Armed with information from UpToDate, Janet gets
treatment for osteomyelitis
“UpToDate provided me
with a tremendous short term education on osteomyelitis”.
For close to four years Janet, an educator from southern
California, had just not been feeling right. She felt sick all the
time, had very low energy and could not read for more than for five
or ten minutes without her eyes hurting. Janet had constant swelling
and pressure in her face. "It felt like there was a football in my
face," explained Janet.
In 2003, she knew something was really wrong and she began pursuing
medical treatment. She had a root canal done for a
necrotic tooth. She even went so far as to have the tooth extracted.
However, the swelling, malaise, and symptoms persisted. Janet saw a
number of physicians including ear, nose and throat specialists,
infectious diseases specialists, dentists, endodontists and oral
surgeons but was not able to get a clear diagnosis for her symptoms.
She was told nothing was wrong, or that it was nerve damage or scar
tissue stemming from a tooth extraction and/or trauma to her face,
but she continued to feel absolutely awful.
Janet mentioned her problems to a friend who was a physician
and he suggested she look at UpToDate. She suspected that
she had osteomyelitis, an acute or chronic bone infection, usually
caused by bacteria. Janet read UpToDate's topic on
Osteomyelitis
and learned that it is a condition that is often difficult to
diagnose.
“UpToDate gave me a
really good information base so we could have a two way dialogue and
that was tremendously helpful”.
"UpToDate provided me with a tremendous short term
education on osteomyelitis," said Janet. She goes on to explain,
"for example, I had been told by several doctors, that if the
erythrocyte sedimentation rate (ESR, a blood test of inflammation)
was not elevated it could not be an infection. I found out in UpToDate
that ESR is usually elevated but may be normal. I was also told by
the ID specialist that the osteomyelitis had not shown up in my blood work but I
found out in UpToDate that 50% of the time osteomyelitis
does not show up in blood work."
Janet also read UpToDate's topic on
Complications, diagnosis, and treatment of odontogenic infections,
which described the symptoms of jaw infections and how they can
spread. "One of the topics described how a lot of the swelling can
be inside the mouth and so it can be difficult to see from the
outside, and that applied to me," said Janet.
Armed with information from UpToDate Janet was able
to have more intelligent conversations with her doctors. "My goal
was to have a good dialogue with my physician," said Janet. "UpToDate
gave me a really good information base so we could have a two way
dialogue and that was tremendously helpful."
Janet was treated with antibiotics for osteomyelitis
and is feeling much better. "This experience was the toughest, most
difficult thing I have ever been through in my life and the UpToDate
web site was incredibly helpful."
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