[jyl]

A medical question.

For about the last five years, I've occasionally had brief periods of pain and stiffness in my ankles. The first time, both ankles were very painful, somewhat swollen, couldn't flex much, couldn't bear weight when flexed but still could stand when ankle not flexed, I was unable to walk without crutches. That lasted about 2-3 weeks, my PCP referred me to a rheumatologist, by the time I got in to see the rheumatologist the condition had gone away and he was unable to make a diagnosis. He speculated about psoriasitic (sp?) arthritis. X-rays didn't show anything.

Since then one or both ankles have acted up maybe 2X each year, but in a much milder fashion - one or both get painful and stiff, somewhat achy, usually not particularly swollen, I walk with a limp - but it goes away after a day or two. Ice, heat, Tylenol/Aleve all help, but anyway the condition is brief. The episodes seem vaguely correlated to over-exertion and to stress, and don't require any specific injury event - it's not like I'm "twisting" the ankles.

Anyhow, I now have another episode going on, this one has lasted since last Friday, left ankle only. Its slowly improving, but is taking longer than "usual" to go away. I limp around like an old man, try to stay off my feet, and have finally resorted to borrowing my wife's car as pushing the 911's clutch is painful - doable, but it hurts and the ankles feels worse afterwards.

My question basically is, is there anything wrong with my simply dealing with this and waiting another week to see if it goes away, instead of going to see a doctor? I don't believe in running to the doctor for everything, so unless anyone tells me I'm hurting myself more, I'm not eager to make an appointment.

Thanks for any thoughts.