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[Sappho]

I've got a couple of old scars on my arm - about 16 years old, actually - which have suddenly started hurting over the last few days. I've heard of this happening to scars that are a few months or even a couple of years old, but it seems odd that this is happening now. The scars haven't changed since I was a teenager.

At the same time, I've been having a lot of soreness in my knees lately. Now, this may well be simple "getting older" pains (oh god am I already old enough for that?), but the fact that it was happening at the same time as the scars on my arm were hurting made me wonder if there was some link. I did injure my both knees about ten years ago playing rugby, though I never found out exactly what the injury was because I refused to go to the doctor. I just stopped playing rugby and limped for a few months until the pain went away. It seems likely that there may be some kind of scar tissue in there. Is there anything (changing weather, hormonal changes, etc.) that might cause scar tissue around the body to be sore? Although if so, why don't my wrists and ankle (all full of scar tissue, wheeee!) hurt?

I know this probably sounds like a ridiculously analytical and nitpicky question, but, well, that's the type of brain I've got. I'm not at all worried about it, but it's interesting, a thing is happening that I don't understand, and I want to know WHY. And if there's anywhere on the online full of people who love analyzing random information for no good reason, I figure it's here. Hooray! Any insights?

[Urist Reborn]

Have you made any lifestyle changes recently, especially with respect to diet or physical activity?

[Sappho]

Hm... Well, I had a stomach bug a few weeks ago and didn't eat almost at all for a few days. Since then I definitely haven't been eating as much as I did before, just lost my appetite long-term I guess. Trying to eat healthier, and less meat (and more tofu/beans instead). And I've been trying to get more exercise, mostly long walks and some Kinect Sports and Dance Central on the Xbox. Which, of course, could certainly account for the sore knees - could it be related to the old scars hurting as well?

[Urist Reborn]

Hm... Well, I had a stomach bug a few weeks ago and didn't eat almost at all for a few days. Since then I definitely haven't been eating as much as I did before, just lost my appetite long-term I guess. Trying to eat healthier, and less meat (and more tofu/beans instead). And I've been trying to get more exercise, mostly long walks and some Kinect Sports and Dance Central on the Xbox. Which, of course, could certainly account for the sore knees - could it be related to the old scars hurting as well?

The exercise might contribute to the knees, but it doesn't sound terribly strenuous. Swimming is a good alternative it if turns out you need exercise that puts less stress on joints. If you're cutting out meat (and this is not an admonition, I'm pescetarian) you might be cutting out some important fats. I'd try intentionally eating more nuts/avocados/eggs/fish and seeing if that helps out at all with either the knees or scar tissue. In terms of things which may not address the cause, but still alleviate pain, you can try light massages or hot compresses on the scar tissue and see if it makes a difference.

[Bumber]

<Insert MGSV: The Phantom Pain reference here>

[ChairmanPoo]

For the record: Human flesh has all the nutrients, vitamins and proteins needed for healthy human activity.

Just saying...

[MetalSlimeHunt]

What are the scars like? If they contain a lot of keratinous tissue it might explain it, since it has almost zero elasticity and might be getting torn by movement.

[Sappho]

The exercise might contribute to the knees, but it doesn't sound terribly strenuous. Swimming is a good alternative it if turns out you need exercise that puts less stress on joints. If you're cutting out meat (and this is not an admonition, I'm pescetarian) you might be cutting out some important fats. I'd try intentionally eating more nuts/avocados/eggs/fish and seeing if that helps out at all with either the knees or scar tissue. In terms of things which may not address the cause, but still alleviate pain, you can try light massages or hot compresses on the scar tissue and see if it makes a difference.

I eat loads of eggs and the occasional tuna sandwich, and I try to eat avocados regularly but it's tough to find decent ones where I live. Actually, my knees have been okay since I wrote the first post. I suppose it's probably just a result of strain from exercise. Sadly I can't swim due to sensory issues. I'm pretty limited to just walking and video games for exercise. My body is kind of a jerk.

What are the scars like? If they contain a lot of keratinous tissue it might explain it, since it has almost zero elasticity and might be getting torn by movement.

I do not know what keratinous tissue is. The one scar which is hurting now, on my arm, is totally white, only slightly raised... Not sure how else to describe it. It was from a fairly deep cut, on my forearm. I was actually surprised when it became such an awful scar, and especially that it never went away even after now 16 years. I didn't think the cut was that deep, it's only about 3 cm (a little over an inch) long, and I put a bandage on it pretty soon after it happened. Although I do remember it bleeding a lot.

It's not incredibly painful or anything. Just painful enough to be a semi-distracting annoyance. If you ever got an "Indian Sunburn" in school, it feels a bit like a mild version of that, like the skin is being stretched in two different directions at once, which hurts. I keep rubbing it but it doesn't really help. I've actually got two other scars on the arm, similar-looking but much smaller, which do not hurt at all.

Bodies are weird, man.

[Tiruin]

I know this probably sounds like a ridiculously analytical and nitpicky question,[...]

Oh you should hear how my brain works It's thoroughly analytical that anything troublesome is met by one initial thought of "Oh, so that's how that {word/concept} feels!"

There's nothing different with how you think. :> We're all diversely unique in how we work with out thoughts, and nitpicky is something less definitive of it than what it really is. Knowing WHY is a component of all minds--it's how we work with it that makes us all pretty diverse (also in knowing why, too.)

As for this: PTW ._. I'm not really sure about this other than having inferring thoughts nudging me about 'this may be something biologically related so...diet or something or neurotransmitters or something?'

Ever tried asking a doctor about this? (And while Chairman P. is a doctor as far as I know, advice of this matter in a determinative way can't easily be given online due to obvious reasons like the need of a physical check-up and medical history and such)

[TheBiggerFish]

*turns up to provide moral support*

Yeah, I've got nothing.

[Antioch]

In case of medical question: ask doctor, not internet.

[Sappho]

Yeah, it's not a big deal. I was just wondering what the cause is. I wasn't worried about it or looking for any kind of treatment, really. The pain is already starting to go away on its own. Just wondering if anyone had any insight into what would be causing it.

Believe me, considering what I have to go through to see a doctor here, and considering how pathetically little my insurance pays for, it's always worth asking online first, especially for something that isn't a big deal.

Spoiler: In case anyone is curious... (click to show/hide)

I can see a doctor for free, but only in the emergency room - in a country famous for its hellish bureaucracy (Kafka was Czech, you know). I always spend many hours being sent between different wings of the hospital, filling out paperwork while angry Czech non-English-speaking nurses and secretaries yell at me for doing it wrong, and sitting in a hard plastic chair waiting to be seen by a doctor who has been working for 18 hours without a break, doesn't speak English, is angry at me for not speaking perfect Czech, and has to look up my symptoms in a database which looks like an MS-DOS version of WebMD because they're either too tired or uneducated to know what's wrong, or they don't care enough to think hard about it. Then they give me a prescription (usually for antibiotics, without ever testing for an actual bacterial infection) which my insurance won't pay for and which rarely seems to actually be relevant to what was wrong with me. I can't even have my own GP that I see regularly and keeps track of my medical records, because my insurance won't cover it. As a foreigner non-permanent-resident, I can't get the state insurance that all Czechs get which pays for just about everything. I can only get extended "travel insurance."

The last time I went to the hospital was from horrific stomach pains during a panic attack. (For the record, I don't have an anxiety or panic disorder - the attack was from being told I was being deported from the country for three months and would be homeless in two days.) I knew it was probably the panic attack, but I also knew that you can't screw around with stomach pain so extreme you can't stand up for minutes at a time, so I dragged my ass to the hospital. After two hours of being sent between offices (by secretaries and nurses who not only didn't speak English, but were furious that I had been sent to the wrong place, as though it was my fault), I was finally seen by a doctor who, despite being from India, somehow STILL didn't speak English. I told the doctor as calmly as I could (though by now I had thrown up several times and was hyperventilating from the stress of the hospital visit) that I had been having a panic attack and it still didn't seem to be over, and that was likely the cause of the pain but I wanted to be sure, and he literally yelled at me to CALM DOWN DAMMIT. When I explained the reason for the attack, he and his two nurses laughed at me and said that was no reason to panic, jesus, just calm down already. Then they injected me with something without telling me what it was (I still don't know) and ignored me until I stopped hyperventilating. Then told me I was fine and sent me home.

So. Now maybe you understand why I often ask online before braving the hospital.

[TheBiggerFish]

......

Wow.

Just, wow.

That's horrific care.

They should be ashamed of themselves.

[Sappho]

To be fair, it's not the doctors' faults at all. The government here is famously corrupt*. There should be plenty of money to fully fund and support the state hospitals and provide the best care to everyone, but "certain people" keep skimming off the top, with the result that the average doctor in a state hospital works crazy long hours and gets paid about the same as a fast food worker. There are loads of private doctors, and most people go to those, but generally they only accept state health insurance, not the private traveler's insurance I have to buy. So essentially, it sucks for foreigners, but it works out well for most actual citizens here. Unless they're doctors working in state hospitals, obviously.

_{*Link goes to the former president stealing a pen like the dipshit he was (the new one is even worse, but far less entertaining)}

[MoonyTheHuman]

<Insert reference about harry potter and his scar here>