Any suggestions for how to keep the advil from burning up my stomach?

Take it with some food containing fat. Whole milk or cheese is what I usually do, and I've never had any stomach problems with Advil. Peanut butter would probably work. Basically you need to buffer it.

FWIW, Aleve doesn't do one goddamn shit for me.

Me either! What's up with that, anyway.

Codeine Tylenol doesn't do anything for me. Found that out with my knee injury back in 2000.

Omnis, please go and see a doctor if this will continue to bug you. And good luck with your new neighbor.

Aims, fingers crosses. Also, I do not know how you don't kill your mother, but kudos for restraining that urge.

bonny, I'm sorry for the pain and discomfort, but I've got no advice.

Omnis, I'm glad you found something that stretching might help.

Bonny, my dad had rotator cuff problems, and surgery made it worse (anecdata, I know, and his surgeon did work on another family member with non-optimal results, so he may have been the problem) so I hope PT or acupuncture can help.

Aims, that house is adorable! I especially like the wee windows framing the larger one in what's probably the living room.

Gracious thanks to Steph for the dosage. For the first time in, I think, three months, the advil has finally touched the pain.

It's made me a bit paranoid though, because I know the pain is still there, I just can't feel it. So, I'm being super careful.

I'll begin slowly with the exercises and work hard not to cause any more damage.

Thanks also, Zen, for reminding me that I have almond butter in the house...and I will likely go get some kefir to swallow with the pills.

Calli, your dad's experience is precisely why I am going to avoid surgery at all costs. ALL costs. I know it has value for many, but I'll do anything to avoid it.

I want to think that my injury isn't surgery worthy, though I have no idea what the criteria might be.

Thanks all for the good wishes.

Gracious thanks to Steph for the dosage. For the first time in, I think, three months, the advil has finally touched the pain.

That's promising! Based on that, I would stick with that dosage for at least a week.

I want to think that my injury isn't surgery worthy, though I have no idea what the criteria might be.

You pretty much can't tell that without an MRI. But if you saw a doctor, he/she might tell you to do medication and physical therapy before they would even order an MRI. Mine did that with back pain a few years ago. So trying the higher dose of Advil and some exercises is a good first step, IMO.

Oh, good lord. While I was posting the previous post, my dad called and told me "I don't feel good." Why a grown man can't open the conversation with his actual symptoms is beyond me. So I said, "You're going to have to give me a little more to go on, here. Do you have a cold? Stomach flu?"

And he said, like I should have understood what "I don't feel good" means, "No! Chest pains and an upset stomach!" So my ability to read minds is broken.

He didn't want to go to the ER, because he already had an appointment with his cardiologist for tomorrow. I told him I can understand wanting to wait, but this isn't like a sore throat. He said, "Well, I can wait a little longer," which made me ask, "How long have you been having these chest pains?"

Oh, a few days.

I didn't yell at him, but I told him that if *I* told him that *I* had been having chest pains for days and ignoring them, he would be furious with me, and by the way, I'd like you to be alive for my wedding, so GO TO THE HOSPITAL.

So he's going. Good lord, that man. I know he's survived 5 heart attacks, and the odds are good that he'd survive a 6th, but why test that theory?

Teppy is wise. Obviously.

In the office for the second day in a row. About to head into a conference room for the rest of the day. So not thrilled but curious to see what other "magic" I can perform today.

Ok, my original Teppy is wise was directed at her comments to Bonny but it also applied to her comments to her dad. When I saw my cousin a few days ago, she said that her biggest heart attack symptom was "not feeling right"...not chest pains or pains in the arm. Just feeling very off.

Heart~ma to your dad, Teppy.

she said that her biggest heart attack symptom was "not feeling right"...not chest pains or pains in the arm. Just feeling very off.

I do understand that (because heart problems are definitely not always textbook-perfect cases of symptomatology), but it frustrates me because -- when it's the first or only symptom he tells me, with no context -- I don't know what that means! If he said "I'm worried about my heart, because I'm not feeling right," that gives me context. But this time he actually didn't even say "I don't feel right"; he said "I don't feel good," which, to me, is the ultimate context-free vague statement on one's health.

I have a sore throat and aches and a headache, and they've been hanging around for 3 days, so I, too, "don't feel good." But I don't need to go to the ER. For all I knew, based on his opening statement, Dad had a cold.

It's just frustrating to me, because I worry about him. Chest pains mean Get Thee To The ER Now. And telling me "I don't feel good" is just wasting time.

(I'm not trying to argue with you, Suzi; I'm just venting my frustration.)