hopefully you will not need to go to the hospital.

i have found pain to be useful to tell me when i am hurt but i really wish i could click acknowledge and have the pain go away once i know i have an issue so i could tell when a different issue happens.

all my knowledge about dealing with US doctors I learned the hard way with either myself or my wife needing medical. One of the hardest things I had to teach myself is how to read lab reports... a lot of times they say something is NORMAL but for you it may not be normal and by the time it falls outside the normal range it may be too late to easily catch the issue. for instance my calcium and vitamin D levels are "normal" but they are both in the low end of normal and since I am missing 2 of 4 parathyroids this is an issue while for a normal person it might be something minor.

another issue i have learned is drug interactions... one drug I take (syntroid) for my thyroid replacement while havering no major side effects or interactions it dose have some issues... if i take synthroid within 4 hours of taking calcium, iron, soy, ect.... i will only absorb about 1/5th of the synthroid... other things i can take within the hour but there is a LONG list of 2 hour or 4 hours from synthroid.

so just cause you don't see a warning about use of something or such there is a lot of pitfalls you can run into.

I do not know what pain killers and such you use LTDAkile, or for that other supplements or medicines, or herbals you are on. What i do know is for me I have 12 prescription drugs and 3 supplements and 2 herbals that i take at least once a day and because of interactions and such with each other I need to make sure I have timed when i can take each one that interacts in one way or another... I even have to plan them around food... some taken with food some on empty stomach some you cant drive while on.

and one of the issues I have at this moment is I have continued medical coverage but right now it is in a flux between active duty navy and retired. So... I need to wait a few more days before i can schedule any appointments besides urgent or emergency care... And I will have a new Primary care doctor and I may need to get EVERY prescription I am on completely reviewed again before i can get a refill on any of them. oh and I'm taking care of my wife who i just got her out of the hospital on the 30th...

I have also found that a symptom log helps
for instance I am now able to sleep in a bed for up to 3 hours before vertigo/dizziness issues will become too bad that i will not be able to do much the next day... so for 1 year 2 months if i have ANYTHING that needs to be done in the morning I sleep in a chair. or set an alarm clock for 2.5 hours after lying in bed.... now if I do not need to do anything I sleep with my wife and we just deal with sever vertigo/dizziness for 4-8 hours after i get up. I love the days i can sleep with my wife.

oh and if you haven't guessed yet I suffer from mental issued to do pain and vertigo and dizziness.

oh and if you learn any thing that helps you with your doctors visits or your health care please post them you never know what little thing can help the rest of us as well

Yes swelling that does not go away but instead gets worse when the area that is swollen is held ABOVE the heart for awhile. Putting ones feet 'up' on a foot stool is NOT enough, they need to go ABOVE the heart to drain the fluid away! A foot stool WILL help prevent further swelling, unless everything is that high or higher, but the draining is helped ALOT by gravity!!! In this example 'awhile' means 1/2 hour or so. If this happens alot ask your Doctor at your next appointment, he may put you on a baby(ie..80mg) Aspirin as a mild blood thinner. Do NOT take Aspirin on your own, it is contraindicated for ALOT of prescription meds!

Gpugrid.net is having pain related workunits. It's a small patch, but it's still something.