Irrelevant Medical Question

[naudiz]

I just got back from the doctor's office. I've been having some hip pain, so I went in to get it checked out. He said he didn't think there was any structural damage (always good to hear) and that it was probably 'miasmic' pain. I was just happy it wasn't serious and left it at that.

It wasn't until I got home that I started to wonder: what the hell is miasmic pain? I've done a number of web searches, looked it up in the dictionary, even looked it up in a medical dictionary online, and I can't find anything even close to what I've got going on here.

So this is a long shot, but do any of you intelligent folks know what miasmic pain is? I might have misheard him. I guess I could call his office and ask, but it isn't a big deal. I'm just curious. I'm trying to figure out what pain has to do with swamp gas, and I'm drawing a serious blank here.

[Edited by naudiz on 12-14-2000 at 02:12 PM]

 

[Sparky Kronkite]

It's probably like when.......

I worked as an auto mechanic and told unknowledgeable (women usually) people...........

Welp, yep..... "Looks like yer Krovus has gone bad!"

Or......... Damn, ya know, your engine had the most twisted and damaged Schwetzle we've ever seen."

Or the infamous..... "Bad Canibbler bearings."

 

[Guest]

Join the Club!

 

[naudiz]

LOL!

Yeah, I gotcher bad canibbler bearings right here...

That's too funny. I love it.

 

[Unclebill]

Straight from my American Heritage Dictionary...

mi·as·ma (mº-²z“m…, m¶-) n., pl. mi·as·mas or mi·as·ma·ta (-m…-t…). 1. A noxious atmosphere or influence: “The family affection, the family expectations, seemed to permeate the atmosphere . . . like a coiling miasma” (Louis Auchincloss). 2.a. A poisonous atmosphere formerly thought to rise from swamps and putrid matter and cause disease. b. A thick, vaporous atmosphere or emanation: wreathed in a miasma of cigarette smoke. [Greek, pollution, stain, from miainein, to pollute.] --mi·as“mal or mi”as·mat“ic (mº”…z-m²t“¹k) or mi·as“mic (-m¹k) adj.

I hope this helps. It sounds to me like maybe pain resulting from a mild toxicity?

All the wierd characters didn't translate exactly in the cut/paste operation. They deal with pronounciation in the original.

 

[Oliver Clozoff]

An irrelevant answer

If your doctor told you that, Naudiz, maybe you ought to find a new doctor. As far as I know, the idea of "miasmic" disease went out as the modern science of medicine came in.

As Unclebill's definition states, a miasma is a "noxious vapor" to which medieval doctors attributed the spread of infectious diseases. It wasn't until the latter half of the 19th century that communicable diseases were caused by bacteria. Viruses weren't identified as disease causing agents until the early 20th century.

However, it didn't take modern scientific methods to recognize that diseases travel from place to place and from person to person. When the Plague hit Europe in 1249 and moved from the port cities inland, some theorized that the disease was carried by a "miasma", a foul cloud that would drift into town carrying disease. The idea's not that far-fetched when you really think about it, though. The real cause of the plague sounds just as far out: a tiny microscopic creature that lives in the belly of a flea that rides on the back of rats and enters your body through a flea bite before wildly multiplying inside you.

The disease we call Malaria gets its name from "mal" which means "bad" and "aria" which means "air": literally "bad air". Like Plague, it was thought Malaria was contracted by breathing in the hot, thick air of the tropics.

In my 2 and a half years of medical school I haven't heard reference to miasmic anything in modern medicine except as an allusion to these long disproven theories. I could be wrong though...

there's a lot of medicine I still don't know.

 

[Ezzy]

Maisma...

Or ill humour (bad air).

Just a thought but were you in an bad mood at the doctors?

Just so this is not taken seriously, the humour can refer to temper as well as air.


EZ http://cwm.ragesofsanity.com/s/cwm2/sleep.gif

 

[naudiz]

Miasma back in style?

Wow. Thank you for the information, Unclebill and Oliver Clozoff. That's pretty much what I was missing, but I'm still curious about the doctor's choice of words. Maybe the term is coming back into style. The problem with my hip is tricky. The hip itself is fine; there's nary a muscle torn nor a ligament stretched. As far as hips go, it's a dandy. However, for the past few days it has felt like someone is standing beside me smacking it with a sledge hammer about every four seconds.

Now, having chronic pain, I've come to expect and live with a certain level of aches and stiffness, but this was a little hard to tune out, and Advil wasn't even putting a dent in it. Hence, the doctor visit. He couldn't find any actual damage to the hip, so he says it's miasmic pain, which in the context sounded like pain with no damage associated with it - not uncommon with fibromyalgia. The little detail I was missing was to the reference of miasmas (miasmae?) in archaic medicine.

I wonder if the term is coming back into style. The past decade has seen a number of previously unstudied, barely heard of diseases involving chronic pain that, as far as understanding them goes, the medical community is still in the dark ages. Doctors know something is causing the symptoms, but they don't know what. May as well be noxious vapors until research and medical science advances enough to produce some answers.

Ezzy: Have I mentioned lately that you crack me up? Of course I was in a fine mood. I'm always a dazzling model of sweetness and light wherever I go (and if not, I at least make sure to hide the bodies ).

The saga has a happy ending. The doctor gave me something a little stronger than Advil, and it's working, so I'm feeling like my chipper little self again, without the sledge hammers.

 

[Gingersnap]

No offense but it sounds as if your doc gave you a off the cuff answer. Few things are as frustrating in medicine to treat as chronic pain. My suggestion to you is that you seek out a reputable pain clinic ask for a referral. You should not have to sacrifice quality of life to pain there are new kinds of treatments that can greatly improve your condition. If you have not done so please consider my suggestion. I hate to think of anyone in needless pain. Merry Christmas to you sir.

 

[Unclebill]

Gingersnap may well be onto something

With the chronic pain, getting a referral to somebody who specializes in that field may well be worth pursuing.

They tend to look beyond the obvious and common causes and may uncover some unusual bug or condition that the general practitioner overlooks much like some people are beginning to look at "chronic fatigue syndrome" as symptoms to be analyzed and treated rather than a syndrome you have to tolerate.

Good luck.

 

[naudiz]

I think he's a decent doctor for a GP, and on the state's health plan for insurance, even decent doctors are hard to get, but your point is well taken. Da boy and I were discussing in the waiting room how after the new year we could afford to look into some alternatives, like a pain clinic, for example. Sometime next spring or summer I'll be moving down to the Bay Area where there is work I can actually do, and that will open a lot of doors financially to explore other treatments most insurance won't cover.

I've heard of a relatively minor procedure that has worked for some people diagnosed with fibromyalgia wherein a significant number of patients experienced 100% recovery. I don't want to get any false hopes up because it isn't for everyone. My current insurance doesn't cover the procedure, but I'm so close to financial independence anyway, we'll see what happens. This isn't the end of the road, it's just the beginning. I've already made so many improvements just over the past few months, and things continue to get better. As for the hip flaring up: this too shall pass.

Though I'm a ma'am, not a sir, Merry Christmas to you, too.

I just had to take a gender-ambiguous name, didn't I.