I’m entering 40s and this doesn’t sound normal to me. Get a second opinion if your doctor is writing it off. Don’t get me wrong, as I got older my joints are sore and pop in the morning. My back can’t handle some sports I used to enjoy. You’re too young to be struggling with jars and shoes in my completely uninformed nonprofessional opinion.
Times a thousand. I’m older and have beat the shit out of my body with drugs (ended early 20s) and alcohol (still) and don’t get enough exercise and I wake up feeling reasonably good. What has been described here is outside of normal aging. Good luck!
Also, give up on that doctor. Reminds me of one that assumed I had a hemorrhoid without checking it and I actually had an abscess of infection. Emergency room doc told me that had I waited any longer for a second opinion I’d have had to get checked in to deal with it. Your current doctor is dangerously unqualified.
I would definitely get a second or third opinion if I were you
I am a man in my late forties and I can tell my body is running down. But, um, I don’t deal with constant pain. Swelling. I can do everything I want to do.
Seek a second opinion. That doctor is not listening to you. Something other than aging is going on and it should be properly investigated.
edit: is severe arthritis in your family (or any other bone/joint disease)? Are you exposed to large or long term doses of chemical(s) or radiation in your life through work or living environment (industrial zone nearby/upwind, or very old home). These are things I’d be considering.
Thank you for your answer, I appreciate everyone wo is taking the time and effort. Well, my brother has spondylitis ankylosans. I asked my doc about it (my mother always warned us to have in our mind when something comes up) but he said that this is not related and my symptoms wouldn’t match as I am too young. He also stated that it especially has nothing to do with low back pain. Other than that, no chemicals, no radiation (we live in a area where this actually can be a problem so it is quite common to check for it and we never had any elevated levels) I’m not working in a high stress environment, no heavy lifting or something like that and I move quit regularly during the day
It’s really interesting to me that you have provided this additional clue because ankylosing spondylitis was literally the first thing that popped into my head reading your story. I agree with others that your story sounds much more than typical aging symptoms and you should seek the opinion of another physician.
Yeah well my GP just shoved this aside and I didn’t do any reasearch about it, because I try to avoid reading about symptoms etc. in order not to get ‘biased’, like interpeting too much or influencing my diagnosis (does this make sense?) but as you were asking about it it came back to my mind. Maybe I should check in with a specialist as I just now tried to find some information and it seems to fit really good, it even matches some minor other problems I had earlier (and my GP himself diagnosed me with)
Even if it ends up NOT being ankylosing spondylitis exactly - you should know that there are some hereditary factors that predispose to AS but also to other, similar conditions which are collectively called “inflammatory spondyloarthropathies.” Given your brother’s diagnosis you probably have a higher chance of one of these conditions because of your shared genetics. So yeah absolutely ask another physician until someone investigates your symptoms!
Thank you for this insight. I really don’t want to be sick but if there is something, especially something that could be treated, I’d like to know. My GPs response somehow made me feel like I was overreacting but with so many people reacting so differently, I’ll try to take myself serious and get that checked out!
I had some chronic shoulder pain for years. Primary physician was like “yeah that sucks”. 2 specialists were like “yeah, old collarbone injury I guess? Take Advil”
Years later, third specialist opinion found a missing ligament and did surgery.
Moral of the story is that you should get a few opinions here, maybe the first isn’t right
Actually, missing because of a high-side on a motorcycle years ago. I did break some bones, but also tore through the ligament. Well, I guess it died from lack of being attached or whatever and was gone by the time they got an MRI on it
It allowed the bicep to regularly pop out of the humeral groove, which I assure you was not pleasant
Putting aside whether it’s normal for you to be experiencing aging so early*, you should still see another PCP because they didn’t manage your actual concern: “I am experiencing issues functioning day to day life, and would like a plan to manage this”.
It would have been one thing if the doctor had said “yup, just you, so let’s get you into an assisted living arrangement now”, or “I’m fairly certain this is just your shitty genes, but to rule out anything else, let’s send you for X tests and see the Y specialist”.
From your post, it doesn’t sound like that was the case.
*The joke goes that after thirty you don’t get injured, you get permanent disabilities.
I’ve started having issues recently, too. After a work injury, I finally saw my GP, who recommended Physical Therapy, which has basically just been a guided workout with some yoga moves worked in over the course of an hour.
It hasn’t fixed my pain yet, but it’s made it better, and my pain was explained in a way that makes sense (my shoulders and core weren’t as strong as they should have been, placing undue burden on some of my backmuscles).
If you don’t want to go to PT, I’d strongly recommend just slowly doing 10-15 minutes of simple stretching like what you might have done in Gym as a kid. Stretch to the point of mild discomfort, not pain, doing each stretch 3 tines for 10 seconds. It might be worth looking into some basic yoga poses that target your particular pains (or the ones that you want to target first).
I’ll bet you’ll notice good results after a week. If not, definitely go see your GP again.
You don’t need to ask strangers on the internet about your health. The only thing you need to do is learn how to get a second opinion from another doctor.
I love that without fail every single person in this thread defending hexbears is from ml with the same pronoun tag format every single hexbear seems to have
Weird right? I love how they think everyone is as obsessed with fake internet points as them. Some of them seriously need to talk to people in real life
What? Why? Who i say who in their right mind says this in a post absolutely soaking in their own tears? I think the complete batshit audacity is what i find most entertaining about you.
Before I get accused of being a hexbear alt, I only added them after I saw that they were in common use due to hexbear posters showing up in my /all. We did actually start mandating pronoun tags for people participating in /c/transgender -despite the fact that some of the admins are resistant at the instance lecel- because it seems to work well in the trans spaces on hexbear for fostering a respectful environment.
Nope. Not normal sounding to me. Even your doctor says it’s not normal if you think about it, he thinks it’s early. As everyone else states, second opinion time.
Everything you listed, I get, but at a mere fraction, save for the swelling, nothing here. Beyond seeing another doctor for a second opinion, it sounds like you’re physically fit, which is more troubling. I am kind of fit, and sometimes my back hurts. What makes it go away? Working out my core muscles in a regimen after a few weeks. Staying active.
I am 40 fwiw, and you sound far worse off than I feel. See another physician.
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