I Can't Go To The Doctor Without Months Of Thought, But I Can Go Right To Doctor Google And/Or My Blog And Ask The Internet What To Do. Also, I Just Want To Attract Foot Fetish Google Hits To My Blog, Because I Am Short On Entertainment This Week.

Until the last year and a half, I have never been the sort who goes to the doctor for much of anything.  I have been lucky to be a really healthy person, and as I was raised in a family where a cold or the flu is never a reason to waste time going to the doctor, I simply don’t go.  I get a typical annual exam every few years, but that’s it.

But this year, because of all the hospital bills I’ve incurred since my original stay in January, I am going to be able to claim my medical expenses as itemized deductions on my tax return.  It sucks that my medical care has cost so much, but yay for tax deductions!  As I’m coming up to the last few months of the year, I’m trying to front-load any “normal” medical stuff I have yet to do, since I won’t likely get to take medical expenses as a tax deduction every again (knock on wood).  I have set up a dentist appointment, and as soon as I get up the energy to seek out a midwife/NP I also plan to have a standard annual exam.

But, see, there is this Other Thing that I don’t know what to do with.  It isn’t gross at all, just somewhat painful.  For the last couple of months, every step I take, my heel hurts.  Well, both of them, really, but mostly the left one.  It is worst after I’ve been sitting for a while, but it persists all day.  I work a desk job, so it isn’t like I’m on my feet all day.  And I commute in nice athletic shoes, not dress shoes, so that shouldn’t be a problem either.

Doctor google seems to think that the most likely issue is either plantar fasciitis or heel spurs.  Both are more common in “middle aged adults”, which as a 29 year old I am not, but the descriptions are very, very accurate.  Ultimately the treatments for both boil down to stretching exercises and arch/heal support inserts for shoes, so no big deal.

My decision then is to either go the route I would usually take, inventing my own stretches and using gel inserts from Target (I’d be gellin’!) and only going to the doctor seven or eight months from now if the pain became unbearable, or go to the doctor now and learn proper stretching techniques and get proper shoe inserts right away.

I see that the doctor approach sounds perfectly reasonable, and yet I feel really stupid going to the doctor with a complaint of “Hey Doc, it hurts when I do this.”  Don’t they always answer with, “Well, then don’t do that.”?  That doesn’t work so well when that = walking.  Also, since I don’t have a primary care doctor, should I find a podiatrist?  I have good insurance, so that shouldn’t be a problem, but I have to say I feel really silly going to the doctor for this.

99% of the time I’m glad my parents raised me not to be the sort to run to the doctor for every single ache and pain in the world, but I do need to find a happy medium where I don’t second-guess every decision to consult a medical professional.