June 07, 2013

(more) Icing! ZzQuil! Knee diagnosis!

Continuing the "where have I been?" theme... 

Florida! We went on the annual "hang out with Chris's friends and get iced" trip:


(for an explanation of what the eff is going on, see here. or here. and don't forget when we got ICED AT A WEDDING by this crew as well.) 

Then... oh, hey. What do you know, that actually is the last trip I took! I haven't been on an airplane since April at this point. (Which, uh, won't last long. I'm flying to London - for work! - next Friday, then after another weekend in Annapolis, I'm headed to Miami in July for a bachelorette party.)

Well then! News in stuff that doesn't exclusively involve being out of town:

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ZzzQuil: Have you tried this shit? I was so! excited! when it came out, because I've totally been known to knock back a shot of Nyquil from time to time when I'm having trouble sleeping. However, it has to be a pretty egregious situation, because I haaaaaate - nay, HAAAAAAAAATE - the taste of all Nyquil / cough syrup type things. But hell, it works. So imagine my delight when I found out I could get Nyquil not only without the extraneous medicine, but ALSO in pill form so I didn't have to *taste* it!!


Yeah. Complete and utter crap. I've tried it twice now and have laid awake for literal hours after taking it both times. Too good to be true, I suppose. 

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Oh! My knee! So I got the MRI, and I went back to the doctor, and it turns out I have.... nothing.  Nothing he can see on an MRI, anyway. The ortho was so surprised by this that he asked to re-examine my knee to make sure he hadn't imagined the whole "my right kneecap pops grotesquely when torqued" situation. (He didn't.) I think his exact words - spoken with some amount of disappointment - were, "Huh. I really thought we were going to find something more.... interesting."

So basically, I have the diagnosis of "Official Bum Knee," along with a shrug and an acknowledgement that it sucks. And a prescription for physical therapy to see if they can figure anything out. At least this time they believe there is something wrong (I mean, it DOES swell up on cue now whenever I do anything vaguely athletic) (or, you know, drive for a few hours) as opposed to my tailbone trubs of old when I suspected most doctors thought I was exaggerating / making up the pain. 

AND it's kind of nice to know I'm not on the verge of, like, popping my knee out sideways because something in there is structurally damaged, so I'm only limited now by how much pain I can take rather than fear of major injury. And since I'm, like, ALWAYS hurting something, I'm OK with some level of pain if the other option is "never run or play frisbee or go to the gym or.. drive a lot... for the rest of ever." 

My short term plan is to invest in more ice packs and/or frozen peas. 

7 comments:

  1. I have terrible knees and have put off dealing with them. I'm sorry there isn't any real solution to your knee issues. Way to fail, science!

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  2. A little tip from me to you: Zzzquil is just Benadryl (Diphenhydramine). It can make you drowsy, but in high doses it makes most people restless. Zzzquil dosage is 50 mg. I recommend taking 25 mg instead (and just buy generic benadryl, don't pay the brand name price tag). I take 25 mg of generic benadryl multiple times a week and it works like a charm. Works even better with a glass of wine ;-)

    That is a bummer about your knee! But at least you have some kind of answer about it? Hopefully it won't cause you too much trouble in the future.

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  3. I have had a bum knee since I was 15, I'm trying to do the math but it's haaaard, for 23 years I guess. It hurts often and a lot. I've had it MRId multiple times, nothing shows up. Sucks.

    I hope yours magically disappears.

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  4. I've never tried Zzzquil before, but Nyquil comes in pill form! I always take the gelcaps and taste nothing at all.

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  5. Nyquil gelcaps or Benadryl will do the trick! Sorry about your knee. I imagine all that icing doesn't help either! Sports injuries!

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  6. I was a big fan of Tylenol PM when I couldn't sleep- have you tried that?

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  7. Ugh! I bought some of that when I was having issues sleeping and then my issues went away. Bummed to hear it sucks. And bummed to hear there is not solution for your knee!

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