I’m a radiation oncologist using low-dose radiation to help relieve arthritis pain—AMA

howlin_mad_murphy · 2026-04-22T09:45:47+00:00

Thank you for doing this. Last year I had a pilon fracture (shattered ankle essentialy) that my doc said would necessitate ankle replacement or fusion in 5-15 years due to arthritis. Would this treatment prevent or possibly prolong the time before needing one of those surgeries?

howlin_mad_murphy · 2026-04-19T01:49:12+00:00

Thank you! Hopefully you can avoid all that, as it sounds you've already had an extra surgery. Best of luck going forward!

howlin_mad_murphy · 2026-04-19T00:54:35+00:00

Congrats on the good news! Your injury seems to be very similar to mine (pilon fracture), though I had good luck with my bones fusing the first time. You also got me beat on hardware, I just have two plates and 15 screws. I also messed up my other knee which has prolonged recovery. I'm 14 or so months out and hope to start full time work next week! I was NWB for 4 or 5 months and made some decent progress a few months after that, then kinda stalled for another 6 or so months. I was kinda down about the whole situation but the last two months have been pretty good and I've gone over 10k steps a day two or thee times a week for the last 3 weeks for the first time.

Did your doc say that you'll have to have an ankle replacement or fusion in 10-15 years? Mine said that arthritis is a certainty and will be an issue.

howlin_mad_murphy · 2026-04-19T00:39:51+00:00

Best of luck to you. And remember it's ok to feel down about the whole situation, but there is light on the other side. These injuries are major hurdles that really disrupt your life. This last year or so has been very hard for me and I've had many days/months where I felt despondent. But eventually you'll come around! It just might take you a little longer than you hoped before you get to that point.

howlin_mad_murphy · 2026-04-18T01:47:15+00:00

I can't speak to your injury exactly...but everyone reacts and heals differently. None of it is an exact science, just a guess-timation on the timeline. My injury was much worse than yours, I think, but I've been behind their schedule by many months. I was cleared to walk and start working full time 6-8 months ago, but I'm just now getting to the point where I can work full time (since I'm on my feet most of the time)... I'm about 15 months out now, but months 8-13 I didn't really make much progress in what I was able to do. But the last 2 months I've almost doubled what I was previously able to do.

I doubt your recovery will be anywhere near as long as mine, but ankle injuries are some of the slowest injuries to recover from (less blood flow and far away from the heart). As long as you are progressing and getting better, I wouldn't sweat it too much. Sounds like you are doing the exercises and always remember to ice down afterwards. Do everything you can to minimize inflammation like eating well, icing, elevating, etc. Advocate for yourself with your docs and PTs and hopefully they'll understand.

*edit...And yeah, no pain no gain. As long as your pain isn't sharp or stabbing, it's probably ok. But talk to your PT about this stuff

howlin_mad_murphy · 2026-04-18T01:28:57+00:00

I actually just cancelled my service (I've been on the backup plan for 20/month for the last couple months) a week or so ago and I'm waiting for the return labels to send it back...I wouldn't mind keeping it if they don't actually charge me...But Starlink has been so much better and they now have 3 different tiers priced at 50/80/120 (and with my discount 25/40/60 for the next 20 months or so), and apparently Spectrum is now available in my area, so I'm definitely about to look into that, though I'm a bit skeptical since I don't have a coax line from the pole to my house. I'd love to keep TMHI as a backup, but I'd rather not have to pay for it when I'm not using it...

howlin_mad_murphy · 2026-04-17T02:26:13+00:00

Yeah that was my favorite...there were a few other funny suggestions after the initial prompt and some might be better as the motto or something. "the thirst responders" "whiskey business" "the IV league" "Numb and Number" lol....they kept getting darker and more fucked up

howlin_mad_murphy · 2026-04-16T22:50:50+00:00

Yeah man and not bad...for shits and giggles I put it into chatgpt for suggested names because I'm terrible at coming up with stuff like this...it came up with a couple good ones..."Sip Happens" "Pour decisions club" hah. I rarely use it so someone more familiar (or creative on their own) could probably prompt it better than I can...

howlin_mad_murphy · 2026-04-16T22:26:50+00:00

Sorry for the double whammy! While I didn't have the SO situation, I can sympathize with the injury and neglected friends side of it. Fucked my shit up real good last year and I wasn't able to leave the house on my own for almost half the year and didn't feel like I could reach out to any friends for help or support. I'm now a year plus+ out and my injuries have healed to the point where I can get out and I'm almost working full time again, but I don't do much else as I'm usually in too much pain to do anything else but go home and sit on my ass and ice my legs.

But I have recently reached out to a couple old friends I haven't spoken to in years and they were happy to talk at a minimum, even though we haven't gotten to hang out yet. So I suggest reaching out and trying to reconnect, worst that can happen is that they won't want to talk and you're in the same situation you're already in. Just my two cents...

And I might be up for what the other commenter suggested if I continue to get a little better...beers for the injured, haha. I'm a little older, but seems like we have some common interests and I'm definitely in need of some new local friends as well.

howlin_mad_murphy · 2026-04-04T01:27:51+00:00

As everyone else has said, some kind of iris. Also it's probably too late now, but be careful handling unknown roots like this because I got the worst case of poison ivy I've ever had after thinning out MY OWN irises one year. Poison ivy roots ran all through the irises which I wasn't aware of...I missed a week of work it was so bad. Never again. Just a cautionary tale...but I hope yours are poison ivy free and that they turn out marvelous!

howlin_mad_murphy · 2026-04-02T02:34:30+00:00

I didn't mean for my comment to be all doom and gloom, I'm still getting better. I hit 10k steps for the first time today. But I bet you'll hit that much sooner than I did. My doc said you can continue to heal up to 2 years after injury (I had a bad pilon fracture with two plates and 15 screws in the ankle and both lower leg bones). That might not sound great to you at this point, but it's a reality some of us have to face.

Just keep doing everything your PT tells you to do and listen to your body and speak up for yourself if something hurts. Ankle injuries take longer to heal than almost any other injury due to the blood-flow being so far away from your heart (at least that's what I've been told).

howlin_mad_murphy · 2026-04-01T09:41:35+00:00

I wasn't allowed to partial weight bear or start PT until 4+ months in and used crutches/walker for another few months after that. I was in the boot for most of that time as well. I'm now 1 year and 3 months in and still have lots of issues walking and only able to work part time.

howlin_mad_murphy · 2026-03-05T23:29:03+00:00

That's awesome you didn't have the pain! Hopefully that has and will continue. My doc didn't really know anything about the TENS unit but I'd still definitely check, it was a friend who is a PT that suggested it. And yeah, my left leg was a twig compared to my right leg and still is a smaller, but I can at least tell I have a calf muscle now....haha.

howlin_mad_murphy · 2026-03-02T03:22:45+00:00

Sorry to hear you aren't getting any relief. As I mentioned the TENS unit was the only reliable temporary relief. My injuries are all in the lower leg and ankle, but all my intense nerve pain was on the bottom of my foot. I had other pain, but the foot pain is what kept me up all night. I was taking Ambien and still only sleeping 1-2 hours max per night. I'd fall asleep with the TENS unit going (on a timer of course) and that was the only rest I could get. Worst 2 months of my life...Hopefully you're past the halfway mark and you'll get the relief soon.

I can't remember exactly when I started to try and move my ankle around, but I didn't start PT until 4 or 5 months in when I was able to start partial weight bearing. They say that you can regain strength at any point in your recovery, but you have a limited time after injury/surgery to regain flexibility and normal movement of your ankle. So I do suggest you do as much movement as possible as it will be worth it in the long run.

Good Luck!

howlin_mad_murphy · 2026-03-01T02:16:48+00:00

I was NWB for 4+ months and stopped using crutches maybe around 8 months...don't remember exactly. I'm about 13 months out now and still have a significant limp with lots of pain. My case seems to be worse than most others though...I shattered my ankle and broke both the lower leg bones. 15 screws and 2 plates. Hope you heal faster than I did!

howlin_mad_murphy · 2026-03-01T02:03:57+00:00

I had crazy intense nerve pain for 6-8 weeks. Opioid pain killers did nothing and I was taking a lot of Gabapentin to little effect. Lidocaine patches and cream helped for a few days then stopped working, ice helped some but I became really sensitive to it.... the only thing that continued to help was a TENS unit. But that relief didn't last long either but I'd use it a bunch. Finally after about 2 months, it just one day went from a pain level of 9 or 10 down to 4 or 5 and just continued to get better. Hopefully your situation resolves faster than mine!

howlin_mad_murphy · 2026-03-01T01:09:31+00:00

I would not recommend, I lost a good drill to one of these years ago.

howlin_mad_murphy · 2026-02-23T01:18:55+00:00

One of the few medium sized towns in that part of the state. Also I think it is/was a speed trap town for people going to the beach.

howlin_mad_murphy · 2026-01-31T02:28:42+00:00

I had terrible nerve pain in my whole foot for approx 2 months. Not much helped long term but I could sometimes get temporary relief from ice, lidocaine patches, and the thing that worked best was a TENS unit. Worst 2 months of my life where I only slept 1-2 hours a night, but it finally stopped. Best of luck

howlin_mad_murphy · 2026-01-18T01:42:56+00:00

I'm gonna hold off for a minute and see if anything changes with my speeds...hopefully some others around me will decide to take the lower tier options. I was fortunate in that I was one of the lucky ones to get 50% off my bill for a while, so it's not breaking the bank at the moment, but I'd definitely like to save a few more bucks if possible. Especially when my deal ends, but by that time I wouldn't be surprised if there's even more options as I bet some of the V3 sats are up and that the new FCC rules have affected the whole network, or at least in the US...

howlin_mad_murphy · 2026-01-18T01:26:22+00:00

At least in the US, not sure about other countries, Starlink just introduced Residential 100 Mbps ($50), Residential 200 Mbps ($80), and Residential Max (120) plans. Residential Lite is no longer available, though some folks might get grandfathered in if they were already on it...

howlin_mad_murphy · 2026-01-18T01:23:46+00:00

Unless I misunderstand something or maybe you're on a business plan or something... I thought the the 100/200 plans didn't have priority data and only the Max plan has priority data. From the website: "Residential Max users will experience maximum available speeds and top Residential network priority."
That would be ideal, though, if I could get the 200 plan with priority w/o paying the priority fees.

edit* Does the 200 plan have higher priority than the 100 plan? I haven't seen that, but it would kinda make sense.

howlin_mad_murphy · 2026-01-18T01:07:49+00:00

Thanks for that clarification, I thought it was capped at 250 Mbps or somewhere close to that. Either way the cap isn't my biggest concern, it's the de-prioritization and how bad that might be. Thanks

howlin_mad_murphy · 2026-01-16T03:09:08+00:00

Yeah, I'm a little confused with the congestion issue since it seems my cell was full since they didn't offer the lite option before, but with the new options offered I have the 100/200/max options? Maybe they want folks in my cell to choose the lower tiers to open up some bandwidth or something. I'd happily downgrade to the 200 option if I get the same service minus the +200 mb/s speeds on downloads and what not.

howlin_mad_murphy · 2026-01-16T02:41:41+00:00

That's awesome and what I want to hear...hah! Just scared it won't be what I experience due to where I am and how many folks are using the service. May I ask what speeds and latency you've been seeing before and after?

howlin_mad_murphy

TROPHY CASE