My insurance company has a 24 hour health line. It connects you to a registered nurse where you can get your medical/health related questions answered. We have only had to use it one time when my son hit his head on the corner of a wall and a huge lump appeared (seriously it was like two inches long, it looked like a horn) and scared us to death. We wanted to know what to do, and if we should take him in to the doctor, so we called the Health Line and talked to the RN, free of charge. Good news, the RN asked a bunch of questions and told us to watch it for 24 hours. We saved a trip to the doctor.
So fast forward to this week. My foot has not been officially diagnosed with plantar fasciitis, but I'm 99.999% sure that's what it is. And, it has been nagging me for 2 months now. So, I decided to call the Health Line for some advice. I mostly wanted to know 1) is there is any home treatment I can do that I'm not doing now, and 2) do I need to go to a doctor.
I told the RN about my injury and what I've been doing (stretching, massaging, rolling my foot on a tennis ball, etc) and she asked if I had been icing the foot, which I had not. She also said that this injury lasts a few months to a year, but if it isn't getting better after 6 weeks I should go to a doctor. It has been getting better. Slightly better, but still better nonetheless. So, I am going to incorporate some ice into the routine, and hope for a quick recovery. There is a half marathon in September that I want to be ready for.
6 comments:
I found that freezing a plastic water bottle, putting it on the floor, and rolling my foot on that seemed to help a lot when I was having PF pain.
Im with Erin, frozen water bottle on the foot does wonders. That is a crappy injury - don't ignore it.
That's an excellent service that your insurance company provides! It's nice to call & check in with someone before making a decision to head to the ER/doctor.
Hope to see you well at the half! Get better!
i have this option with my health plan (well, i ought to still have it anyway!). never thought of using it like this (dunno why) but definitely a good resource. hope your foot responds to the ice treatment and starts feeling better.
wow whenver i call they just say oh we can't answer anything..and i wonder then what do you do all day
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