower in carbs and sugar:

It’s about half of what a normal kombucha is. Awesome! So still not ideal but a treat once in awhile.

So at the end of July, I got back on the keto diet. I didn’t weigh myself but I knew I was back up. I’ve since weighed and I estimate that I’d gained about 4-6 pounds eating all the carbs. Maybe it was bloat? Who knows. But after a month or so back at it, my pants aren’t tight anymore. I will be weighing myself in a week to see if I’ve made some progress.

I definitely feel better when I do keto, even though it’s harder than just counting calories. Not eating a lot of sugar and carbs makes my body feel better. So even if I eventually go back to doing some kind of modified diet, it will be limiting the carbs and sugar.

This week I went to a naturopath doctor. I’ve been curious about it for awhile but didn’t want to spend the money. I know a lot of people that have had great experiences and even though I have no major complaints about my health care/doctor, I do feel dismissed about a lot of issues. For a few years now, I’ve felt really tired and worn down. I feel dismissed when I talk to my doctor about it. She says “Well, you’re almost 40” or “you have a toddler” or “you have a history of depression and anxiety”–none of which is A DIAGNOSIS. And I always leave feeling unheard, angry and lost. Blood tests are always in the “normal” range. Thyroid seems “fine.”

The good thing about a naturopath was that I felt HEARD. The appointment was over an hour (not 10 minutes or less like my doctor) and she listened to my history and complaints. She had some ideas and did a bunch of blood work (most was covered by my insurance thankfully because if it wasn’t I would not have afforded the visit! Naturalistic medicine is pricey!). I’ll have results in two weeks and a follow-up.

She said she was concerned about my insulin levels. And she said that some of my symptoms pointed to PCOS. So we will see what the tests show. I’m not 100% on board with the naturopathic way yet. We will see. But I’m willing to give it a TRY. I just want some answers, I want to try some things and see if anything works.

In the meantime, I am continuing keto. I will be re-evaluating some of my medications to see if they are necessary still (like my acne meds) and I think I might try going off some of them to see how I feel. (And see if I lose some weight as a result.)