I may have broken my elbow
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Anonymous
| I mis-stepped going down steep curved stairs in the dark of night (trying to avoid lights because I didn't want to distub the children, dumb, I know) and landed on my arm as I was trying to protect my fall -- I'm 55 FWIW. But I don't want to go to the ER because I don't want the encounter in my medical record (don't trust the doctors). The bruising / swelling has spread from my elbow to my wrist after about four days. It's really ugly. The pain factor is negible, about a 5/6 of 10... I do have some mobility and I am ice packing the elbow and taking ibuprofin. What else can I do to help my elbow heal on its own? |
Anonymous
| Go to an immediate/urgent care, they have X ray machines and can handle this. Much cheaper…mine is $30/visit. |
Anonymous
You can go to an urgent care with an xray machine. Some orthopedic practics have urgent care so you can avoid the ER. https://www.orthovirginia.com/ortho-on-call/ Can't suggest anything else if you won't see a doctor. |
Anonymous
| If you broke your elbow, it needs to be set. This isn't a hairline fracture. |
Anonymous
| Is it just the ER you’re trying to avoid, or all doctors? You can go to a Patient First or similar for an x-ray. If nothing else, get a sling and immobilize it. I fractured my elbow from a fall a few years ago and it took forever to heal. It did a weird clicking thing for a full year and a half after the incident. Good luck! |
Anonymous
| Maybe you have had bad experiences with doctors before, but this is a situation where you need to go to a doctor for diagnosis and treatment. |
Anonymous
OP here -- I don't want any ER-type encounter going into their one-over-the-world-everyone-can-see-everything-about-you system because I've had some other ER visits in the past with broken bones. This was with INOVA... I am now with Kaiser so maybe it will be different. I don't know. |
Anonymous
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You sound paranoid. You need to see a Doctor. You can't heal this on your own. Well, you can but then you won't have any function in your elbow.
My BIL's MIL did exactly this for the exact same reason (paranoid of doctors). Now she can't bend her elbow. |
Anonymous
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Can you hold a five pound weight?
If no, go to your doctor. FYI, significant swelling is a definite sign of fracture. Bruising can happen with fractures and without. Pain of 5/10 sounds about right for a broken bone. I’ve had multiple fractures. If you have a broken bone, you will not be able to bear weight or do a twisting motion (ie, unscrew gas cap). I’m not a doctor, just sharing my experience with a badly broken wrist (obviously elbow is different). I had to have surgery to repair, BTW. |
Anonymous
| Op, are you worried they will think you were abused? Are you abused? If it is broken, you could lose function or have a blood clot. You can go to an orthopedist directly if you prefer that to an er and you can pay out of pocket. But a broken bone is serious and you should get it treated. |
Anonymous
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OP doctors are not the problem your elbow is.
Get help asap. |
Anonymous
| The stupidity of OP is really astounding. |
Anonymous
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OP go to urgent care now. Not the ER.
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Anonymous
Domestic violence… |
Anonymous
| If your elbow is broken, you really need to see a doctor and you’ll need PT after it heals. You risk losing range of motion if you don’t. |