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From: osmigo1@ut-ngp.UUCP (Ron Morgan)
Newsgroups: sci.med
Subject: Re: Calcium deposits (question)
Message-ID: <4288@ut-ngp.UUCP>
Date: Wed, 12-Nov-86 01:33:33 EST
Article-I.D.: ut-ngp.4288
Posted: Wed Nov 12 01:33:33 1986
Date-Received: Wed, 12-Nov-86 03:21:29 EST
References: <3573@columbia.UUCP> <4271@ut-ngp.UUCP> <1306@ttrdc.UUCP>
Reply-To: osmigo1@ngp.UUCP (Ron Morgan)
Organization: Speech Communication UT Austin
Lines: 40

In article <1306@ttrdc.UUCP> levy@ttrdc.UUCP (Daniel R. Levy) writes:
>In article <4271@ut-ngp.UUCP>, osmigo1@ut-ngp.UUCP (Ron Morgan) writes:
>>Injections, etc. are made into the sac enclosing the joint, and the slightest
>>infection can result in *amputating* the limb. I've seen it happen.
>
>I thought that kind of thing happened mainly back in the time before anti-
>biotics (but that was also the time before cortisone shots, too, wasn't it?).
>Is it still common?  It seems to me that getting a cut on one's finger could
>also result in losing one's arm, but that the chances would be slim. 

Let me state first off that I'm not an expert in medicine, although I've spent
many years working in hospitals and other medical settings. The above infor-
mation was given to me by two experienced Registered Nurses, both with
Master's degrees. 

The "little cut on the finger" is a surface accident. It doesn't approach any
critical tissue areas, and can be easily cleaned and treated. In the case of
a shoulder injection for tendonitis, however, you're talking about infection
starting up 2 or 3 inches beneath the skin, directly *ON* the joint's moving
surfaces, in the immediate vicinity of major CNS objects, bone marrow, etc.
Systemic infection is clearly a possibility, including the lymph apparatus.
If you've ever had this done, you might have noticed (I hope) that before
making the injection, they scrubbed the **** out of your entire shoulder area
with an iodine formula, instead of the usual alcohol swab. This is why. 

Another reason I was alarmed at the post was that he treated apparent 
tendonitis (remember, "-itis" means "inflammation") with acupuncture, with
no results, and then, upon switching to a tentative (sigh) diagnosis of
"calcium deposits," decided to use anti-inflammatory drugs for the CALCIUM
DEPOSITS! Am I in error, or is this physician bananas?

Ron Morgan
Communication Disorders
Univ. of Texas @ Austin
  
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