Ask MetaFilter questions tagged with grinding

snap crackle pop

Evangeline — Wed, 10 Sep 2008 11:07:04 -0800

My knee is screwy. Help! For a couple of years my right knee has been grinding whenever I walk upstairs, but lately it's gotten louder. Also, it's started popping out of place at seemingly random moments. I don't guess it's truly dislocated, but there's a definite shift, then a sharp pain, then it's fine again. But wait, there's more! At night I'm waking up to intense pain that seems to start in my outer right thigh above my knee, and shoot through my knee to about halfway down my calf.

So what kind of doctor should I be seeing? An orthopedist? A physiotherapist? Could anyone recommend one in Manhattan?

Thanks all.

Deathgrip related?

birdie birdington — Mon, 24 Mar 2008 12:37:56 -0800

Knuckles: A few days ago I woke up with a bad grinding feeling in my right hand knuckles. The bones in the knuckles of my middle and ring fingers feel grindy, and also clicky. Where the motion to make a fist is usually smooth and seamless, and still is on my left hand, on my right it's really exaggerated and clicky. Usually at some point during the day it gets smoother and less weird/bad feeling, but by the time I wake up in the morning it feels weird and bad again.

I know you're not a doctor or my doctor, but I'm not even sure what search terms to use, though any combination of "grinding" "knuckles" "clicking" didn't really do much.

The only thing I can think of is that I might've been doing a deathgrip on my bike handles lately, but even then, I don't know what to call it or what I should do about it. Also, there's no swelling or bruising or anything.

Can I expect it to just go away? Do I need more serious medical attention? Do I have arthritis? Help!

Need dentist second opinion.

spacefire — Wed, 19 Mar 2008 20:33:46 -0800

Teeth Grinding and Root Canal. Should I get a second dentist's opinion? So apparently I've been grinding my teeth so much one of them has a big hole in it. I thought it was a cavity, but the dentist said it was from the griding. That tooth had hurt for a while in contact with hard foods or sweet stuff, but now it doesn't hurt anymore.
Anyway, I thought it needed a filling but the dentist said root canal outright. He said it a bit too soon, in my opinion, I don't think the X-Rays were even developed at the time. (I haven't seen the X-Rays myself)
Besides the root canal I would get a point, I think that's what it was called, also a crown, and then I would have to see someone else for the night-time grinding and the existing damage to my teeth. He did, however, recommend I get a night time teeth guard from the pharmacy which I did.
I also have been having a sore throat and was prescribed antibiotics by the dentist for it...can they do that? Didn't get my teeth cleaning because of the sore throat, which means probably another copay when time comes for that.

So, doing a bit of research here, it seems that with my insurance coverage I would pay about 100 dollars for a root canal. From what I understand root canals are needed when the tooth is decaying. My problem is not an infection, but rather mechanical action. I'm not sure the nerve is exposed, he said that the 'red' you can see at the bottom of the hole is due to the nerve being close to the surface, and the pain is cause by the nerve swelling and then going back down for periods of no pain.

Should I get a second opinion? The catch is that since it's hard to get a dentist appointment soon enough during the weekend or off work hours I would have to take some time off from work, which I have been doing a lot lately.

But I really feel the diagnosis was a rushed and the dentist shifty.
Is there a chance the root canal is not needed?
That another dentist might say a filling and using an OTC nightguard is enough?

Grind, Grind, Grind goes the Hard Drive

26.2 — Fri, 14 Mar 2008 09:38:27 -0800

Can this laptop be saved? All was good. Then it sounded like there was a part loose and rolling around inside my laptop for a few seconds. The hard drive started running slooowwwly with some additional crunching and grinding noises. On reboot I got an I/0 error then a no bootable drive error. This is a spare l laptop that I keep for friends to use when they hang out at my house. It's a 4 year old Dell Latitude 600 running Windows 2000. Also, it's been used hard. It was dropped a few weeks ago and I had to open up the machine to reseat the some of the connections to the PCMCIA card to make the wireless work. I wish I could tell you that's the first time this laptop was dropped.

Files are all backed up on my external hard drive, but not the operating system or applications.

Can it be saved and is it worth the bother?

Grind Me a Symphony Tonight

gerls — Tue, 25 Sep 2007 21:02:25 -0800

My SO's constant night-time teeth grinding is driving me up the wall! I must have woken up 5 or 6 times last night with the noise, for the third night in a row. I know you can get mouth guards for this problem, but he hasn't seen a dentist in years, and we aren't rolling in cash. Can anyone recommend (cheap) solutions/ advice? He needs his teeth to last, and I need my sleep.

What could cause a grinding sound in a '99 saturn?

the ghost of Ken Lay — Tue, 21 Aug 2007 09:56:37 -0800

What could cause a loud grinding sound in a '99 saturn? I bought a used saturn a couple of years ago and its always made a grinding sound when accelerating. Its pretty loud and more than a few people have commented on it. I've put almost 20k miles on with this sound. It currently has 83k. I swear I've let a mechanic drive it for unrelated reasons once and he didnt even mention it (I might be confusing this with a different car).

Its a loud grinding noise coming from the right hand side of the car clearly from the engine compartment. It can be intermittent. I usually hear it in first and second gear, but also have heard it in third gear. If I let off on the accelerator it tends to go away or it just grinds much more quietly and intermittently.

I'm worried its the transmission, but I dont have any slippage or any other issues. I've recently replaced the transmission fluid as dictated by the maintenance schedule and havent noticed any difference.

I'll probably take it to a mechanic soon, but would like to be a little informed before going through the repair process. That is if it even needs repairs. Could it be something like a CV joint? Or the engine? Maybe this car is just loud? Its the sc1 with the wimpy 100hp engine.

What is that noise?

poweredbybeard — Fri, 08 Jun 2007 09:52:00 -0800

Bicyclefilter: A pronounced grinding/scraping from my rear wheel. Is this potentially unsafe, or simply embarrassing, to ride? When I say pronounced, I mean passersby chuckle. The wheel sounds really old, really sad and really grumpy. When I spin the wheel freely, the gears wobble a bit, leading me to think the threads on the gears or the axle are close to stripped (?? I can still pedal just fine, so I don't know).

What's the worst that can happen, realistically? The wheel falls apart? Or I just suddenly find I'm pedalling but not moving?

Coffee grinding question

543DoublePlay — Mon, 16 Apr 2007 16:51:53 -0800

Home appliances filter: A friend was kind enough to give me a gently used burr grinder to replace the horrible blade grinder I was using to grind coffee beans for my first brew of the morning. It works great and I am getting a much more even grind, but the problem is with the plastic hopper that the ground coffee goes into. An enormous amount of coffee adheres to the side of the hopper, and I am thinking that some kind of static charge is to blame. This seems to be a waste of good (and expensive) coffee so does anybody have a solution to this to help me prevent the ground coffee sticking to the side of the hopper or is this just a good, but cheap design?

Time for a new set of teeth?

vizsla — Mon, 02 Apr 2007 14:28:41 -0800

My teeth are a mess. I have a major lifelong grinding and chewing problem. The bottom set are very worn down, the top front teeth have crumbled in the past from chewing and I have crowns. I have numerous fillings and root canals and there are ominous cracks in several others. Is there a way I could solve this problem once and for all? I'm talking about fixing the teeth falling apart, not curbing the grinding. Assume cost is not an obstacle.

Hear that? Is my MacBook dying?

pzarquon — Wed, 07 Mar 2007 00:24:59 -0800

Last night, suddenly and without provocation, my MacBook started grinding and crackling something fierce, mid-Google Reader browse. I shut it down quickly, savored the adrenaline rush, and started it up again. It wound up with a loud whine that accelerated until... well, it slowly dropped to a low whir. And it continues to whir. But the computer runs (for now) as if there's nothing wrong. My guess is it's the fan. If so, though, what happened? It was so sudden. (And this is not the iMoo.) And does this require Apple service, or can I somehow fix this myself? Should I stop using the MacBook entirely in the meantime? Want to hear the racket?

My bed is a racecar

XiBe — Wed, 28 Jun 2006 06:26:10 -0800

My g/f is getting more and more pissed with my nightly antics. [more under the sheets] Apparently, nowadays my movements while asleep involve some combination of :
- lifting one leg real high, then slamming it back on the bed. I do this wether I'm on my back (full leg) or on my belly (start at the knee). Regularly - as in, every 5 seconds.
- going "Man From Atlantis" : while on me belly, hands close to the body, I do buttocks movements left to right, head in the pillow. I'm relieved no moaning is involved, phew.
- (this one is new) light teeth grinding (only some nights, here and there).

Most of those seem to happen while I'm dreaming - or at least, when she hits me because I woke her up or she can't fall back to sleep, I'm in the middle of a dream.

For the sake of her sleep schedule, and of my tender arms, do any of you have an explanation, or at least something that could prevent me from doing this ? If light medication is involved, please note that I'm in France. Molto danke shöne para ustedes.

Grinding noise from wheels

Saucy Intruder — Tue, 11 Apr 2006 10:17:33 -0800

The front wheels are making a grinding noise when I move the steering wheel to the left ('98 Accord.) Happens even when the brakes aren't being pressed. Can anyone provide a Bill Frist-style remote diagnosis, and will I regret it if I don't bring it in to the shop for two more days?

My '94 Geo Metro is making grinding noises when I turn.

moonbird — Wed, 09 Jun 2004 17:19:32 -0800

Since I can't get through at Cartalk, here I am: '94 Geo Metro (no power steering), manual trans. When making a turn, an unbearable grinding noise ovetakes my senses and absconds with my driving pleasure. It continues for a few seconds after the turn. Thanks in advance, and be brutally honest if you think it's a pricey fix.