SwampMD

[Steve of phpBB]

So for the first time in my life, the doctor switched from "you should probably lose some weight" to "you have to lose weight."

Bummer. Told me I need to lose 50 pounds and 6-10 by a followup in two months.

Never get older.

Doctors don't know anything.

[A_B]

I've been fighting a stupid dry cough for a while and finally broke down to see the doctor(Look, it's hard to get to the doctor...he's all the way down on the first floor!) and these were his words: "you aren't contagious, just aggravating."

Wife confirms.

[DaveInSeattle]

Never get older.

Have we got a virus for YOU!

[mister d]

Costochondritis?

[rass]

Took a couple of clicks but learned that it can be a side-effect of syphilis, so take care of that first and your chest should feel better.

[Johnny Carwash]

So for about a month I've had a minor but persistent pain in one elbow. It doesn't hurt to the touch, and there aren't any outward signs of swelling or bruising, but it's always there whenever I lift more than a small amount of weight in that arm.

I've looked up things like tendinitis and bursitis, but they don't sound quite the same. Considering it's not a time for non-critical doctor visits, any idea what this might be and what I could do about it?

[brian]

Bone spur?

[P.D.X.]

So for about a month I've had a minor but persistent pain in one elbow. It doesn't hurt to the touch, and there aren't any outward signs of swelling or bruising, but it's always there whenever I lift more than a small amount of weight in that arm.

I've looked up things like tendinitis and bursitis, but they don't sound quite the same. Considering it's not a time for non-critical doctor visits, any idea what this might be and what I could do about it?

Sounds like tendonitis. This is an easy remedy:

[Sabo]

Where is the pain in the elbow? That will help us diagnose you.

[Johnny Carwash]

Where is the pain in the elbow? That will help us diagnose you.

Pain is centered on a point just to the right (outside) of the point of the elbow. Only hurts when I extend the arm a certain way and/or try to lift something.

[sancarlos]

You might need to stop emailing your brother for awhile.

[Sabo]

Sounds like you might have tricep tendonitis. Stretch your upper arm and shoulder for the next couple of days and see if that helps.

[Steve of phpBB]

Only hurts when I extend the arm a certain way and/or try to lift something.

Don't do that.

[brian]

I may or may not have discovered a bottle of Tramadol prescribed to our previous dog and decided to take a couple.

[Pruitt]

Only hurts when I extend the arm a certain way and/or try to lift something.

Don't do that.

Henny Youngman lives!!

[cerrano]

So, since late February, I have been getting a pain in my lower left left leg, on the left side of the leg. It’s a throbbing deep pain that comes and goes with no rhyme or reason. It hasn’t prevented me from exercising and usually disappears when I’m walking or running, which I didn’t start doing in earnest until probably March 20th. It’s only my left leg and when the pain comes, it throbs on and off (I know that sounds redundant) for hours, but it doesn’t necessarily keep from sleeping or wake me up. It has gotten worse over the last few days but I was able to do 15,000 steps today running/walking and am icing down now. Is this the worst shin splint ever? This pain is shin area about 70% down from
The knee to the ankle.

[govmentchedda]

If it's muscular, I'd try and do some tibialis raises to strengthen that area.

[cerrano]

If it's muscular, I'd try and do some tibialis raises to strengthen that area.

Thanks Chedd. I’ll give it a try.

[A_B]

Can anyone explain how the fuck GoodRx works? My insurance denied a drug but it would be $210 for us to get it. But there was a GoodRx coupon and we got it for $12 by going through "Cash" option. Who's footing that difference or not pocketing that difference, maybe?

[HaulCitgo]

Pharmacy as I understand but I don't really understand.

[wlu_lax6]

How Does GoodRx Work?
Using the service is simple enough.

If you plan on paying without insurance, just go to the GoodRx website and type in your medication.

GoodRx then shows a list of cash prices and coupons at participating pharmacies near your location, which you can print or save on the GoodRx app.

Then, similar to using a coupon at the grocery store, you just present the coupon at the pharmacy counter when you pick up your prescription.

How Does GoodRx Make Money?
According to their site, GoodRx makes money from advertisements on their site and referral fees.

These referral fees are based on the number of GoodRx coupons that are used at a pharmacy.

In recent years, the company has also began offering a premium membership program called GoodRx Gold.

This includes a monthly membership fee of $5.99 for individuals and $9.99 for up to six family members.

The plan promises to save customers even more money with over 1,000 medications for under $10 each.



Do Pharmacies Lose Money With GoodRx?
The sad reality is that many pharmacies lose money when they accept GoodRx.

Prescription margins are already razor thin and the referral fee from GoodRx likely puts them in the red.

So why do they do it?

Well, for some pharmacies, the idea is that by accepting GoodRx a pharmacy will attract more customers to their business, which gives the pharmacy a chance to sell other non-prescription products and potentially earn future business from that customer

And so, despite the pharmacy losing money on the individual prescription, the hope is that the additional business will make up for it.

This is also why many independent, non-chain pharmacies won’t or hate to accept GoodRx. The majority of their revenue comes from prescription medications.

Unlike a CVS or Walgreens, when an independent pharmacy loses money on an individual prescription, it is unlikely they will be able to offset the loss by selling convenience store products (i.e. greeting cards, snacks, etc.).

This can really hurt smaller pharmacies who are unable to absorb these types of losses.

[duff]

Started having terrible pain in my right hand yesterday. Just thought it was from being on the computer all day and moving the mouse around and clicking and stuff on the intrawebs. By last night I was in excruciating pain. Iced it for a total of two hours last night. No help. X-tra strength Tylenol. A bit of help. Feels like lava flowing through my lower forearm to wrist to pinky finger.

Got in to see the doc today and he said I most likely had gout. Got put on some steroids. Going to see how it feels after 6 days.

Anyone else ever deal with gout in the wrist area? I know some of you fools have dealt with it in the feets/toes.

[tennbengal]

Sounds like Carpal Tunnel issues...

[Steve of phpBB]

Emailing your brother a lot, right?

[duff]

Sounds like Carpal Tunnel issues...

That is what I thought, but he didn't think that because of where my pain is located.

[duff]

Emailing your brother a lot, right?

I prefer a stranger do it and make sure my left hand has gone to sleep before emailing.

[Giff]

I've unofficially been diagnosed with gout and don't ever recall it happening in the hand. But now that you mention it, there have been some very random pains right below the thumb that I chalked up as carpal tunnel making its intro.

[tennbengal]

Any scratches or abrasions in that wrist or hand area? Gout in wrist can happen but is pretty rare compared to big toe. Like, only seen in 10% of cases. I had a med mal case we settled where the clinic told our client he had gout without including cellulitis on the differential (he had abrasions in his hand). Turns out he had cellulitis and it left him with some permanent damage as it went unchecked until it was caught and treated about a week later.

[bfj]

Anyone else deal with osteoarthritis? Heberden's Nodes suck. My fingers hurt like a mofo.

[Pruitt]

Anyone else deal with osteoarthritis? Heberden's Nodes suck. My fingers hurt like a mofo.

About a month ago, I suddenly had a small bump on the top joint of one of my thumbs. Until this very moment, I was certain that it was a ganglion.

Great...

Have a zoom call with my Doctor in a couple of weeks. In the meantime - more glucosamine.

[A_B]

Been dealing with some shoulder pain for about a month now. Doc tried steroids, which helped a bit but a week after the regimen pain is worse than before. Cut the grass Saturday and shoulder was on fire by the time I was done. Got sent for an x-ray today. They just wrote an order on a prescription pad and told me i didn't need to make an appointment just walk in, so I figured I was in for a bunch of hassle. Nope. Hour and five minutes from leaving my desk back to it and included a stop for a sandwich on the way back. Well-oiled machine.

[Gunpowder]

So for about a month I've had a minor but persistent pain in one elbow. It doesn't hurt to the touch, and there aren't any outward signs of swelling or bruising, but it's always there whenever I lift more than a small amount of weight in that arm.

I've looked up things like tendinitis and bursitis, but they don't sound quite the same. Considering it's not a time for non-critical doctor visits, any idea what this might be and what I could do about it?

I had this forever. Turns out it was a carpal-tunnely pain that was being caused by my computer chair being too low. Yours sounds a bit different but worth considering.

EDIT: NM, that was last April.

[Gunpowder]

Been dealing with some shoulder pain for about a month now. Doc tried steroids, which helped a bit but a week after the regimen pain is worse than before. Cut the grass Saturday and shoulder was on fire by the time I was done. Got sent for an x-ray today. They just wrote an order on a prescription pad and told me i didn't need to make an appointment just walk in, so I figured I was in for a bunch of hassle. Nope. Hour and five minutes from leaving my desk back to it and included a stop for a sandwich on the way back. Well-oiled machine.

In my experience, xrays are usually really easy since a ton of doctors have them. MRIs however are a long and annoying afternoon.

[A_B]

Been dealing with some shoulder pain for about a month now. Doc tried steroids, which helped a bit but a week after the regimen pain is worse than before. Cut the grass Saturday and shoulder was on fire by the time I was done. Got sent for an x-ray today. They just wrote an order on a prescription pad and told me i didn't need to make an appointment just walk in, so I figured I was in for a bunch of hassle. Nope. Hour and five minutes from leaving my desk back to it and included a stop for a sandwich on the way back. Well-oiled machine.

In my experience, xrays are usually really easy since a ton of doctors have them. MRIs however are a long and annoying afternoon.

Yeah I have that to look forward to if the xray doesn't show anything.

[Johnny Carwash]

So for about a month I've had a minor but persistent pain in one elbow. It doesn't hurt to the touch, and there aren't any outward signs of swelling or bruising, but it's always there whenever I lift more than a small amount of weight in that arm.

I've looked up things like tendinitis and bursitis, but they don't sound quite the same. Considering it's not a time for non-critical doctor visits, any idea what this might be and what I could do about it?

I had this forever. Turns out it was a carpal-tunnely pain that was being caused by my computer chair being too low. Yours sounds a bit different but worth considering.

EDIT: NM, that was last April.

This ended up going away after 2-3 months by the way. It was weird.

[Gunpowder]

Been dealing with some shoulder pain for about a month now. Doc tried steroids, which helped a bit but a week after the regimen pain is worse than before. Cut the grass Saturday and shoulder was on fire by the time I was done. Got sent for an x-ray today. They just wrote an order on a prescription pad and told me i didn't need to make an appointment just walk in, so I figured I was in for a bunch of hassle. Nope. Hour and five minutes from leaving my desk back to it and included a stop for a sandwich on the way back. Well-oiled machine.

In my experience, xrays are usually really easy since a ton of doctors have them. MRIs however are a long and annoying afternoon.

Yeah I have that to look forward to if the xray doesn't show anything.

I bet it won't for a shoulder.

[A_B]

Been dealing with some shoulder pain for about a month now. Doc tried steroids, which helped a bit but a week after the regimen pain is worse than before. Cut the grass Saturday and shoulder was on fire by the time I was done. Got sent for an x-ray today. They just wrote an order on a prescription pad and told me i didn't need to make an appointment just walk in, so I figured I was in for a bunch of hassle. Nope. Hour and five minutes from leaving my desk back to it and included a stop for a sandwich on the way back. Well-oiled machine.

In my experience, xrays are usually really easy since a ton of doctors have them. MRIs however are a long and annoying afternoon.

Yeah I have that to look forward to if the xray doesn't show anything.

I bet it won't for a shoulder.

Doctor, too but the chain of procedures has to be x ray first.

[Gunpowder]

Been dealing with some shoulder pain for about a month now. Doc tried steroids, which helped a bit but a week after the regimen pain is worse than before. Cut the grass Saturday and shoulder was on fire by the time I was done. Got sent for an x-ray today. They just wrote an order on a prescription pad and told me i didn't need to make an appointment just walk in, so I figured I was in for a bunch of hassle. Nope. Hour and five minutes from leaving my desk back to it and included a stop for a sandwich on the way back. Well-oiled machine.

In my experience, xrays are usually really easy since a ton of doctors have them. MRIs however are a long and annoying afternoon.

Yeah I have that to look forward to if the xray doesn't show anything.

I bet it won't for a shoulder.

Doctor, too but the chain of procedures has to be x ray first.

I know. That's pretty much how it is for everything.

[DaveInSeattle]

Gout! Fuck!

Thing is that I've cut way back on my drinking....only on friday/saturday nights...maybe a beer while making dinner, and then a couple of glasses of wine with dinner.

But then last night after dinner, could feel it starting up.

[EnochRoot]

I was wondering if I had contracted gout earlier this past week. But then I remembered how I stumbled a bit on a cobblestone street in Fells Point last week.

"Must've sprained my toe."