I don't know what to recommend

“I don’t know what to recommend”

Being told that by your GP when you’re in about 5 different kinds of pain is like being kicked when you’re down. Unfortunately, this happens way too often to pain patients and this is about the fifth GP now that’s told me something similar over the years.

So I sigh and tell her what I need – more pain meds, a referral back to the physiotherapist and a referral back to my orthopaedic surgeon to check everything out. And I get what I want without even a quibble – I wouldn’t ask if it wasn’t necessary. Since my TPO surgery I have cycles where the pain suddenly came back, but rest and paracetamol was usually enough to set it all to rights again. However, this year, that hasn’t been enough and this past month has been horrendous. Last night I discovered a new pain in addition to the ‘regular’ pains that I’ve been feeling – a tender spot high up over the greater trochanter region of the hip, which wakes you up when you unconsciously roll over onto your side in the night! I feel somewhat betrayed by my own body, again.

Physio starts at the end of the month and I have to call the Royal Orthopaedic Hospital Birmingham (ROHB) tomorrow for an appointment. When it concerns pain, action is better than inaction, it’ll only get worse (‘if you sit in the middle of the road, you will get run over’ Chinese proverb).