Another quick post about Eve, for documentation purposes.

For years she has been complaining of joint pain, and random other stuff. We (me, Alan, school nurse, doctors, etc.) told her it was probably growing pains. Last summer she had some blood work drawn that showed she had low iron and B12, so she started taking supplements. She didn’t notice any difference in the joint pain, or anything else really. This spring we went back to the doctor, then a different doctor, who started her on a low-dose anti-anxiety medication, unrelated to the joint pain, but something she feels she needs. She has been experimenting with different anti-anxiety meds, plus various hormones to help regulate her cycle, but still the joint pain continues. Finally the doctor referred her to a rheumatologist, whom we saw this week. After about two minutes, the rheumatologist diagnosed her with hypermobility, based on the way she was sitting cross-legged on the examination table. While this might seem like a good thing, or at least a diagnosis to move forward with, I have two reservations. First, the doctor said right near the beginning of the appointment that there are very high rates of hypermobility in “this area” (not sure what that means exactly), especially among teenagers, and that she and some colleagues were conducting research on it. It felt very much like the old adage, “when all you have is a hammer, everything looks like a nail.” My other reservation is that we have Googled hypermobility in the past and Eve really don’t meet very many of the criteria. The doctor even gave her a printout to read over, and Eve didn’t find anything, except joint pain, that matched her situation. The doctor said one hip wasn’t as mobile as the other and was concerned, so she sent Eve for a hip x-ray and more bloodwork. I checked the hospital portal yesterday and the x-ray had come back normal, as did most of the blood work. Some things looked a little low, so I’m waiting to hear back from the doctor on that. Or Dr. Rosy if I get around to texting her. :)

I think Eve is pretty flexible, but I’m not sure hypermobility is the answer to her problems. We’ll keep thinking.