[Maven]

I've been having a lot of physical problems lately, and I do plan on seeing a (new) doctor when my boyfriend gets back from his vacation, but I was wondering if anyone might have any idea what's wrong, particularly with my feet?

My feet feel almost breakable, and I have pain with walking. A little over a year ago, I had a problem only with my left foot, and I thought it might be a heel spur, and told my doctor so. He didn't touch my foot or have me take my shoe off, let alone do any X-rays, but he said that's what it sounded like and told me to roll my foot on a can (like canned vegetables) each morning. If it got really bad, he'd recommend a foot doctor and I'd have to take steroid shots. It never got bad enough for that, and I seem to have less pain as far as that goes, but now, both feet have pains, particularly where the feet and leg meet, but also in several areas of the feet. They feel twisted and also like the bones want to break. I figure it's at least partially caused by my weight, but I'm losing weight now. Also, we have hardwood laminate floors in the kitchen and living room, and sometimes I'd get sharp pains and have to stop in mid-step, and wait for the pain to subside before I could walk again. My mom bought me some house slippers, and that made a big improvement. But the pain is still there, in general.

Over a year ago, I don't know why, but I started having a bad pain in my right shoulder. I didn't recall injuring it or anything, but the pain was almost constant, worse at some times than at others. The doctor had me push against his hands and do some motions, declared it wasn't a torn rotator cuff, so he couldn't do anything for me, he said. That didn't do anything to make the pain go away. Now, although the pain lasted for all that time, the constant pain is gone, but I still can't put a lot of pressure on my arm, and I can't put my arm behind me without pain. Additionally, when I'm in bed, the shoulder hurts, like a stiff muscle.

A few months ago, I was in the bathroom in our apartment (before our move), and I turned my head to the left, not particularly sharply, and had a sharp pain in my left shoulder (but not in the same location as the pain in my right shoulder). Ever since then, it's almost constant pain, and I can't use my arm to support me or push much, like when I climb into bed. It just hurts too much. Again, when I'm in bed, the shoulder hurts a lot (worse than the right).

I have eye allergies, and my eyes tear up pretty badly. I also have dry eye syndrome. I'm not going into a lot of detail, because I'm getting very tired, but can anyone tell me what they prefer to use for these conditions? My boyfriend bought me some Claritin to try, but I want to wait till he gets back, in case I get any side effects, which I get nervous about. I use Celluvisc eye drops right now. I've seen mineral oil eye drops lately, particularly in PM versions of dry eye treatments. Anyone know if this is safe and effective? Thanks.

[Perna]

Maven, I would go to a new doctor and get the x-rays and have the feet, blood tests, etc. checked out. You could have diabetes, low hormone (that's what I got out of my doctor's visit today because of shoulder/arm pain and previous blood tests) or a bunch of other things that need to be sorted. Get the tests done!

I'm glad you realize the doctor can't be very helpful not even looking at your foot or doing anything. That's one of the first things my new doctor did was check everything out and do blood tests and base line tests so they could see where I am now and how things might be affecting other things. Your eye problems could be other things too besides dry eyes, you should see an eye doctor about that and allergies; I don't know how the allergies and dry eye work together or what could be "causing" either, etc. but I'd get it checked out?

[January]

Hi Maven,

I don't know the answers, but I do know you need a new Dr. who can help you. You need things like x-rays so they can decide how to best serve you.

Hugs,

Jan

[Maven]

I had a blood test for diabetes at the time I was seeing that crappy doctor, but all the tests came back negative. I hope I haven't developed it since then, but I'll be getting tested once I get an appointment, after my boyfriend gets back from his vacation. I've improved my diet (but still need to make some more changes), so that's a plus.

It was an eye doctor who diagnosed me with dry eye years ago, and another one who confirmed it (again--I've actually had several eye doctors confirm it) and told me I now have eye allergies. He said that's the "price of living in South Jersey."

There's no cure for dry eye, and every eye doctor has just tossed samples of eye drops at me. I've tried several, and I like Celluvisc best right now. Still, it doesn't do enough, and I mostly use it at night, because I can't afford to use it all day. Plus, eye drops can actually worsen the condition--go figure. Dry eye and eye allergies are very disruptive. And I can't touch my eyes, tears, the goop that comes out of them because of the dry eye, etc., without washing my hands, because of my OCD. Imagine wanting to cry, rushing for tissues, and still having to wash your hands, even though your hands didn't come in contact with the tears, even through the tissues. That's how bad my OCD is. And crying can cause the goop to slide around in my eyes, and yet I often can't get it all out, and it's very uncomfortable. Needing to cry, knowing it will make you miserable, that sucks.

[January]

Oh, I'm sorry Maven. I'm OCD, too, although not about my eyes. It can make you so miserable.

Maybe you could use more tissues to get the goop out of your eyes?

Hugs,

Jan

[Perna]

They have drops just for dry eyes now, not regular eye drops? My husband gets dry, "stingy" eyes and I got him some but he doesn't use them.

I'm sorry the OCD makes things so much worse. Do you have a T or "plan" to help with that? Hope your boyfriend gets home soon. I've tried the Claritin but it didn't help anything; I have asthma but the non-allergy kind, my nurse practitioner gave me some samples to try but I ended up giving them to my step-son who has allergies (and he was grateful :-) They're okay, not scary, I was just a little dehydrated/"dry" like I get with antihistamines. It didn't do anything good or bad.

[January]

They can also give you a wonderful, soothing creme to put in your eyes at night. It makes your eyes feel so very good. I don't remember the name, but you could ask about it.

Hugs,

Jan

[Maven]

Thanks, all. Jan, the tissues are pretty much useless for getting goop out...I use them to dab the excess tearing, but because of the lint on them, they cause more goop to form, because the lint gets in my eyes, so my eyes become irritated. It's such a pain!

Perna, yes, there are eye drops specifically for dry eyes. You can get them for minor to severe conditions. Celluvisc is a very good brand. I haven't tried the PM brands, and there's one call Soothe (I think), which have mineral oil in them...I'm trying to find out if those are safe. I asked a pharmacist about Soothe recently, and he wasn't sure, and it was after that, that I began seeing the PM kinds (or noticing them, at least).

[Maven]

Actually, I just found this page that has a lot of useful information concerning dry eyes:

The Eye Digest