Saturday, September 29, 2007

Still in pain - 2nd opinion

So, even after a few attempts at running that appeared to be successful at the time, I am not pain free. In fact, I have had the same level of pain for about the last 5 weeks, with the exception of a few good days. I cannot walk (even slow strolling) without pain, and honestly cannot run without pain. It has been sad to accept that the running that I did previously probably is not an indication that I am healing.

I went to get a 2nd opinion on my diagnosis Friday afternoon. I went to see Dr. Mia Griggs, who is a sports medicine doctor and a runner according to her bio. I had not heard of her amongst my running crowd, but since Aetna did not cover any of the doctors that I had heard of, I decided to go with my gut instinct and visit Dr. Griggs. I figured it would be nice to hear a young woman's opinion and that I might relate better to what she would say.

She was very thorough in her exam and discussions with me. She did not give me the same diagnosis as Dr. Spears, but she did say she believed there was muscle imbalance in my glute area and that the myofascial tissue attachment was irritated. She suggested that I continue physical therapy, but consider going to a different PT. I am definitely open to that even though I like the current PT that I am working with. She recommended a lady named Gladys at the Seton SW hospital who has had great success with other patients with similar problems to mine. Gladys's techniques incorporate some pilates-style exercises, so that sounds good to me.

Dr. Griggs did not rule out the possibility of me having a stress fracture, though she said there was a minimal chance that it was the cause of the pain. I go in for an x-ray on Monday, and she is confident that if there is a stress fracture, that it will show on the x-ray now that it has been several weeks since my initial pain. I guess by now there will be indications where my body is trying to heal the fracture. I am glad to know that she wants to consider that possibility. I have been frustrated that Dr. Spears continues to think I have sacroiliac joint dysfunction, when my body has only responded minimally to the PT that I have been doing. He has insisted that I don't need an x-ray or MRI, even after 2 follow up visits.

I continue to be hopeful that the pain will go away.

I have been instructed not to run at all until I am able to walk without pain...that could take a while.

1 comment:

dr mel said...

I'm glad you trusted your instincts and sought out the opinion of another professional. I didn't realize that even walking has been painful for you too, Sadie. Hang in there, and take care of yourself.