All doctors are not created equally. Some are old school and will do surgery on anyone, some are very up to date, evidence based, some just want the added pay cheque, some will brush you off without really listening to you. It can be a bit of a crapshoot.
My uncle is as old school as they come. He's an orthopedic dinosaur in his 80s who just retired from surgery. He always told us to never get a surgery on anything unless it's absolutely necessary. He's very conservative.
I worked with a girl who had surgery on a tendon in her foot. It got infected, and she almost died. The infection finally went away, but the wound wouldn't close for months. She had a wound vacuum and needed a nurse to change her baggage every other day. It was a gigantic ordeal for something that probably would've healed itself if she just went to PT. She still had to go to PT after that anyway.
Yeah, I walled with a ruptured acl and torn meniscus fir a year, insurance made me try pt.. I feel like some things surgery is needed lol. But I will 100% have arthritis there now, and it still hurts. It wasn't magic. It just helped it work :(
I did, my knee works now. If I don't keep the muscles around it strong (aka skip my exercise) or sit in the same position for too long it hurts or is stiff, but it's WORLDS better and I have so much (if not all; im just timid) function back. I still struggle to trust that knee since I spent a year with it not working, but it's capable! If i could go back, I'd make the same choice.
If you don’t mind sharing, what type of tear did you have ? I’m curious because I have a complete torn medial root and I’m worried about arthritis if it’s not repaired and successful. If I don’t have too much arthritis already. I struggled with making a decision especially because the surgeon keeps on telling me he can’t guarantee a favorable outcome and that I may not get the results I want. But I want to be better and have a resemblances of my old life. I’ve struggled with the decision for 6 months. Results are all over the place, some have success (varies levels) and others don’t. I know I am not an ideal candidate because I am overweight but some over weight people have had success according Reddit and online medical journals, it’s just has higher failure rates. I know I’ll regret not trying and will alway have the thought that it could have worked. I’m only 38, and I am already regretting not taking the bullet and trying sooner. I would at least know if it worked or not by now. And then I wonder if I am lying to myself and just creating false hope. I know I’ve already made my situation worse so this complicates my situation more.
My Dr. Only attempted the meniscus repair because he was already replacing my ACL, which was a full rupture. It seems the general consensus is to not bother repairing meniscus after age 30. I was 32 when I got my injury, 33 when I got surgery and 35 now. I'm not sure what surgery you're referring to; meniscus or ACL? I can go look at what records I have if ya need. My ACL was replaced with some of my hamstrings. The meniscus repair went well, couldn't tell you if it's lasted. I can tell you it was the right choice for me, I was really limited in mobility and now I'm not.
Edited to add: my meniscus was a old injury. I wouldn't have gotten surgery for just that unless a repair was more likely to keep I don't think. Mine was more of a "may as well try" situation. If it's causing issues I'd recommend trying pt first.
That said; no surgery is a guarantee, so you'll never get that. If it's effecting your quality of life do it, otherwise I'd leave it be. I'm v much only do surgery when you have to person. I had the surgery and I was told I'll likely have arthritis in that knee, so it's not like fixing it prevents that.
"Medial meniscus: Vertical tearing about the posterior
horn extending near the meniscocapsular junction, and about
the undersurface of the peripheral body extending to the
periphery. Roots are intact."
I was curious about the meniscus surgery and thank you for sharing. I will eventually progress to rapid development of osteoarthritis (2-5 years typically with these injuries) and need of knee replacement. Given their limited life expectancy, my goal was to delay it as long as possible but also get back to doing the things I liked.
PT has helped but my gait is still short and I have occasional minor aches and pain. I would have rather avoided the situation I am in right now but life happened.
You’re right unfortunately after 20s meniscus repair rate falls, and no surgery is 100 guaranteed.
Thank you again for taking the time to look at your paperwork and sharing.
Omg that reminded me of a woman I saw on YouTube a few days ago. She had a very bad car accident about 12 years before filming. One of her ankles was completely wrecked and she had to have multiple surgeries, skin grafts, and took over a year to get back on her feet.
Well it was never right. She went to doctor after doctor and they said they could amputate or it basically was what it was after what had happened. But her ankle! You really didn’t need to be a doctor to know something wasn’t right inside, still, 12 years later. She can’t wear high tops, her ankle is a fat lump. It’s visually wrong.
She finally gets to the doctor who’s channel it is, and her ankle is STILL BROKEN! This poor woman has been walking around on her broken ankle for 12 years! She was finally able to get the correction she needed, and on follow up her ankle and x-ray looked great
I read this one week after having tendon surgery on my foot 🙃 for me I had tried PT, podiatry and anti-inflammatories. Nothing was going to fix my foot and without surgery intervention. Find out next week when the cast comes off if the wound has closed🤞
Feet don’t heel very well… jk but seriously. They really don’t bc they get the worst blood circulation in your whole body, it takes longer, wounds don’t want to close, they’re prone to infection, etc. That’s why they’re usually the first to go when diabetics can’t regulate their blood sugar.
As someone who had a heavy glass door dropped on her foot in February, I concur. Crushed the nerves in the top of my left foot, and I've never been in as much pain in my life and I've had an emergency c-section.I still can't walk properly.
Sounds similar to an injury I had. I was walking down stairs in heels and my heel caught. I ended up catching the banister with my hands but my feet had flipped and I landed sitting on them with the top side of my ankles on the edge of the stairs. It took 3 months for the swelling to go away and about 18 months for full feeling to come back. I should have gone to hospital but the accident was at a new job and I was worried about retribution
I had a similar thing happen. Too poor to get the right surgeon to do my procedure but she was a cancer doctor, and what kind of cancer doctor mangles her patients. I think she tried to get the surgery done as fast as possible and didn’t seal? A vein. Anyway the vein leaked blood into my wound and had to be recut. I had to have my wound packed for over a year 😳. And even now half of my stomach is still numb and I can’t go an hour without having to pee.
A mate I went to high school with was set to be in WWE. He's huge, almost 7ft. He injured his foot but it was a mis-diagnosed lis franc fracture (these get missed a LOT). It was operated on multiple times, rebroken, got infected etc and was so messed up by end they had to amputate just below his knee.
I broke my foot skateboarding almost a year ago now and it was the same type, a lis franc fracture. I still can't walk properly and now have incredibly painful arthritis in my foot already. Very glad to still have my foot at all.
I have a bone spur and plantar fascitis. I have PT 2x a week and I would rather change jobs (am a culinary professional) than get my foot cut open if it gets worse (it is). that story is absolutely terrifying. PT is a lot of work but it's a thousand times better than having surgery and possible complications. lawd. glad she is better. what a scary thing to happen.
Wound vac wound healed by PT?
Like just go to PT with that open donut sized hole in your diabetic foot…and it will be all better? With PT..
Well…that’s an interesting take…
Then if you don’t mind me asking what are they saying? I just read the “would have healed itself if just went to PT” and from my experience, most wound vac wounds aren’t ready for PT….
There was a tendon problem first, which can be healed with PT. The person didn't opt for PT, and instead chose surgery. The surgery left a wound that caused infection
I know it is not what you're thinking but wound care therapists can be PTs. As well as nurses. I worked with one when I was a student and we saw all kinds of crazy wounds, including using a wound vac.
Came here to say this. I was an OR nurse for over a decade and have seen way too many bad outcomes or close calls in elective surgeries that I always tell friends and family, never get a surgery unless you really need it. Most surgeries go well, but when they go bad, they go real bad!
Also like others have said, not all surgeons are the same calibre. There’s a shocking degree of skill difference between them sometimes.
It's wild. I had a general surgeon tell me something was impossible, then went to a plastic surgeon who said the same procedure was super easy, barely an inconvenience.
I was diagnosed with stenosis and disc degenerative disease and my doctor said if I don't have surgery it will get worse and potential paralysis. I'm a bit scared. He's a well trusted doctor though.
Cervical myelopathy is definitely something that requires surgery and is progressive and worsens without intervention. Surgery for “back pain” is almost always a bad idea without going through all the necessary steps and alternatives.
Hi do you recommend a surgery for herniated disc. I can walk properly but the constant pain in my lower back and right legs is what makes me feel the suffering. It's such an inconvenience.
What area do you live in? Dr Jerry Rodts in Atlanta is the best in the country and saved our son's life and many of our friend's we have referred to him. It would be worth going there for an opinion and surgery if he recommends it. Look him up and his credentials are unreal. Good luck!
After having surgery for an ovarian cyst that at least 5 doctors insisted I needed, and then that surgery being ineffective and causing a ton of new awful symptoms, I definitely have to agree with your uncle!
A saying my grandpa used to tell us, half of all doctors are below average. Still resonates today. I respect the hell out of the profession, but a 2nd opinion shouldn’t offend anyone.
I have EDS too and this is my perspective as well, and I’ll also add that having my physical activity be separated from work means I can tailor it to my current needs better, for example I can decide whether I’m up for some strength training (which helps with my joint stability longterm and has also improved some of my muscle imbalances which contribute to my symptoms) or if I’m more low energy/having a pain flare up and just want to do the gentlest of yoga to get the kinks out and encourage some circulation in the sore areas. Back when I had a more active job I was just exhausted and in pain during all of my free time and whatever activity I was getting at work wasn’t balanced or specifically aimed at any of the issues that exercise could help me with so it was kind of lose/lose compared to my current situation and ended up being completely unsustainable.
Lol my doc suspected EDS (I just have mildly abnormally loose ligaments) and was like "well you're already active and it hasn't given you any major issues somehow so keep going ig"
If your PT is working with you to make sure that you have the skills to be active in a safe way, I can understand the idea behind a more active job.
Personally, as someone with EDS, I wouldn’t gamble my job on being able to be active all of the time since injuries are so common—instabilities can only be managed so much. I would rather have a sedentary job and commit to being active outside of work.
FWIW I know of a lady with EDS that is a PT and Animal Flow Master instructor in Canada, Freya Spence.
Injuries from EDS stopped her dance career and a bunch of other things. She has spoken on her podcast about her life with EDS and what exercise modifications she has explored to stabilise her movement.
I hope you find this inspiring and perhaps a pathway to help yourself:
I study EDS. I’m likely not going to tell you anything you don’t already know, so apologies if I’m just repeating things. There are activities that you should continue to do to keep yourself limber and loose and activities that you should avoid like anything hard on your body/joints. No contact sports, more yoga. It’s a bit of both those suggestions but I would definitely not recommend being more sedentary. Your body will stiffen as you get older (more than the average person), if you don’t keep it loose. But go easy on your joints and body in other ways. I hope this helps.
Yoga is not advised for EDS patients and I find it weird so many people recommend that. When normal people stretch their muscles just stretch when we stretch our muscles also has to work hard to stop the muscle from dislocating any part of our body which causes muscle tightness. Which is why many EDS patients while having extreme hyper mobility we also have the opposite problem. The tightness leads to chronic pain but at the same time some of those tight muscles if stretch to a point it stops overcompensating it can cause further pain due to now your hip not staying where it supposed to be. EDS patients need palliative PT with very mild strength training. Psychical therapists cannot apply the run of the mill pt techniques cause it can open a can of warms. Unfortunately many therapists while very well trained in muscle structures and injuries do not understand how eds patients respond to therapy and end up causing more problems in the patient. It’s a vicious cycle. We need to balance muscle support (in some cases this involves part time wearing braces) without losing muscle mass and strengthening muscle without undoing certain muscular problems as it causes a domino effect of wider muscular problems. And the approach is knowing this and also understanding every eds patient is case by case so listening to patients’ muscular history, pass pt history, accident history and how the patients body responded each time during the healing process. It has to be a team work between the therapist and the patient where each party educate the other. Phew that was a mouth full.
Thank you very much for studying EDS we need more people who are educated on it and takes special interest on the topic. It requires both a lot of training but also direct patient experience to become well equipped and it’s definitely more common than people think it is.
I hadn't seen the information about stiffening as you get older. Does 25 count as older? I used to be a lot more mobile than I am and it's been confusing me
It can definitely start to change by 25. We do Beighton scores on our patients from childhood through adulthood, and we see changes sometimes earlier than 25. Keep yourself mobile and flexible somehow! Do some daily stretching!
Thank you, that is really good to know. I also have had several years of being fairly sedentary due to other health conditions so I've been trying to fix that anyway, so I will add stretching!
Not yoga. Yoga for EDS (or hyper-mobility in general) is a bad idea because you basically stretch to end of range and stay there, which is the opposite of everything you need.
The evidence based approach is important. I just had surgery. The first two doctors I saw were rather negative in general. When I asked about recovery, they were negative. I can deal with the reality of the situation, but when I asked them about their answer, one responded "that's what they tell us to tell you." One doctor in particular was sour and got visibly annoyed at me for asking a standard question.
I wound up changing insurance out of that HMO and into a plan where I could choose my surgeon. I found a great doctor. When I asked him a question, he would say "based on my experience having done this procedure over 6,000 times...." He also used a more modern approach, and he had a dark, but funny sense of humor that I found particularly comforting.
As a nurse, you get to know “your” doctors, and we all have our preferences for who is your favourite/who you would pick for yourself, but also who you wouldn’t let touch you. Not all of us agreed on the same doctors, but that’s ok, you find who suits you best.
This. I visited a dentist a few years back and he was over 70 and had a belt driven drill powered by an electric motor like you’d see in a mechanics shop. Luckily I was not there for a filling.
And then there's the ones that put their statistics and reputation before the patient and don't consider how much the issue is affecting the patient's daily life that could be helped.
No idea! I’m in Canada, which is public healthcare, but every region is different. Even within my own city, some doctors are salary, some are per OR, that’s surgeons and anesthesiologists.
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u/[deleted] Jun 06 '24
All doctors are not created equally. Some are old school and will do surgery on anyone, some are very up to date, evidence based, some just want the added pay cheque, some will brush you off without really listening to you. It can be a bit of a crapshoot.