I've been remarkably healthy most of my life, but the last few years have been challenging. An old back injury has morphed into sciatica; I have mysterious hip and leg cramps that defy explanation; and I've had digestive issues most of my life but now they're troublesome.
The result of all this is that in 2010 I spent most of the year going from one specialist to another. I saw every 'ist' there was: neurologist, podiatrist, gastro-enterologist, gynecologist, dermatologist ... I saw spine doctors, stomach doctors. nerve doctors, foot doctors, bone doctors, all trying to figure out why I have such a messed-up pelvic region, because that's what it boils down to: all nerves in the body flow through the pelvic region and for some reason, my nerves are out of whack. I tried acupuncture, physical therapy, water therapy, chiropractic, holistic chiropractic ...
The end result? I still have cramps, but I think I have them under control by doing a series of stretches every day. I still have digestive issues, so I've bumped up my fiber intake. And I still have hip pain, and I use ice packs when it's bad and when it's really bad, I sleep in a chair.
This is SO useful -- I just hand them that sheet and the admitting nurse has everything he or she needs. It's especially useful since I moved to a new state and all of my records aren't centralized. When I started getting new doctors here, I just handed them "my" health history and away we went.
Like I said: there's a lot we can't control. But we can make life a little bit easier when we're going in for that procedure or exam or test.
