Knee Follow-up

Many of you were worried about my knee situation. Here's the full report:

I was not insistent at my doctor's appt. and therefore did not get an appointment for x-rays to be taken. She assured me that there was no damage to the ligaments, although she did say that I have super flexible ligaments which she claimed to be the source of the pain: things are too lose in my knee and so my kneecap moves more than it should. She suggested cycling to strengthen my quads and thus tighten my knee ligaments. Sound advice. Cross-training is always good... But I just really wanted to be sure about all this. After my mom torn her ACL I have learned a lot about knee mechanics and it seemed to me that I had some damage to the meniscus or lose cartilage (I think a patient's auto-diagnosis can be a dangerous thing).

Anyway, we coughed up the money and got a second opinion from a doctor outside the social security system. I had an x-ray, and I have no apparent problem. The only difference in his diagnosis was that he prescribed condroitin to rebuild the cartilage and protect my knee. (Any of you who read the comments on my posts will notice that my dad recommended the same thing...) So really, I'm out 100+ euros for nothing, but you know, I feel much better about things.

The real trouble with the health care system here is that you get the feeling that you are your symptoms. Does that make sense?

When I went to the doctor here, she wiggled my leg around and then gave me her diagnosis and sent me away. She was right--I have no serious problem--and the second doctor told me the same thing: strengthen my quads. Still, the fact that my total visit was less than 10 min. with the first doctor didn't inspire much faith in what she had to tell me. On the other hand, the second doctor asked a lot of questions prior to examining my knee, did a the same wiggling on my leg, took an x-ray (just to rule out the possibility of meniscus, etc.) and then gave me the same advice after reviewing the x-ray. The x-ray was the only difference, yet I felt as though this doctor cared. I felt he was really taking the time to think and reflect on my particular situation. I am sure that he was 99% positive that everything was as it should be after he wiggled my leg around... but because I wanted an x-ray, and because it means more money for him, and because he wasn't operating under time constraints with too many patients and too little pay, he ordered one. And I was immediately comforted looking at my bones back lit by the fluorescent screen.

I think most doctors, especially after years practicing, can diagnose a person after only about five min. with 80-90% accuracy, but we patient's like to feel as though they're doting on us. We are sure that our symptoms are unique to us only and we like to feel as though the doctor's really taking the time to rule out that 1% chance (if it's even that high!) that our sore throat is due to some freakish cancer. So I think that even had I not gotten an x-ray from the second doctor, I would have left feeling much more confident about his diagnosis only because he was slow, asked a lot of questions and then used a lot of words to explain his diagnosis.

Interesting.