Ordinary wear and tear

[muckefuck]

Mere hours before leaving town last Friday, I had my annual physical and got a couple of fun new diagnoses. The first is plantar fasciitis, an inflammation of the heel brought on by lousy footwear. I've known for a while that my boots weren't giving me enough arch support despite a succession of fancy gel inserts, but shopping for new shoes is somewhere below a dental checkup in its appeal, so somehow this hasn't gotten done. Better move that up the ladder of priorities a couple rungs.

Continuing the fascitic theme, the occasional tingling in my thigh has been put down to meralgia superfascial, which seems to be a variant of a more chronic condition called meralgia paraesthetica. The culprit is a peripheral nerve with its nose out of joint. Fortunately, I have a mild case that only manifests itself sporadically as a curious sensitivity to touch and temperatures. Can't tell you how relieved I am to find that it's not the onset of shingles or something.

I've got some tests to come back for (including a sedimentation rate test, which I suppose will determine how soon I need to be drained and rinsed out in the manner of our hot water heaters) and some others to schedule elsewhere, notably a stress test to determine whether my minor chest pains are an innocent annoyance or a sign of something much more lucrative to specialists.

Comments

[mollpeartree.livejournal.com]

Ow! I had plantar fascitiis so bad a few years ago and was so desperate to alleviate the pain that I went vegan hoping that the weight loss would help (I think it did).

I recommend, again, ibuprofen cream to put directly on your foot, and to wear footwear with arch supports all the time indoors, too.

I still basically have it, but it's just a little stabby pain in the morning and then done, no big whoop.