Shouldering the Burden

[madbaker]

The shoulder pain got so bad that I couldn't lift my arm past horizontal. I actually tried to make a doctor's appointment. I knew full well this would likely result in a one-week wait followed by "It's cleared up, so, um..." and honestly the clearing up was really the goal here. I'd forgotten exactly why I don't have an assigned primary care GP physician: finding one sucks.

Our work insurance is middling. It's at least not Cigna, which I had a couple employers ago, and whose model is similar to Dell's and AT&T: make the process as painful as possible so that your customers go away in frustration and you don't have to pay for what they want. It's also not Kaiser, which can be really annoying with its rationing (hello single-payer!) but is really good at some of the basics (which is mostly what I want). Oh well; my boss really doesn't want Kaiser because one of his kids has some weird medical problems so we're never going to get it.

Anyway. I launched the website and searched for GPs accepting new patients. Found a few close by that looked reasonable (I mean, how do you check? Yelp isn't exactly set up for this) and started calling.
1) no response.
2) doctor no longer with that practice.
3) no response.
4) doctor no longer with that practice.
5) give up.

Instead, last night the wife applied several doses of liniment (side note: what is the difference between liniment, ointment, and unguent? Is there one? I wish I still had access to the OED) and I took a heavy dose of knockout OTC sleep drug, on the theory that I was doing something wrong. Apparently that was the case: this morning I have a muscle ache, not a stabbing pain.

Now to try to figure out what it is I am doing during the night... and how to fix it. It's progress, anyway.
But I still need to find a general practitioner on general principles.

Comments

[allison-is.livejournal.com]

So google sometimes provides etymology of words now so you might not need the OED!

[loup_noir]

Our insurance is minimal, so I am quite adept at the "Don't get sick" version. I had shoulder problems earlier this year, so I spent quality time with Google. Rest, ice, heat, Ibuprofen and time was the best Rx I could come up with. It worked. Took weeks, but it worked.

Much sympathy. I hope your shoulder improves quickly.

[thread-walker.livejournal.com]

I feel you. Shoulder pain since spring break with the kids. And I'm a side sleeper. I will cross my fingers for you.

[desperance.livejournal.com]

So you did fix the side note, right? Liniment is all about friction; ointment is applied to be soothing/emollient; if there's a difference between ointment and unguent, I don't know it.

[ppfuf.livejournal.com]

Are you still feeling better?

[madbaker.livejournal.com]

I am. There are some occasional twinges (especially when I'm carrying a bag of groceries, for example) but the pain is almost entirely gone. Weird.

[shadowdryad.livejournal.com]

Huh, we have the same approach to medical care.