Like today, I went to a Rheumatologist. My family doctor sent me there to have my left elbow checked out. I have calcium deposits in my elbow, so I guess that means I have arthritis in it….at least that’s what my doctor said. I can’t fully extend or bend my elbow, and if I sometimes strain it while working on something, it will hurt for weeks. Eventually, something shifts and the pain goes away, like the way it is now.
This Rheumatologist examined me, gave me a shot of something in my elbow, gave me a prescription for an NSAID (something called Meloxicam), sent me out for some blood tests and x-rays, and gave me a sheet with info about setting up an appointment for physical therapy at some therapy center.
I will go back to this doctor to get the results of the x-rays and blood tests, but after that, I’ll never go back. I won’t bother with the physical therapy, and if this NSAID upsets my stomach, and I’m sure it will, I won’t take that either. I just feel like all of this is a waste of time. I think the only reason I went to see her is because I wanted to see how bad my elbow was in the x-rays.
To me, physical therapy is a scam, and I’d never go for that. It’s nothing that I can’t do on my own at home, but there is no way that anything, short of an elbow replacement, can fix this, so why bother?
I just find that I no longer seem to care about what the doctor finds, and when they do find something, I have no interest in the treatments. When I’m sitting in the doctor’s office, I keep thinking to myself, "What am I doing here? Why did I bother to come?" Half the time, I don’t even bother to listen, when the doctor is telling me what they found and what I need to do. I don’t remember what this Rheumatologist said today, and it doesn’t bother me that I don’t know.
I don’t know if this stems from having so many things wrong with me, and taking so many drugs and supplements, that I’ve reached my limit, and my mind says, "No more."
Has anyone else gotten to this point in their life?