Doctor Doctor

Reasons why we've been going to the doctor the past months:

To the EENT Doctor. This was after summer. Summer means too much swimming which means being  susceptible to swimmer's ear like my kids. Read more about swimmer's ear here. The kids needed to have their ears cleaned by a doctor after a week or two of ear drop application at home to soften the wax. 

The doctor's advice: have kids' ears cleaned at least every 6 months by a doctor to ensure clean ears  especially a) if they swim a lot and b) kids ears need to be cleaned carefully and thoroughly. The use of cotton swab can push some of the wax further down the ear canal so a doctor's expertise is needed to clean the ears good. 

Honestly, I'm curious about ear candling for adults. Has anyone tries it? Is it effective? 

Now, I know I need to buy ear plugs as well when the kids start their swimming lessons again. I also bought this ear cleaner with flashlight since cotton swabs are no longer recommended for ear cleaning. This is less than P100 per set. 

photo source  

After the ear draining sesson, the little boy wouldn't have his ears cleaned at home anymore. He wants the doctor to do it. He said it tickles and he enjoyed it so much. Haha!

As for me, here I am visiting the physical therapist again (I'm a suki of PT sessions, thank God for health care insurance) and this time was recommended to also see an Orthopedic doctor. 

Here's the story. 

I went to my usual PT doctor because of a recurring back pain. I was prescribed with 6 sessions of physical therapy including ultrasound, heat application and exercises concentrated on the painful area.

During my first session with the PT, the exercises caused more pain that radiated to my left arm. I have a recurring shooting pain in my left arm as well. 

To make the long story short, the therapists suggested we discontinue PT sessions since pain during therapy is not a good sign. The sessions should relieve me and not cause more pain. I consulted an Orthopedic doctor who gave me instructions to have an xray. I also saw a doctor who specializes in muscular rehabilitation. 

Here's my xray result. I have cervical spine straightening. 

See how straight my neck is? It should be bent a little forward or have more curve. Plus, I have bone spurs which the doctor explained as, additional bone growth which meant that I could've experienced trauma or injury at some point in my life. My body healed from such trauma and the result was additional growth of bones or bone spurs. With the bone spurs, my cervical spine is kinda crowded now and causes friction which causes the pain. At least, that's how I understood it. 

Honestly, I cannot recall any type of injury in my 30 something years of existence so I don't know what caused this. 

During my own research on the web, here are the major causes I found:

1. head injury/trauma - NA

2. bad posture - slightly guilty...

3. stress - this is my middle name

4. smoking - okay but just occasionally and occasions are rare now

5. usually occurs in adults 40 above - so my doctor wondered why I have this problem. Me too, doc. 

I figured stress is the number one factor plus the fact that I, on most times, sit on my office chair for hours without even noticing it. 

Also, I guess too much backpacking activities, too many sports to last me a lifetime, to much partying when I was single could be some of the reasons as well. My body got a beating from lifestyle then. Wear and tear as they say. Nobody can keep me still in one place, even now. 

Anyway, back to my consultation, I was given 2 pages of physical therapy prescription which includes ultrasound, exercises and traction. The traction aims to stretch my bones and add spaces in between disks to lessen the friction, and, (hopefully) resolve the pain. As for the bone spurs, I'm hoping and praying it will just go away.
But now, I feel the fruits of the pt sessions. The pain is less and I can do more physical work without the shooting or radiating pain.

When my therapist asked how my office desk setup is, I described it to her. Something like this but my PC has more height. This is a no no pala:



The typical typing position should be like this. Now I need to make use of the pullout keyboard.

photo credit

I'm glad the kids visit the doctor less (knock on wood) nowadays. I'm just thankful they're healthier now than when they were younger. Now it's mommy's turn to take care of herself. 

When was the last time you visited to doctor?