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Lumifer comments on Open thread, August 26 - September 1, 2013 - Less Wrong Discussion

3 Post author: philh 26 August 2013 09:00PM

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Comment author: GuySrinivasan 26 August 2013 11:53:53PM 6 points [-]

My wife has constant pain. She describes most if it as "joint pain" and some in her right arm as "nerve pain". The joint pain has been around for about a decade and the right arm pain for about 3 years, ever since what certainly looked like a repetitive stress injury at work (lots of mousing with a desk that was too high).

Doctors have checked her out and haven't found a cause for either. Our possible next steps are:

  • Get 2nd (actually 3rd-4th) opinions from local doctors. This feels futile but may still be helpful.
  • Hire a doctor whose job it is to actually track down a cause and treatment, not just check for the common, easily detectable possibilities and then effectively give up. I'm not sure how to go about this but it feels like it should be possible for some price.
  • Find plausible non-harmful self-treatment options and try them. Possible examples have recently been posted here on NancyLebovitz's Two angle's on RSI.

Suggestions, recommendations, places to look?

Comment author: Lumifer 27 August 2013 06:18:51PM 3 points [-]

Is the joint pain constant or on movement? Does it react to heat/cold?

IANAD (I Am Not A Doctor) but I'd check a variety of inflammation markers (the more the better) with special attention paid to possible autoimmune issues. I assume the usual suspects (arthritis, gout) were ruled out?

If I were you I'd try more doctors (third, fourth, fifth, etc.) hoping to hit one of three: (1) someone highly competent; (2) someone lucky to order the right test; (3) someone with determination to figure it out.

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