Tuesday, July 06, 2004

Diagnosing

Used to be, when someone in the family felt ill, we'd pull out the old family medical guide and start the hunt for information. It was often right, and we'd have a good idea about how serious it was, what we could do for ourselves, and what to expect the doctor to do (if we had to go in at all).

These days, I get results just as good from web searches. It's quicker. Plus I can check three or four different sources for confirmation, which is reassuring.

Which is why I'm fairly confident that I have osteoarthritis of the thumb. I didn't even know thumbs and arthritis went together. Short of cortisone injections or surgery, my options are: ice and aspirin. (There are very few exercises for the thumb joint, although I did find one set.) And since the options are so limited, no need to see a doctor unless it gets bad enough for those types of treatments.

Besides, the old family medical book said pretty much the same thing.

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