jfb | now that i've seen the doctor

Well, the best part is, I really like my new doctor. The doctor I'd been seeing occasionally for the last few years came highly recommended, but I always had the faint feeling he was laughing at me--psychology again. When he retired last year, his patients were switched over by default to this new guy, who was great--he listened to all my speculations, answered my questions, was reassuring but not patronizing. Hooray.

As for my problem: His diagnosis, paraphrased by me, is: I'm a musician. He ran through a couple of the standard things--tendonitis, arthritis (I thought of

dongle)--and some of the less likely possibilities. He understood my concerns about the two-week deadline, agreed to do a bunch of lab tests up front because it might not be easy to do them later, and urged me to track my symptoms over the next couple of weeks and call him if I had any more observations or questions.

Meanwhile, I've got a prescription for my old antinflammatory friend naproxen, some samples of what he called "the good stuff", and a recommendation of an OTC arthritis aid to try. As well as the suggestion to just lay off for a while (which he admitted he already knew I wouldn't follow) and to get a splint to keep the finger straight when circumstances don't require it to be bent.

So, inconclusive, waiting for test results, but I have a bunch of things to try and improve the situation. Between medicine, care, and my generally good constitution, I think it'll be fine.

Yet another use for the iPod: Play loudly to distract oneself from needle in arm during blood test.

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I take "Bextra" which works good. Side effects: my hands and feet are almost always excessively warm, I can't take it on an empty stomach without feeling sick, and - this one feels really odd - I don't run fevers even when I am sick enough (with cold/flu/virus/etc) to be running one. I still can only play about one day out of three, but that's probably because my other form of finger abuse (typing) is pretty much a 16-hour-a-day activity.

"Bextra" was what my doctor called "the good stuff", and he did say to take it with food (which I promptly forgot to write down). Weird side effects, but not too bad.

Fortunately, with the end of my job comes a reduction in typing.

I used to have similar pain when I was first learning guitar, but I always just chalked it up to straining/soreness that went away with time/strength-building..

As far as I know, it did..

Isn't Naproxen different from over-the-counter Naproxen Sodium (Aleve)?

If you're wondering why my last few comments have "nasonex" as the subject, it's because Opera's "wand" kindly "remembered" the last subject of the post along with my username/password.

Opera's "wand" is kinda .. "sucky".

Might be a stronger dose, I don't know.

I think everyone gets these kinds of things from time to time when playing an instrument. But this one came on pretty suddenly, and since my insurance is about to get icky, and I'm going to be playing a lot more, I didn't want to take the chance that it was something bigger.

i'm glad your trip to the doctors office alleviated some of your concerns...hopefully the test results come back in your favor so you can get back to 'rockin' in no time.

now that i've seen the doctor

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