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drake-the-incubus · 3 years

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Post Note: This is long and I’m sorry.

I want to expand on what I mean but not use that post to do so.

Believe it or not, “x is a sign of y” isn’t as harmful as everyone is screaming about.

For example, my knees. I intermittently use a cane. Recently I haven’t had to use it- or I’ve forgotten it- but I have had days where I needed it.

I’ve had bad knee pain for a long ass time. Issues with pain in my legs in general.

But a lot of the time it would be a dull throb and I was fairly active as a kid and teen.

I also have a joint cracking problem. And I don’t mean I’m purposefully cracking my joints- though I do- I mean I’ve earned the nickname, “snap, crackle and pop” and “rice krispies”.

And my mom, when I was 12, went in for osteoarthritis and after years of pain finally found out she had a degenerating back that caused her back to create shards and she had a pinched cyatic nerve.

Forgive me as I’ve never seen this written down.

I’ve also had a problem with being incredibly sick as a child. Bronchitis to Bronchial Pneumonia almost yearly, and a couple of gland infections.

Do you know what mom tells me and I do?

Warning signs. Very common and not at all unusual warning signs.

I’m at risk for arthritis. In fact mom and I are both certain if it’s not there in my knees it’ll develop at some point.

In fact, earlier this year, I had back pain. God awful back pain. It ran down one leg at some point.

So I asked my mom because these were the symptoms for her issues. She told me to immediately see a doctor.

To most, that’s an overreaction. But it’s not.

I’ll round back to my sickly childhood.

I have a devil of a cough, I’ll hack up a lung if I have a fit. In fact if I’m ill I have the chance to seriously damage my throat- Halls my saviour.

I’ve had colds turn into serious medical issues because they don’t go away on their own, and what was considered a cold turned out to be an infection.

So now I’m hyper vigilant. A cold that last three days with medicine, I go to the doctor. If it’s just a cold, I’ll refuse their medicine, if it’s bronchitis, I’ve caught it early and now can avoid an emergency room visit.

Because of this sickly thing I’ve had for over two decades of my life- since I was an infant/toddler- I now have to tell people I live with, “hey if I’m sick too long tell me I’ll need to see a hospital”.

COVID came around and I literally got messages from multiple people worried I was going to die if I caught it, and I’m going to say, I’m terrified. I’ve been in the hospital multiple times due to illness, days away from being hospitalized.

The virus fucking terrified me. I’ve had more than ten scares of having it, with no idea what I should do, so I treated myself with care, waited for day three, when it didn’t come I was relieved.

I’ve nearly died twice to an allergic reaction, to this day, I’m deathly allergic to two things and I don’t know what they are.

I’m also allergic- but not even close to severe- to other things I can shrug off.

I’ve also had a negative general allergy test. It’s where I found out my blood type.

But I’ve had my throat slowly close up as I took a specific anti depressant. I didn’t notice until my tongue had started swelling in my mouth, that I had more itchy skin than usual and I was having breathing issues. I got told I was a few days out from actual death.

For mental health. I have very weird applications of symptoms.

I can tell if someone is angry or not, I can have genuine conversations with someone and notice minute details.

I’m also traumatized and was forced into recognizing emotions.

But I don’t know when to stop a conversation. I don’t know when to interpret someone’s polite way of ending something. I don’t know the social etiquette to not embarrass people. I can be sociable, but I hate people and I never seek them out myself.

I’m not the model someone looks to for an AFAB with autism.

My trans status really pushed the diagnosis.

But I do have the symptoms, they’re just not presenting in ways that make people scream autism- more like scream freak.

And as a teen I never knew I had it. But I found people who related to me outside of a psychological textbook who explained my issues and gave tips that worked for once.

I was Fourteen before it clicked in my parents were abusing me. That it wasn’t normal to stop and listen to make sure those were their footsteps. If they were coming to my room. How heavy? Is that anger?

I’d explain normal life things and get people telling me it wasn’t normal and I needed to be away from it. That the behaviour was terrifying.

That if my parents were threatening to beat me black and blue, I should be trying to get out.

Trauma causes memory issues? How would I know that as a teen going to the police and not being able to say anything other than, “they threaten me when I brush my teeth”.

A terrified seventeen year old, describing how they were punished and the police couldn’t take them seriously, as they sobbed and begged to not go back.

In a week I had to return because there was no where else to go.

I couldn’t tell the police office my parents threatened my life that night.

I couldn’t remember why I was convinced by my friends online to run away.

My teachers got mad: “Did you think of your grades, you’re graduating this year”

Not even thinking about how I was suffering so much I got sent to the councillor- and then dumped- multiple times for suicidal ideation and the absolute terror I had in ever speaking of my issues.

It took meeting someone who was traumatized to learn I had panic attacks.

“Go take Your medication they give you for anxiety, you’re having a panic attack”

I’ve had them since I was a child and it took frantically talking in a chat room to figure it out.

I got half my diagnoses from the people around me before medically getting them. And that’s not a joke.

I had abnormally painful periods for my entire childhood, and it took a friend telling me it was probably bad I needed my mom’s painkillers for her back sometimes to even exist.

And do you know what, extremely painful periods is a sign for something really bad. And about 1/3 of afabs have that experience.

It’s considered normal. And yet it can lead to a deadly disease if you’re not careful.

A painful boob can be breast cancer.

A cough and fever could be COVID.

People relatively will explain their experiences in a way that people see is normal.

Making it Hard to actually convey how these experiences are normal for US but they’re not normal.

“Haha I Just found out reading a lot as a kid was a sign of PTSD” isn’t someone taking the piss abt PTSD, it’s a common experience due to escape fantasies. I know a lot of people, most who hate reading now, that explained how they’d read for hours as a child to get out of life, sometimes pretending to be something better.

And so in good conscience, I can’t say that post is great.

TDLR; The post that insinuates “x is a sign of y” comes off as ableist, as my lived experiences I know where this comes from.

Sometimes minor things can be a sign of something major and ignoring it doesn’t help.

Physical and Mental health are hard to convey, and most of the time someone doesn’t have the language or forethought to in depth describe their experiences.

#abuse tw #child abuse tw #period tw #near death tw

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vanmint72 · 2 years

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Added benefits of Massage Treatment For Patients With Arthritis

Massage therapy is getting more popular that people relish at the privacy and luxury in their own home. Research indicates that massage could impact the standard chemical productions of your body s dopamine, anxiety , blood pressure along with other key vital signs. However, is massage safe and sound for those who have arthritis? With lots of of distinct types of massage therapies on the industry, you will need to become cautious that you select. Why and is massage significant for gout sufferers? As per numerous research studies, massage therapy has probable benefits for all those that have persistent pain, including back pain, arthritis, arthritis headaches, menstrual pain and fibromyalgia. In addition, numerous medical care professionals recommend it as a supplementary kind of remedy for patients with chronic anxiety, depressive disorders, mood problems and sleep problems, epilepsy and substance misuse. The main reason massage is suggested for these conditions is due to its stimulation of this central nervous system. According to a scientific tests, massage has also been effective in curing post-traumatic tension illness, asthma, asthma, fibromyalgia, and Crohn's illness. But, you can find a few limitations with such a therapy. 강남구청안마 published in the American Journal of Sports Medicine found no substantial difference in between athletes that obtained massage along with those who didn't when it came into bloodpressure. Researchers declare that the more studies are essential to decide whether or not massage helps in cutting blood pressure. Yet another study performed at the University of Buffalo followed up on its own preceding study and found that massage was effective in reducing hand-eye pain and coordination response when given to faculty athletes. One of the primary difficulties having this sort of analysis is that it centered upon the manage class just. The study failed to separate massage against your athletes' medication. Why would someone want to massage someone with osteoarthritis in the event the therapy will just cause additional soreness and increase your patient's likelihood of demanding surgery? The analysis printed in the Journal of Applied Physiology discovered that massage greatly reduce the joint exercise from the back part of these subjects. This really was major only when the joint muscles were not stimulated. This study is crucial for gout victims because if they do not get their treatment, then they may need to endure surgery to correct the joint condition. But since this can be an therapy for arthritic pain, so you also may trust any negative results are reported in most study. As mentioned earlier, massage includes its own pros and cons. Before choosing whether you will need this type of therapy or never, think of your lifestyle, your healthcare provider's viewpoint, your preferences, and your financial plan. You might be able to massage with no side result, but in the event that you do choose to undergo this particular therapy, be certain that you consider your drugs punctually and stick to most of your doctor's orders. Moreover, you also ought to be aware that massage therapies should not be used in the treatment of acute or chronic ailments. Massage is better in relieving pain, improving flow and improving flexibility. In the event you suffer from a painful disorder or you have anxiety troubles, massage could possibly be an excellent choice for pain management. If you are experiencing arthritis, do not ignore the indicators . Speak to your doctor about massage instead of an alternate therapy or maybe to see if he can recommend a fantastic therapist. Even though there is evidence that massage doesn't result in muscle strain, you may want to offer it an attempt to help reduce stiffness and increase blood flow. This can enable you to live a better standard of living. Arthritis pain can be disabling, and also that you don't have to endure out of this to get long.

#강남구청안마

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baguettelord · 6 years

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Hi Guys - TL;DR at the end. Also swearing is a thing. JS

So uh, its been a while *waves* a lot has been going on for me. I’m actually kinda surprised that basically all of you are still here sticking around and stuff.

A lot has happened so far and first thing I gotta say is how the fuck is it May. I feel like a tornado of bullshit has swept through and sped up time or something.

I was in a course that went to work experience and to a POSSIBLE job. It all went to hell basically. I unraveled some pretty dodgy stuff going on and then I basically got pulled out due to a combination of that and my anxiety/panic going through the roof.

Things were kinda ok for maybe a week. At some point there (its a little hazy honestly, so much has happened) in like...March idk. We picked up a new puppy. His name is Leo, he’s a Cardigan Welsh Corgi and he is fucking adorable.

My mum, who is bipolar was really super duper excited about getting Leo because her family used to raise corgis for show when she was a kid/teen. Shortly after we got Leo..maybe 1-2 weeks the shit pretty much hit the fan.

I presented to my (new) doctor with this huge range of worsening symptoms that could be put down to a combination of things (weight/anxiety/bipolar/etc) but I wasn’t really sure. Doc ordered a CT scan. It came back negative BUT they found a weird lump that they weren’t sure what it was, and recommended an MRI. Meanwhile I had the biggest blood test I’ve ever had (from vitamins to hormones to HIV testing - yep that fucken intensive). MRI wasn’t covered by medicare unless it was referred by a specialist. Specialist wasn’t covered by medicare! So smart. So I had to go pay for that, which was fun.

Thankfully it turned out to be a weirdly shaped and located lymph node, which I’m happy to just pretend not to be concerned about being told that one of my lymph nodes is weird by a doctor...for now.

While this was happening, my mum’s leg swelled up really huge. HER doctor thought she had a blood clot and she was rushed to have emergency scans and ultrasounds done. Thankfully no blood clot, buuut she’s been diagnosed with some....vein disease. Probs cause she’s a smoker. IDK.

AND on top of that, shortly before we got Leo, my step dad, who is a truck driver, was injured at work. He fell out of a new truck that was higher but had fewer steps compared to all the other fleet trucks. During all the health scare fun with me and my mum, he was having his own scans done and they were investigating whether he would need an urgent knee replacement. So he was off work a lot, and couldn’t get hardly anything done. Turns out he now has osteoarthritis, and the fall (and a second fall down our back steps a few days later) caused a bad flare up. He WILL need a knee replacement eventually, but for now he has all these weird unnatural posing excercises to do insted.

ANYWAY MOVING ON.

So because of all these things happening - mum getting super excited about the dog, and then super worried thinking she would die from a blood clot and then my thing, and my step dad being badly injured and then trying to take care of a HYPERACTIVE puppy.. it pretty much triggered mum to have a manic bipolar episode.

She started getting paranoid, getting delusional, not sleeping..and then saying all the weird shit she usually does (”the man across the road is a pedophile (there isn’t a man - a lesbian couple who train dogs have lived there for about 8 years), “the man next door’s dad tried to get me to deal illegal tobacco at the school”, “i experienced the dreamtime and a kangaroo jumped through me” ETC).

It got to a point where she became unmanageable (she woke me up multiple times in the night saying weird shit, going through my phone, talking to one of my cats) and we convinced her to willingly go to her hospital where she’s normally treated and sign herself in. That’s what normally happened. Instead, her treating doctor was on leave and hadn’t notified us, and there were no beds. She and my step dad waited for 13 hours for a bed, that was then given to a patient who was sectioned (for those not in the know, it basically means you are given a legally binding order by medical professionals/paramedics/police to go to hospital and you can not leave). They were going to transfer her to a hospital nearby. Said hospital has treated her before, but it was the hospital her dad was treated at before he suicided, so she doesn’t have a good relationship with it. So basically she was like no. Fuck you. I’m not sectioned, I’m voluntary, and you can’t make me go there. I’m going home. She got home at midnight. I’d babysat the dog for the whole time. It was exhausting. I was asleep. I didn’t know she was home until she came in and woke up my partner and myself multiple times telling us we werent breathing and we were going to die. She didn’t sleep at all that night.

Next day I called an ambulance. She was tranquilised and sectioned. We ended up having to take her to a different hospital and I waited with her for 12 hours before she got a bed. She’s been there ever since.

After a week, our phone and internet suddenly disconnected. I couldn’t find any bills - she’d seemingly thrown them away. Then I found a disconnection notice for our electricity in the letterbox. Its just been...a nightmare. I’ve hardly left the house aside from times where my step dad went to work late so I could buy groceries and sort out really important stuff. All other times I’ve had to look after Leo, who is now teething and is so badly behaved. He hasn’t been able to start puppy preschool because of the ever-changing schedule of appointments and leave and my step dad’s work... honestly so far this year can die in a fucking fire.

Every time I sit down for a second and take my eyes off Leo, he’s destroying something. I feel like I’ve been shoved into a single parent role, locked in and had the key melted down into molten sludge before my eyes.

So that’s the reason I haven’t really been talking. I’ve only occasionally popped on and reblogged a few things here and there. I want to try and get back around to being active in downtime, when Leo is asleep...if I’m not doing housework and shit. But yeah. THat’s about it. I feel like I should sell my biography rights to channel 7 to write into a Home and Away season -_-

TL;DR my training course went to shit, we got a puppy, everyone had major health problems/scares, then my mum went manic and is locked up in hospital and I found out our bills were all so overdue we almost got our power cut and shit. And now I’m looking after a dog 24/7 and YEAH fun times.

#personal #hi everyone #idk why youre still here #but hi #hiiiiii

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newstfionline · 6 years

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American doctors keep doing expensive procedures that don’t work

By Eric Patashnik, Vox, Feb 14, 2018

The news last fall that stents inserted in patients with heart disease to keep arteries open work no better than a placebo ought to be shocking. Each year, hundreds of thousands of American patients receive stents for the relief of chest pain, and the cost of the procedure ranges from $11,000 to $41,000 in US hospitals.

But in fact, American doctors routinely prescribe medical treatments that are not based on sound science.

The stent controversy serves as a reminder that the United States struggles when it comes to winnowing evidence-based treatments from the ineffective chaff. As surgeon and health care researcher Atul Gawande observes, “Millions of people are receiving drugs that aren’t helping them, operations that aren’t going to make them better, and scans and tests that do nothing beneficial for them, and often cause harm.”

Of course, many Americans receive too little medicine, not too much. But the delivery of useless or low-value services should concern anyone who cares about improving the quality, safety and cost-effectiveness of medical care. Estimates vary about what fraction of the treatments provided to patients is supported by adequate evidence, but some reviews place the figure at under half.

Naturally that carries a heavy cost: One study found that overtreatment--one type of wasteful spending--added between $158 billion and $226 billion to US health care spending in 2011.

The stunning news about stents came in a landmark study published in November, in The Lancet. It found that patients who got stents to treat nonemergency chest pain improved no more in their treadmill stress tests (which measure how long exercise can be tolerated) than did patients who received a “sham” procedure that mimicked the real operation but actually involved no insertion of a stent.

There were also no clinically important differences between the two groups in other outcomes, such as chest pain. (Before being randomized to receive the operation or the sham, all patients received six weeks of optimal medical therapy for angina, like beta blockers). Cardiologists are still debating the study’s implications, and more research needs to be done, but it appears that patients are benefitting from the placebo effect rather than from the procedure itself.

Once a treatment becomes popular, it’s hard to dislodge. Earlier cases in which researchers have called into question a common treatment suggest surgeons may push back against the stent findings. In 2002, The New England Journal of Medicine published a study demonstrating that a common knee operation, performed on millions of Americans who have osteoarthritis--an operation in which the surgeon removes damaged cartilage or bone (“arthroscopic debridement”) and then washes out any debris (“arthroscopic lavage”)--worked no better at relieving pain or improving function than a sham procedure. Those operations can go for $5,000 a shot.

Many orthopedic surgeons and medical societies disputed the study and pressed insurance companies to maintain coverage of the procedure. Subsequent research on a related procedure cast further doubt on the value of knee surgeries for many patients with arthritis or meniscal tears, yet the procedures remain in wide use.

Other operations that have continued to be performed despite negative research findings include spinal fusion (to ease pain caused by worn disks), and subacromial decompression, which in theory reduces shoulder pain.

#US healthcare #stents #healthcare costs

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kryssieness · 7 years

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Long health thing...

So, I posted a picture the other day. Yesterday was it? Probably. That would make sense. Anyway. I posted the picture of the day of an outdoor event and the day after. It would appear that, even with very little sun exposure, I seem to develop what looks like sunburn on my face and exposed neck area.

It’s not sunburn, however, because it doesn’t react like sunburn. For me, sunburn slowly develops after sun exposure has ceased; it is hot; it is dry and tight; it itches; it is, to say the least, uncomfortable. For at least a week.

This shows up during the outdoor time and intensifies after exposure; it is not hot, it is not dry or tight; it causes no significant discomfort. It only itches in certain places and it is always gone or mostly gone by the next day, leaving no trace.

Which is good, because I would hate to think I’ve wasted my time applying sunblock to my face and body.

It ONLY appears on my face and neck. It doesn’t happen on my arms or legs or anything; just the face and neck. It’s always the same places on my face, too: Left side of forehead, down to temple and chin. This weekend, I had half a butterfly (left side, under eye and onto nose), as well.

Why mention this? Because I’m actually a little worried. The one thing I’ve never been tested for is Lupus. My kidneys are fine, as is my liver and I don’t have pericarditis or pleurisy. My symptoms are actually rather slow in development; however, in 2015, I had my first in-residence weekend in Denver for my PhD. It was an hellacious weekend filled with pain and fatigue. I was in a wheelchair that weekend and I was miserable. One of my classmates talked with me about my symptoms and blood results I’d had at that point and as I was talking, she was shaking her head and said, “Girl... I hate to tell you this, but you have Lupus. Everything you are describing is exactly what my daughter went through before they realized she had juvenile lupus. You need to get them to test further.”

“It’s never Lupus...” says House, MD. And the rest of the world. So, why would it be Lupus for me? I have no history of it in my family. The only autoimmune history we have is RA in my grandmother who passed away in 1996 (so, it could have been something else because they didn’t have the same type of testing available when she was getting diagnosed and treated). It’s never Lupus.

...except when it is...

...and the only way to know for certain, yes or no, is to be tested for it and have the labs compared to the symptoms. As it stands, currently, I have a definite 3 of the 11 criteria for Lupus (and you need 4 for a diagnosis). If even one of the blood tests comes back positive, then it’s not Hashi’s, it’s Lupus. My thyroid is fine. There’s no damage to it, no swelling, nothing. I have arthritis, but it’s not causing damage to my joints (1). I have some pretty awefu---HOLY SHIT! I just realized... I didn’t wear sunglasses on Sunday because it was an SCA event. NOW I KNOW WHY MY RIGHT EYE WAS BLOODSHOT ON MONDAY! <ahem> I have some pretty awful photo-sensitivity (2). I have a positive ANA count (3). It’s debatable that the annoying sores I get in my nose and mouth (always the same places in both) are part of it or not (could be 4).

But, Lupus is the Great Imitator. So, these could all be symptoms of something else. There are over 80 recognized autoimmune disorders. My diagnoses have been predominately “It’s Fibro!” (and fibro drugs do. not. work.), Hashimoto’s (”it’s ONLY Hashi’s, not Lupus!”), and osteoarthritis. And all that may be true; but I’ve never had the Lupus panel. I’ve had the RA panel run two or three times and it always comes back negative; they checked me for Cealiacs (after I’d been gluten free for a bit) and it (of course) came back negative. They’ve checked me for MS and it was negative. CFS didn’t really fit, either. No diagnosis that I have received, to date, really fits my symptoms (not even fibro, but I can’t seem to convince anyone of that since a number of the key points are “tender” ... because I have fucking massive knots in my muscles that never relax or go away....).

...anyway, I think I’ve rambled enough. I have a doctor’s appointment on the 16th with a new PCP and I’m going to request a Lupus panel at that visit. The worst that could happen is also the best that could happen: It comes back positive for Lupus...and they can start treating it, properly. It would be grand to not have to take a nap every day...or have focus enough to work....

#spoonie #fatigue #pain #lupus maybe #who knows what's wrong with me #hashimotos #chronic illness #getting worse #health

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eddiesjones · 5 years

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Is Cupping Therapy Effective?

We have all seen the pictures. Athletes looking to get an edge have turned to cupping, an ancient healing modality, and have shown up to many sporting events covered in the characteristic circular bruises of a cupping treatment. In physical therapy circles, cupping has had a bit of a revival, and is often incorporated as part of a treatment to help relieve pain and get patients better. It is not hard to find reports of the beneficial effects of cupping; just look for the Twitter and Instagram posts, the Facebook discussions, and the course advertisements targeted towards you.

Despite the enthusiasm, cupping is not without its critics. Many suggest cupping should not be a part of physical therapy practice, or medical practice in general, and should remain in antiquity along with bloodletting, acupuncture, and reflexology. In this article, we will take a critical look at the scientific research on cupping and I will help you decide whether or not it should become a part of your practice.

What Is Cupping Therapy?

Cupping refers to using cups made of glass, bamboo, or plastic to create suction on the skin for therapeutic purposes. There is evidence that cupping has been performed since 3300 BC, and is practiced widely in the eastern world (4). There are many types of cupping, each with their own protocols and techniques, and it can be paired with other treatments like acupuncture. Two broad categories of cupping can be distinguished; wet cupping involves scarification or cutting of the skin prior to the application of the cups, which will allow blood to be drawn into the cup, and dry cupping, which involves the application of the cups to the affected area only.

Cupping is purported to have various health benefits, but trying to list them all is an exercise in futility. As practiced in the eastern world, the claims tend to be broad and non-specific. In the physical therapy world however, it is used more narrowly and is focused on pain management, among a few other uses. As physical therapists interested in helping our patients with pain, cupping may be of interest to us.

The State Of The Research

If we want to establish ourselves as allied health team members and evidence-based professionals it is essential that we critically evaluate the scientific evidence on a given treatment and adjust our beliefs and practice accordingly.

Reading through the available literature revealed two broad trends. First, cupping simply hasn’t been studied that much. While it is hard to precisely quantify how many studies have been performed on any given treatment, a student can read through a representative majority of cupping trials and reviews in an afternoon. Second, the overwhelming majority of trials were of relatively low quality and had a high risk of bias. This was characterized by low numbers of participants, failures to control for researcher bias, lack of blinding of any kind, comparisons to an inactive control group, only short-term follow ups, and lack of placebo-controlled study designs.

While having insufficient high-quality research is not a problem unique to cupping, it is still something we need to consider when we adopt new treatments. Given the caveats listed above, what does the research actually say?

Clinical Trials

A paper from 2016 was the only available trial that attempted to control for non-specific effects cupping might have. The researchers recruited 141 patients with fibromyalgia and randomized them into one of three groups. One group received a true cupping treatment to various body parts. A second group received an identical treatment but the researchers utilized sham cups, which had tiny holes in them that prevented any negative pressure from developing. Lastly, a control group was advised to just continue normal activities and refrain from trying any new treatments. The cupping groups underwent five treatments over the course of two weeks. They found that while both cupping groups reported better outcomes on a visual analog scale and a functional measure compared to usual care, there was no differences between true cupping and sham cupping (15).

A similar study was performed in 2018 on 110 patients with chronic low back pain. They were divided into a normal cupping group, a “minimal” cupping group that utilized a lower negative pressure, and a control group that did nothing. All three groups were allowed to take pain medication as needed. After eight cupping sessions over four weeks, both cupping groups had similar decreases in pain (20).

Many other smaller preliminary trials have been performed comparing cupping to a waitlist control or usual care for different populations and have shown that dry or wet cupping can reduce pain by varying amounts. These populations include people with headaches (1), low back pain (2, 9, 12), neck pain (7, 8, 14 16, 19) and knee osteoarthritis (21). Throughout each of these trials, the amount of sessions, techniques, and outcome measures varied, but all reported beneficial effects. Cupping also edged out hot packs for neck pain (13) and carpal tunnel syndrome (18), and beat e-stim for plantar fasciitis (10). We need to be careful interpreting this group of studies however, because we expect an active group receiving an intervention to do better than an inactive control, especially when it comes to subjective outcomes like pain.

Systematic Reviews And Meta-Analyses

The systematic reviews and meta-analyses thus far reinforce the broader trend seen in the trials we examined above. One review from 2017 focused on the effects of cupping on athletes and found 13 papers on 11 different trials. On the majority of the outcomes each study looked at, cupping provided beneficial effects. However, most of the time, cupping was compared to an inactive control or no intervention at all, there were no placebo controls, there was significant variability in technique, it was unclear if the studies found were adequately peer-reviewed, there was no blinding, and there was no information about safety or side-effects (4). The authors go on to say they cannot make any recommendations for or against cupping in clinical practice.

Three other reviews for low back pain, knee osteoarthritis and in pain in general came to similar conclusions. Cupping may be helpful for reducing pain, but the quality of the research, statistical heterogeneity, and high risk of bias present in the research limits the strength of the evidence (11, 17, 22). Three other more broad reviews that did not limit their literature search to a specific condition or type of cupping found that results were mixed overall, and we need better quality research to make any definitive conclusions (2, 5, 6).

The Clearest Picture

Taking a look at the totality of the evidence, what can we say with certainty in regards to cupping? Is something of clinical value actually happening during a cupping treatment? Anecdotal evidence and very weak scientific evidence suggests that in isolation, cupping may help reduce pain by small amounts for various conditions, but the literature is not strong enough to give us a definitive answer. We have no studies looking at how cupping would fair in addition to a traditional physical therapy treatment program. The one study we have that was designed to differentiate between specific and non-specific effects failed to show cupping has any additional benefits over a credible sham procedure. In regards to the potential placebo effects, one author writes:

“Cupping therapy may simply have a powerful placebo effect. In fact, all invasive or non-pharmacological treatments may have relevant placebo effects. In a recent randomized trial, a sham device was more effective in relieving pain than a placebo pill. Therefore, the nonspecific and placebo effects of cupping therapy may result from the fact that it is an uncommon procedure” (18).

As of today, there are no strong studies we can be confident in that suggest cupping adds anything of value beyond nonspecific pain relief, which almost all of our other treatments can provide. This may change, but cupping has only faced one hard test of effectiveness and it failed.

The Role Of Cupping In Physical Therapy Practice

So where does that leave us? How should we view treatments that have anecdotal support, yet weak or absent scientific evidence? Many online discussions and public debates break down at this point but reasonable people can disagree. The arguments in favor of cupping typically point out that patients report benefits after cupping sessions, the research isn’t absolutely negative (even though it is weak), and in the therapist’s experience, they have seen benefits. These seem to fit Sackett’s classic definition of evidence-based practice we all learned in school, and is therefore okay to include as part of a multi-modal treatment.

My opinion diverges here because of a fundamentally different philosophy on what physical therapists do and why they should do it. It is not enough to merely show a treatment can reduce pain by a few points in a handful of poorly-designed trials and to have anecdotal success stories from patients and other therapists. Any treatment can be justified with this type of reasoning, including homeopathy, craniosacral therapy, acupuncture, reiki, or magnet therapy. If we are going to be a respected part of the medical community, we need to embrace science-based medicine, and seek strong scientific ground and biological plausibility for the things we do. Cupping has not met that threshold.

We already provide many of these types of treatments, and we don’t have robust evidence to suggest that cupping offers something significantly different or better. Why would we need more of the same? If you chose to incorporate cupping into your treatments, it is important to emphasize that cupping is largely unstudied and has only been shown to reduce pain by small amounts. It should be a minor part of treatment, if at all. As far as the science is concerned, cupping has not yet passed any fair tests, and as such, we should all be very skeptical of the inclusion of it in physical therapy practice.

References

Ahmadi, Alireza, et al. “The Efficacy of Wet-Cupping in the Treatment of Tension and Migraine Headache.” The American Journal of Chinese Medicine, vol. 36, no. 01, 2008, pp. 37–44., doi:10.1142/s0192415x08005564.

Albedah, Abdullah, et al. “The Use of Wet Cupping for Persistent Nonspecific Low Back Pain: Randomized Controlled Clinical Trial.” The Journal of Alternative and Complementary Medicine, vol. 21, no. 8, 2015, pp. 504–508., doi:10.1089/acm.2015.0065.

Bedah, Abdullah M.n. Al, et al. “Evaluation of Wet Cupping Therapy: Systematic Review of Randomized Clinical Trials.” The Journal of Alternative and Complementary Medicine, vol. 22, no. 10, 2016, pp. 768–777., doi:10.1089/acm.2016.0193.

Bridgett, Rhianna, et al. “Effects of Cupping Therapy in Amateur and Professional Athletes: Systematic Review of Randomized Controlled Trials.” The Journal of Alternative and Complementary Medicine, vol. 24, no. 3, 2018, pp. 208–219., doi:10.1089/acm.2017.0191.

Cao, Huijuan, et al. “Clinical Research Evidence of Cupping Therapy in China: a Systematic Literature Review.” BMC Complementary and Alternative Medicine, vol. 10, no. 1, 2010, doi:10.1186/1472-6882-10-70.

Cao, Huijuan, et al. “An Updated Review of the Efficacy of Cupping Therapy.” PLoS ONE, vol. 7, no. 2, 2012, doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0031793.

Chi, Lee-Mei, et al. “The Effectiveness of Cupping Therapy on Relieving Chronic Neck and Shoulder Pain: A Randomized Controlled Trial.” Evidence-Based Complementary and Alternative Medicine, vol. 2016, 2016, pp. 1–7., doi:10.1155/2016/7358918.

Cramer, Holger, et al. “Randomized Controlled Trial of Pulsating Cupping (Pneumatic Pulsation Therapy) for Chronic Neck Pain.” Forschende Komplementärmedizin / Research in Complementary Medicine, vol. 18, no. 6, 2011, pp. 327–334., doi:10.1159/000335294.

Farhadi, Khosro, et al. “The Effectiveness of Wet-Cupping for Nonspecific Low Back Pain in Iran: A Randomized Controlled Trial.” Complementary Therapies in Medicine, vol. 17, no. 1, 2009, pp. 9–15., doi:10.1016/j.ctim.2008.05.003.

Ge, Weiqing, et al. “Dry Cupping for Plantar Fasciitis: a Randomized Controlled Trial.” Journal of Physical Therapy Science, vol. 29, no. 5, 2017, pp. 859–862., doi:10.1589/jpts.29.859.

Kim, Jong-In, et al. “Cupping for Treating Pain: A Systematic Review.” Evidence-Based Complementary and Alternative Medicine, vol. 2011, 2011, pp. 1–7., doi:10.1093/ecam/nep035.

Kim, Jong-In, et al. “Evaluation of Wet-Cupping Therapy for Persistent Non-Specific Low Back Pain: a Randomised, Waiting-List Controlled, Open-Label, Parallel-Group Pilot Trial.” Trials, vol. 12, no. 1, Oct. 2011, doi:10.1186/1745-6215-12-146.

Kim, Tae-Hun, et al. “Cupping for Treating Neck Pain in Video Display Terminal (VDT) Users: A Randomized Controlled Pilot Trial.” Journal of Occupational Health, vol. 54, no. 6, 2012, pp. 416–426., doi:10.1539/joh.12-0133-oa.

Lauche, Romy, et al. “The Effect of Traditional Cupping on Pain and Mechanical Thresholds in Patients with Chronic Nonspecific Neck Pain: A Randomised Controlled Pilot Study.” Evidence-Based Complementary and Alternative Medicine, vol. 2012, 2012, pp. 1–10., doi:10.1155/2012/429718.

Lauche, Romy, et al. “Efficacy of Cupping Therapy in Patients with the Fibromyalgia Syndrome-a Randomised Placebo Controlled Trial.” Scientific Reports, vol. 6, no. 1, 2016, doi:10.1038/srep37316.

Lauche, Romy, et al. “The Influence of a Series of Five Dry Cupping Treatments on Pain and Mechanical Thresholds in Patients with Chronic Non-Specific Neck Pain – a Randomised Controlled Pilot Study.” BMC Complementary and Alternative Medicine, vol. 11, no. 1, 2011, doi:10.1186/1472-6882-11-63.

Li, Jin-Quan, et al. “Cupping Therapy for Treating Knee Osteoarthritis: The Evidence from Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis.” Complementary Therapies in Clinical Practice, vol. 28, 2017, pp. 152–160., doi:10.1016/j.ctcp.2017.06.003.

Michalsen, Andreas, et al. “Effects of Traditional Cupping Therapy in Patients With Carpal Tunnel Syndrome: A Randomized Controlled Trial.” The Journal of Pain, vol. 10, no. 6, 2009, pp. 601–608., doi:10.1016/j.jpain.2008.12.013.

Saha, Felix J., et al. “The Effects of Cupping Massage in Patients with Chronic Neck Pain – A Randomised Controlled Trial.” Complementary Medicine Research, vol. 24, no. 1, 2017, pp. 26–32., doi:10.1159/000454872.

Teut, M., et al. “Pulsatile Dry Cupping in Chronic Low Back Pain – a Randomized Three-Armed Controlled Clinical Trial.” BMC Complementary and Alternative Medicine, vol. 18, no. 1, Feb. 2018, doi:10.1186/s12906-018-2187-8.

Teut, Michael, et al. “Pulsatile Dry Cupping in Patients with Osteoarthritis of the Knee – a Randomized Controlled Exploratory Trial.” BMC Complementary and Alternative Medicine, vol. 12, no. 1, Dec. 2012, doi:10.1186/1472-6882-12-184.

Wang, Yun-Ting, et al. “The Effect of Cupping Therapy for Low Back Pain: A Meta-Analysis Based on Existing Randomized Controlled Trials.” Journal of Back and Musculoskeletal Rehabilitation, vol. 30, no. 6, June 2017, pp. 1187–1195., doi:10.3233/bmr-169736.

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rehabherelive · 5 years

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Is Cupping Therapy Effective?

What Is Cupping Therapy?

The State Of The Research

Clinical Trials

Systematic Reviews And Meta-Analyses

The Clearest Picture

The Role Of Cupping In Physical Therapy Practice

References

Cao, Huijuan, et al. “An Updated Review of the Efficacy of Cupping Therapy.” PLoS ONE, vol. 7, no. 2, 2012, doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0031793.

Ge, Weiqing, et al. “Dry Cupping for Plantar Fasciitis: a Randomized Controlled Trial.” Journal of Physical Therapy Science, vol. 29, no. 5, 2017, pp. 859–862., doi:10.1589/jpts.29.859.

Kim, Jong-In, et al. “Cupping for Treating Pain: A Systematic Review.” Evidence-Based Complementary and Alternative Medicine, vol. 2011, 2011, pp. 1–7., doi:10.1093/ecam/nep035.

The post Is Cupping Therapy Effective? appeared first on NewGradPhysicalTherapy.com.

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healthandfitnessrecipes-blog · 6 years

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My Rheumatoid Arthritis Test Was Negative, But I Still Had RA

https://healthandfitnessrecipes.com/?p=3320

When I was about 24, I was diagnosed with osteoarthritis in my back. Unfortunately, it just got worse and I seemed to have one condition after another added to the list. When you had one chronic pain disease, it seemed like your body just keeps piling on others. Then a few years ago, I started having serious problems with my hands. They hurt so much I couldnt even pick up a can of soda. I would try to grasp the can and hang onto it, but I would drop it. I went to my doctor who tested me for rheumatoid arthritis. The test came back negative. He knew the testing wasnt 100% certain when it came to diagnosing rheumatoid arthritis, but we decided to assume it was part of the degenerative joint disease, osteoarthritis. Eventually, however, my fingers started going in different directions when I laid my hands down flat. He did another test, which still came back negative, even though I had all of the classic symptoms of rheumatoid arthritis. He sent me to a rheumatologist, and although the tests were negative, she said she was certain that, in addition to osteoarthritis, I had rheumatoid arthritis. I was mad, but I had to move forwardGetting a diagnosis was different for me than it probably is for other people. At that point in my life, after living with pain for so long, another diagnosis was just like adding another name to the list, just one more disease. It wouldnt have done any good for me to get upset or depressed. I did get mad, though. I thought, ‘Wait a minute, I already have A, B, C, and D. Do we really have to add E too? Still, I just had to bite down and move forward. I handle my rheumatoid arthritis through pain management. I initially tried rheumatoid arthritis medication, but I had problems. I had little or no success with them, plus they just didnt seem to agree with me. So, I try to manage the pain and live with it daily, which I was already doing anyway. I have flare-ups; there are days when I cant use my hands very well at all. But I also go into remission and can go for days and weeks without severe problems. I dont dwell on the pain whether Im hurting or not. I am a big proponent of using distractions to help manage the pain. You have to have a distraction; you really need to have something to do or someplace to go that takes you out of the realm of pain for a while. I have many. I like to paint ceramics, knit, put puzzles together, and do all kinds of crafts. When Im keeping busy with things I enjoy, I can push the pain back and say, ‘This is my time. Youre not allowed here. This is just for me. Even if its only 15 to 20 minutes that I can stand to be active, thats 20 minutes that I can focus on something other than the pain. I think it is very unhealthy to constantly be struggling with thoughts of pain. I feel it and I cant make it go away. Still, I can make myself concentrate on something else for a while. I also volunteer with the American Pain Foundation, so there are a lot of days when I want to be working on the computer and cant because I cant get my fingers to cooperate.

Next Page: Its hard, but healthy, to stay positive

[ pagebreak ] Its hard, but healthy, to stay positive I tend to feel most angry when pain stops me from doing something Im passionate about. Thats when the ‘Why me? creeps in. I try not to go there. Living with pain is not fun; it affects every aspect of your life. But I always try to focus on how it really could be so much worse. There are people being given terminal diagnoses every day. I have pain, but Im alive and am hopefully going to stay that way for a long time. I also try to focus on the positive aspects of my life. My pain started getting really bad when I was about 26 and my youngest child was a year old. I raised all three of my kids while dealing with a life of pain. My kids watched me coping with pain as they grew up, and I now have three of most caring, compassionate children you will ever meet. I also feel that as long as I keep fighting against the rheumatoid arthritis, it doesnt own me. As long as I push back, it doesnt take over my life and I stay in charge. It can be hard to be positive, but it is so much healthier for me. If I start dwelling on the pain and let myself go into the pity mode, which is all too easy, I am going to fall into the darkness, which is what I call depression. And it is really hard to get out of the dark when you get into it. Once you fall in, its difficult to climb out of that dark hole and you lose the strength to fight there. I can get depressed, but I dont like to. Depression isnt necessarily a bad thing, but for me it tells me Im losing the battle. And it is an ongoing battle to stay somewhere in the middle and be OK with life as it is. I never asked for a life of constant pain. Nevertheless, I also am a firm believer that good things have and will come from my life of pain. As told to: Tammy Worth

Credits: Original Content Source

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aylwardmorales-blog · 7 years

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How To Get Relief From Fibromyalgia Pain Safely With Herbal Pills And Oil?

Fibromyalgia is a painful condition that happens to attack people suffering from osteoarthritis. It is considered to be a later stage of osteoarthritis. This painful condition attacks entire body of the suffering person especially his joints and muscles. This painful condition must not be taken lightly as it is many times misdiagnosed as arthritis. Nevertheless, this condition negatively affects musculoskeletal structure of the body. The people suffering from this painful condition often complaint about recurrent fatigue (feeling of tiredness all the time of day even when they have slept peacefully). Also, this painful condition may cause constipation, and vertigo in rare cases. Nowadays, people are looking forwards to herbal supplements in order to get relief from fibromyalgia pain. And, there are some very effective pills like Orthoxil Plus capsules that can be used along with topical Orthoxil Plus oil to get rid of this health problem. Nevertheless, it is always important to know the cause and symptoms of any medical condition to eradicate the root of the problem with right treatment. This painful condition may leave you to ache all over. You may have symptoms of crippling fatigue. Many or specific tender points of your body might be painful to touch. It might be difficult for you to sleep or, a restful sleep is a dream that never came true for you. Also, you may suffer from mood swings or depression or anxiety. The muscles of your body might feel like they have overworked or pulled without any exercise or any other cause. In this condition, many times your muscles would feel like they are twitching. Burning sensation in muscles is common. And, it may happen that muscles have deep stabbing pain. Many patients of this health problem may suffer from pain or achiness in joints of neck, shoulder, neck and hips. All in all, the pain and ache makes it difficult for person to fall asleep. The overall quality of life gets affected due to this painful condition and people search to find a solution to get relief from fibromyalgia pain. Orthoxil Plus capsules and Orthoxil Plus oil can be answer to your prayers for getting rid of this painful condition. The reason for this confident recommendation is that these two herbal supplements work internally. They affect internal parts of the body to eradicate the root cause of the problem. The rare herbs of these two herbal supplements are specifically useful in getting rid of joint pain. They lubricate joints. Orthoxil Plus capsules and Orthoxil Plus oil strengthen entire musculoskeletal structure of the human body; which means it positively affects joints, ligaments, nerves, tendons, and structures that supports limbs, neck and back of the body. These herbal supplements are perfect package to get relief from fibromyalgia pain. Nevertheless, Orthoxil Plus capsules and Orthoxil Plus oil are formulated by learned herbalist with rare herbs that are time tested to specifically get relief from fibromyalgia pain. In addition, these herbal supplements have no adverse effects on the body unlike other chemical based products.

Read about Fibromyalgia Pain Relief Herbal Treatment. Also know Herbal Treatment For Arthritis Inflammation And Pain. Read about Herbal Arthritis Supplements Reviews.

#how to get relief from fibromyalgia pain #herbal pills to get relief from fibromyalgia

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viralhottopics · 7 years

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21 Nurses And Doctors Share Their Most Insane And Hilarious Stories Of A Patient Faking It

1. A Mother Finds A Way…

“Had a mother come in and INSIST that her child had Silver-Russell syndrome. You can go read on it. It’s not that easy to fake, as it’s a bunch of metabolic conditions mixed with congenital abnormalities.

The kid was small, but not that small (around 6th percentile). He didn’t weight much (5th percentile). All of this, with a right arm length 2 cm more than the left side, were borderline criteria for Silver-Russell. Did genetic testing, which came back negative, but 30% of cases are negative.

So the deciding factor was one of the ‘soft’ criteria of hypoglycemia. Once she heard about this (she printed out 30-40 articles on the disease), she came back with the kid in a coma. But when the kid was in the hospital, he was never hypoglycemic. He went home, and came back in a coma a few weeks later. Again, as soon as he was eating normally at the hospital, he was never hypoglycemic.

She starved her child into comas repeatedly for the diagnosis of Silver-Russell. She was also a ‘bougon,’ people who live off welfare and make a game out of it. By the way, she was in a wheelchair when at the hospital. Once I had enough of her bullshit and walked into the room after only knocking once. She was walking around normally and jumped into the wheelchair as soon as she saw me.

I believe it was for money since in Canada/Quebec, you get money when your child has a genetic disability… God, if it was legal, I would have slapped some sense into that her.”

2. It’s A Miracle!

“My husband is a firefighter and EMT and he told me about a time where they were called for a man seizing. When they got there a guy was lying face up on the floor not moving and then started faking a seizure. They stood there saying things like ‘Oh wow. This is a bad one. But if they did X then we should really be worried!’ and the patient would suddenly start doing X behavior. Apparently this went on for a while until he miraculously woke up in the ambulance asking for opiates.”

3. Whooping Cough

“My mom’s an ER nurse and she said once some crazy lady came in and complained hat she had the whooping cough. And whenever she coughed she followed it with a loud ‘woooOOOP!’”

4. “A Nice, tasty Lortab Might Help, Doctor”

“When I was a resident, I had a patient in clinic that was doing that round-about thing patients do when they want narcotics but aren’t going to directly ask for them. She would hint at having arthritis pain that ‘just doesn’t seem to get better except that one time she took lortab’ and that ‘you know, her friend gave her a Percocet once and it helped a lot’ (never mind the fact that this lady was 100% functional despite ‘debilitating pain’.

At the end of the clinic visit, when I offered a physical therapy referral and stronger NSAIDs (the actual treatment for osteoarthritis), she suddenly sat straight up, looked me in the eye, and said, ‘Doctor, I don’t know how…but I’m totally paralyzed.’

Seriously. She pretended that, all of a sudden, everything other than her mouth was totally paralyzed. She made us send her to the ER (but not before she had my nurse unwrap a peppermint and literally put it on her tongue because ‘her blood sugar felt low’). We had to lift this nutcase into a wheelchair (during which we could all feel her shifting and repositioning…not something a paralyzed person would do) and roll her to the ER to be evaluated for ‘sudden paralysis’.

While in the ER, she suggested to the ER doc that maybe Lortab would fix her paralysis, and when the ER doc rightly refused this treatment, she got out of the stretcher and walked out.”

5.Girl Begins Fake Convulsions Out Of Grief

“Not even a patient but a family member. The family was grieving in the room due to the patient just being made comfort care and not expected to survive the day. A niece of the patient, who was easily in her 30’s, started screaming like she was being murdered and fell to the floor near our nursing pod. She started ‘convulsing’ but her family completely ignored her. Some even side stepped her or literally stepped over her while trying to leave the unit. The niece would randomly convulse while we were loading her onto a stretcher. The charge nurse picked this ladies arm up and let it fall. It some how just softly returned to her side. Finally she was loaded up and we were ready to transport her to the ER. The ladies aunt/mom/sister? looked at the doctor and asked if the hospital was going to pay for her tests. The doctor on the unit said no and ‘miraculously’ the niece shot up and acted like she couldn’t remember what happened. The rest of the family just left her there and told the desk not to let her back in to the unit once she was escorted out.”

6. Kidney Stones From The Parking Lot

“Husband is a Urologist. ER calls with a patient who is reportedly writhing in pain from kidney stones. Patient brought with him a stone he passed for analysis. Hubby walks in, sees one of the regular drug seekers, takes a look at the sample determines it’s a pebble guy picked up in the parking lot.”

7. Drunk Girl Prepares For Her Seizure

“Get called for an unconscious intox’s at a bar. Get her out to the ambulance, she shouts ‘I’M HAVING A SEIZURE’ and starts waving her arms around. I tell her ‘people who have seizures generally don’t announce it first.’ Her response? ‘You’re being very judgmental, I was getting ready in case I had a seizure.’

……gotta stretch, I guess.”

8. Good Guy Car Accident Victim Runs A Con

“I was an intern in a busy trauma ED when a guy walks up the ambulance bay and screams he needs to be seen immediately. They take him back and he starts telling everyone he was in a car accident last night going ‘100+ mph’ on the interstate but did not go to the hospital because he was worried about his friend, the driver. But now he’s losing feeling in his legs and has severe back pain and needs to be seen.

So of course the story is super fishy but we put him on a backboard/collar and get some xrays of chest and pelvis (our protocol for any severe trauma). The radiologist who is stationed in the ED flags me and asks when out patient got a CT scan. He showed me his pelvis x ray and his bladder is super bright: it’s filled with the iodine contrast agent they inject in your veins when you get a CT which is then excreted by the kidneys over the next few hours.

So we confront our patient about why he didn’t tell us about being seen at another hospital and getting a CT. He launches into a rambling explanation about concussions and amnesia. He has, of course, also exhibited several other drug seeking behaviors in his short time in the ED. He decides to leave AMA but not before asking the nurse directions to the nearest hospital, presumably to try the same trick.”

9. Home Nurse Gets Robbed

“My wife’s a district nurse, she drives to peoples homes changing dressings, giving medications etc etc. Her job has her dealing with many people such as gang members and people on home detention, but the worst in her opinion, the people you never trust even a little bit are the methadone patients, according to her a lot of them will try anything to get a little bit more.

She had one not long ago that was being extremely talkative, almost like he didn’t want her to leave the house. Then he started showing her every little lump and bump, wanting her to make sure they weren’t infections or anything. Although he wasn’t making her uncomfortable, she did think it was strange for him as he was normally very quiet and wanted the nurses gone asap.

When she got back to her car the back window had been smashed in but all that was missing was her sharps container and the lockbox the drugs were kept in. It didn’t take a genius to figure out what was going on so she walks back to the house, looks in the front window and sees the methadone dude and another guy sitting on the couch trying to open her lockbox and emptying the sharps container on the floor.

She called the police at that point and despite knowing that some of the needles now on the floor were from an HIV+ patient she had earlier in the day she sat in the car until the PD arrived because you never ever get between a junkie and a fix.”

10. Man Fakes Migraine To Get Out Of Paying For His Meal

“Paramedic here.

Gentleman called 911 from a restaurant claiming he had a migraine and was unable to see properly. He was literally 2 blocks from a hospital.

I’ve had migraines, I’m sympathetic. On the way to the call I was planning my treatment plan so he would be more comfortable during the wait in the emerg.

He was waiting outside, in full sunlight, waving at us. Thanked us politely for coming ‘to his rescue’. Sat in the well lit ambulance, chatting up a storm, making inappropriate jokes, and laughing. Stating the whole time he has 10/10 pain from a migraine, and that only Percocet works to reduce the pain. He has them frequently, and wouldn’t you know it, he’s run out of his prescribed medication, and his doctor is on vacation.

The chef from the restaurant he called from came out and asked for his information. Our patient was ‘unable to pay his bill, due to the pain.’ He conveniently had no ID he could leave with the restaurant, and only had his debit card with him. He promised to come back, once he was feeling well enough to tap his PIN into the machine, but right now he couldn’t. The chef knew 100% the guy was full of shit, but couldn’t do anything.

As someone who has had a vomiting, shaking, vision effecting, migraine in the past, he did nothing to convince he was in actual discomfort. I actually would greatly prefer if he had said, ‘I ate a meal I can’t afford, and I’m addicted to pain killers, can you please take me to the ER.’ Honesty would have gotten him better treatment from everyone involved.”

11. Screams For Pain Meds When Not Having A Seizure

“This JUST happened last week, strangely enough. I’ve been a nurse for 4 years now, and this is probably the worst I’ve seen it.

Young adult comes in with seizure-like activity. We’re a neuroscience floor, so we get these a lot. Complains of severe abdominal pain related to her seizures, apparently. They run multiple CTs and MRIs that come back clean. We put her on a 24 hour VEEG machine (video EEG for those who don’t know). She reportedly has 100s of seizures throughout the night, with full body convulsions, drooling, upper extremity contractions, and will not respond to verbal stimuli. Post ictal, she’s not lethargic, just confused. Doesn’t know her own name, the place that she’s in, or what time it is, but the rest of her neuro assessment is benign. No bladder incontinence during, had perfect control of all limbs.

She screams for pain meds when she’s not having seizures, but is for some reason refusing everything they offer her. Tylenol – nope. Percocet – makes her feel weird. Lidoderm patch for her abdomen – it gives her sores in her mouth. I guarantee if a doctor offered Opiates, she would have been all over that.

After 24 hours of being her, $1000s worth of tests being run all coming up negative, the doctors had no choice but to send her home. She become agitated and seizing again, while the doctor is basically explaining that she’s faking it. He says, ‘I’ll wait.’ She immediately stops.

Security had to escort he out, with me in tow, because I was too paranoid that she would throw herself on the floor before leaving and demand to be readmitted. They recommended an outpatient psych consult for her, which made her even angrier. Lord knows, maybe the seizures felt real to her, but she didn’t need a special kind of help.”

12. A Colossal Waste Of Everyone’s Time

“EMT here. The one that sticks out is the most textbook example of drug seeking behavior.

Get called out to a residence at 2 am (because of course, it’s always 2 am). Guy says he’s having 10/10 finger pain and gingerly holding his hand in the air. Says there was no trauma, just started suddenly and it’s unbearable.

So we load him up, take him the 25 minutes the the hospital. Entire time he’s holding his hand in the air. But we had a full conversation, talked about Football, never once did he complain about pain.

We wheel him into the ER and literally the second we walk through the door, this guy starts in pain. Says he can’t sit still the pain is unbearable, he has to stand up, screaming at the nurse to help. Then he turned to the nurse and said:

‘I had this same issue at a different hospital 2 weeks ago. They couldn’t tell what was wrong. They gave me morphine but that didn’t work so then they gave me dilaudid. That worked. So maybe you should just start with dilaudid tonight.’ And then he went back to moaning in pain.

Nurse and I just looked at each other, we put him in a bed and I drove the 35 minutes back to station. Highly doubt he was given any pain less that night, was just a colossal waste of everyone’s time.”

13. People Really Act Out

“I am an X-ray tech. All the time in the ED you will have patients that come in seeking things. These patients will have a bunch of X-rays ordered. So when you first start the exams they will be in all sorts of pain. They cannot position any body part. Fighting and begging you to not do it. Then after about 15 minutes, when they notice you’re going to do your job. They stop the charade and get through the stack of images ordered on them. It’s quite incredible really.

The other thing that blows my mind is when people want the worst possible outcome of their disease. Like you can feel the craving for sympathy emanating from them. With phrases ‘Ohhh that’s really bad isn’t it’ or ‘Oh man is that the worse you’ve seen?’ Not said with dread, but barely hidden excitement.”

14. Some Of The Most Obvious Fakes

“I have so many of these!!

–Male patient, 18 years old, rolled in unconscious. Mom says he’s been like that for the past four hours. Go to check his lungs when I hear something interesting. I place the stethoscope near his mouth and hear him breathe in normally, but then breathe out by saying ‘breath’. No joke.

–Male patient, 21 years old, admitted with inability to speak for last two hours and respiratory distress. Lungs clear, but we hook him up to oxygen for a few minutes. After he’s taken off, his father comes running and drags me over, saying his sons tongue refuses to go back in after receiving the oxygen. I look at the kid and he’s seriously just lying there with his tongue poking out like a child. I tell them to push it back in. A few hours later the dad tells me the boy is convulsing. I go to see without making my presence known and he’s lying there just fine. The moment I ask the mom how he’s doing, he starts ‘convulsing’. Think of an odd version of the worm, but on his back.

–Female patient, 16 years old, admitted with complaints of recurrent seizures and frothing from the mouth. I look at her and she is literally blowing spit bubbles. I check her reflexes, everything is intact. The moment I turn away to check on another patient, she suddenly becomes ‘rigid’ and the spitting intensifies.

–Male patient, 30 years old, unconscious and completely unresponsive for six hours. This guy was totally dedicated to his act. I initially approached it as a stroke, but when the blood pressure, ECG, reflexes, pupils, etc all are normal….I start checking pain sensation. He slowly began to open his eyes and groan as I asked him to tell me his name, but the moment his Achilles’ tendon was pressed, he suddenly sat up, stated his name, and declared himself cured.

–Female patient, 17 years old, complained of respiratory distress and convulsions. Everything’s normal on admission, and she’s conscious but refuses to eat. Parents are worried out of their minds, and every few minutes she has a ‘fit’ where she would just basically shake from side to side. She let slip to a nurse that she didn’t want to go to school that week, so she was faking an illness. Since she was refusing to eat, the attending wrote up an order for a nasogastric tube (which was inserted and then removed by her in a matter of minutes), and we prescribed her sugar pills because her parents wouldn’t let us transfer her to psychiatry or discharge her. She finally left after four days.”

15. Three Hilarious Paramedic Faker Stories

“Paramedic here – I have three stories that come to mind.

Story #1 – We get called to a local Waffle House for a seizure. We walk in to find a man lying on the floor, not moving, but breathing. We start talking to the waitress, asking what had happened. While talking to her, we occasionally look down at the patient, and find him with one eye barely cracked open, watching us; when he sees us looking at him, he closes his eye. This happens a few times. Then the cops show up and find out what’s going on. One of the officers asks the waitress, ‘Did he (patient) eat here?’

‘Yes, he did.’

‘How much is his bill?’

‘Fourteen dollars.’

At this point, the officers roll the patient over and find his wallet; the guy has a $20 bill in it. One of the officers takes out the $20, gives it to the waitress, and tells her, ‘keep the change.’ You could see the anger in the patient’s face when he realizes he’s not getting out of paying his bill. He ended up faking a seizure on the way to the hospital (I’m not about to explain how I know it was fake, because I’m not going to give anyone ANY info on how to fake a seizure).

Story #2 – We get called to a fall in the women’s bathroom at Wal-Mart. We walk in, and the manager is FREAKING OUT. We go into the bathroom to find a white female face up on the floor – I’m guessing she weighs at least 350 lbs; there were two friends of hers standing in there with her. I ask her what happened; she says she slipped on a puddle and fell, hurting her back. I look all over the bathroom floor; there’s NO water on the floor. I ask the manager AND the patient’s friends – ‘Do you see water on the floor?’ They all said, ‘No.’ I then tell the patient, ‘There’s no water on the floor, ma’am.’ She says, ‘I’m lying on top of it.’ We’re going to have to roll her to her side in order to get a backboard under her and pick her up; I explain that to her. As we roll her to her side, I check her back for any obvious injuries; I then check her clothing AND the floor she was lying on – nothing was wet. I have the manager (who was grinning from ear to ear at this point) and the patient’s friends look – ‘Do you see water on the floor? Are her clothes wet?’ They all said, ‘No.’ We then roll the patient onto the board, pick her up, and place her on a stretcher.

At this point, I tell the patient, ‘I’m going to be writing up paperwork for this call and your treatment. Part of what is going to be written up is the fact that you said you slipped on a wet floor, and that no water was found either on the floor or soaked into your clothing. This is standard; I have to write up what I’m told in addition to what I see. What you need to understand is this – if you happen to decide to take Wal-Mart to court, they can request a copy of my run report, and it’s going to show what you said and what I found. They can also summon me to testify, and if they do, I’m going to tell them what you told me and what I saw, the manager saw, and what your friends saw. That being said, do you want to keep dragging this out and go to the hospital, or do you want to just get up from my stretcher and be done with it?’

She chose to get up and leave.

Story #3 – We get called to a 13 year old having a first-time seizure. We get on scene, and the entire family is freaking out, except for the father. I walk into the room where the kid was – OBVIOUS FAKER. I turn to dad and have him go outside into the hallway, I tell him the boy is faking, and I ask if anything unusual happened today. The father tells me he found marijuana in the kid’s room, and he was getting on to him about it when the kid started ‘seizing.’ I reassured the father that his son was NOT seizing, and he asked if we could take him to the hospital ‘just to be safe.’ I said no problem. We pick the kid up and put him on the stretcher, and as we head outside to the ambulance, he exhibits more behavior that shows he’s faking.

Inside the ambulance, I tell the kid that I know he’s faking and ask him to stop, but he keeps on. The hospital we take him to doesn’t have board-certified Emergency Department physicians; they use General Practice and Internal Medicine physicians (a LOT of smaller hospitals do this). I bring the kid in and give a patient report to the internal medicine doc and the RN, and I say the kid is ‘faking his seizure activity.’ The doctor had a problem with that – ‘You can’t possibly tell that he’s faking.’ I assure him that, yes, the kid is faking. I explain the situation that led up to him faking, and that I could prove it. The doctor says, ‘I’d like to see that.’

The RN knows EXACTLY what’s going on and what I wanted to do; he’s all for it! So I say to the kid, ‘Bob (I don’t remember his name), we need a urine sample from you, and we need you to wake up to do it. If you don’t wake up, we’re going to shove a tube into your penis, run it all the way into your bladder, and take a urine sample from you. Please, just wake up and give us a sample.’

Nothing from the kid.

‘Okay, Bob, if you don’t wake up in 10 seconds, we’re going to start prepping you to get the tube shoved into your penis. Ten, nine, eight, FIVEFOURTHREETWOONE!’

His eyes opened wide as saucers before he realized we caught him. He then closed his eyes, started blinking, looked around the room, and said, ‘What happened?’ The RN was laughing, and the doc was a little pissed.”

16. School Nurse Doesn’t Stand For Nonsense

“My mother was the school nurse when I was in high school, but she’s been a nurse my whole life. She’s told me a few good stories (obviously without names). But I was lucky enough to overhear one of the students trying to fake an illness to get out of class. The kid, we’ll call him Derrick, was a skud. White trash, moody, and destructive. Not my favorite classmate. But I was laying there when I heard him come in and start his routine of attention seeking. (mom used to let me skip seminary and nap on the empty beds).So my mom runs through all the basics, temp, blood pressure, etc. Well Derrick finally just cuts to the chase, obviously frustrated with the procedure, ‘Look Mrs. S, something is seriously wrong here and I’m not faking it this time!’ He screeched, defenses already 10 feet high.

‘OK Derrick, what’s the problem this time?’ She asked.

‘Well, earlier this morning, I started feeling sick, so I went to the bathroom to throw up. After I was done I looked at the toilet…(dramatic pause) and there where over a dozen whole baby carrots…(another pause, this one I think was for any gasps that might be coming) AND I DON’T EVEN EAT CARROTS!’ He nearly shouted.

Well, after about a 10 second pause and what I’m guessing was the hardest straight face my mother ever had to keep. She said, still fighting back laughter, ‘Well, Derrick your body is producing carrots at an alarming rate. Weird that it only seems to happen during gym, though. Here is a Gatorade and a hall pass to get back to class, see you tomorrow, Derrick.’

He left, stunned to be written off so easily and we had a good ol’ laugh.

‘And I don’t even eat carrots!’ has become a family favorite catchphrase.”

17. Limps On The Wrong Leg

“Student nurse, but this happened when I was at the gym.

Guy next to me fell off the elliptical, somehow got his foot trapped between the foot pedals and went sideways. The surprisingly inept PTs (Personal trainers are usually well trained in first aid) were freaking out and this guy is really hamming it up. Talks of calling an ambulance are thrown about. I offer to step in.

‘AHHHHHH MY ANKLE’ He’s on the floor grabbing his leg. I kneel next to him.

‘Hey bro,’ I greet him. He’s so surprised that I’m there (came up from behind) that he forgets to groan. ‘How much does it hurt on a scale of 1-10?’

‘Erm… 8,’ he says. I look at his ankle. There’s a scratch on it the size of a penny and superficial, hardly any blood. Little red around the scratch, ankle not swollen. I ask him if he can point and flex his foot and rotate his ankle, which he can do with zero difficulty, not even a grimace. I figure he’s probably hamming it up cuz it’s embarrassing falling off a machine in front of everyone, so I get him an ice pack (mostly for show tbh), tell him he’ll be fine, and tell the PTs not to call an ambulance. His sister comes to pick him up in her car and he limps out on the wrong leg.”

18. The Other End Of The Spectrum

“Had an elderly man who was in his early 70s (long term smoker) who came in with shortness of breath, trouble breathing, and a little bit of a cough and occasional production of blood tinged sputum. <— that last one is a bad sign

He also complained of a little bit of back pain he’d been having that started about a month ago after he was helping his son move. When asked to rate his pain he said 2/10 (‘not too bad’).

He has no other history, always had good blood pressure, no cholesterol issues, no diabetes… has a little bit of anxiety/depression, unmedicated.

So we check him out. Reduced breath sounds all across, more so on the left lower side. Tenderness to palpation in the lower back, he jumped when we touched it, said it was about a 3/10 when we touched it.

Check vitals, his blood pressure is 180/85 (this happens with severe pain), he has no fever, and his heart rate is in the 120s (also happens with pain).

Get scans and labs. He has three broken vertebrae, probably pathological (caused by cancer) a pleural effusion (it was malignant, as in, caused by cancer), and a few masses in his left lung. Guy had stage 4 lung cancer that spread to his back, caused his back to break, and he said he had 2-3/10 back pain.

Either he was set on fire in his childhood and then beaten with 2x4s filled with nails then rolled in broken glass… or he was faking not having pain. This is someone who we would describe as a ‘minimizer’.

Not the typical story you expected, I guess.

He got his surgery, and the next day wanted to leave the hospital cuz he had to do some paperwork and pay his bills, didn’t take any of the pain meds offered to him, except at night to help him sleep.

I hope he’s still alive, was a really nice guy.”

19. Domestic Drama At A Crash Scene

“Firefighter/first responder here, I once had a call for a ‘vehicle that struck a power pole’ at 2 am on a major street. We arrive on scene to find a telephone pole snapped in half and a car that had crossed 8 lanes of traffic to hit this pole straight on. We found the “patient” lying on the ground next to her car, laying on her back with arms crossed across her chest clutching her phone. Right next to her were her shoes laid perfectly next to each other by her feet. As I approached her I could see her squint one eye trying to see what I was doing. I know she was faking by all of this and called an officer over to ‘help hold C-spine’ I called her name with no response so next step was painful stimulus, grinding your knuckles into the sternum is an acceptable way to check, the second I said ‘I’m going to give her a sternum rub’ she was awake. Right when we finished packaging her for the ambulance I noticed a man talking to the police obviously drunk. That’s when I noticed she smelled of alcohol too, turns out the woman called 911 to report her own accident and the husband told the police they were drunk, got in a fight, and she decided to leave even when he told her not too, it was a fake suicide attempt to make him feel bad so he pressed charges for grand theft auto and totaling the car.”

20. Avoiding Football Practice

“Medical student here.

Like a month ago at the ER, a mother came with her 10yo son who claimed to have a monstruous knee pain and that he couldn’t move. So when we came to his room he was lying down (important for continuity)

X-ray was normal, knee was normal, not red, no swelling.

Each time we would touch his knee or try to move his leg or his thigh he would scream like we were torturing him, and his scream seemed genuine.

But with every test being normal and no explanation to this atypic pain we were confused and thinking he’s faking it.

So we asked him to try to move his leg on his own and he would barely move it and scream, then we asked him if he felt pain when standing up he said yes, we asked him to get up and surprise : he got up by bending his knee, fastly but we saw it, he was trying to simulate but he didn’t fully succeed.

I mean it was so obvious, he amlost made a 90 angle with his knee and as soon he touched the ground and got up he started to scream etc.

All of that was just the little boy simulating to avoid going to his football training.”

21. Threat Of Large Needle Cures Unconscious Patient

“When I was a junior medical student without much experience on the wards, a homeless patient came in who was ‘unconscious’. Except, she wasn’t. I mean, obviously wasn’t.

The doctor would hold up her limp arm, position her hand over her head and let go. If she was truly unconscious, her hand would hit her in the face. Somehow, every time he let go of her hand, it would swerve at the last minute and miss her face.

In an effort to rouse her, the doctor loudly asked me to go and get ‘the biggest needle you can find’. When I returned, he asked me if I’d ever taken blood before. I replied that I had not. He said that as Miss X was unconscious, this would be an excellent opportunity for me to have some one-on-one teaching on the subject. He also said that this would ordinarily be extremely painful for someone with such a large needle being used.

Unfortunately, she ‘woke up’ at that point, so I didn’t get to learn how to take blood.”