I've done something horrible to my wrist. And before you make any snide comments, it's the other wrist. This has been going on for over two weeks. It hurts from my hand to halfway up my arm, and I have no idea what I did.
I have had three different diagnoses from three different people I know who are not doctors. The bartender immediately decided it was some type of pinched nerve in my hand, and recommended wrapping a rubberband around my fingers and then flexing them as some type of resistance exercise. "It's an old bass player trick," he said. Which I'm sure probably works great if you play bass, but I don't and after several hours of this, I decided that my pain resembled "more" rather than "less", so I think, maybe, he's full of crap.
MrSteve thought so too, and labeled this malady Carpal Tunnel Syndrome, based on his background of Typing on the Computer A Lot. He has told me to switch to using my mouse left handed for a week, and insists the pain will go away or at least lessen. So I've been mousing left handed all week which is annoying, and also difficult as the mouse I have is contoured to fit the right hand. Also, the pain is not going away.
Cap, who is an athlete and briefly toyed with the idea of majoring in physical therapy, feels that I have some type of tendonitis, which is what I originally believed the problem was. He recommended ice packs and Ibuprofin, which have helped slightly.
Cap's theory seemed to best fit my pain and also his therapy was the only one that seemed to have any effect at all, so I was prepared to deal with this as a tendon issue, until I went rooting around on the internet yesterday looking for details on Carpal Tunnel Syndrome, mostly to explain to Steve why I didn't have it (sorry, Steve). The problem is I am now pretty sure he was right. It seems one of the main symptoms of Carpal Tunnel is tingling or numbness in your hands and forearms when you are trying to sleep. Which is something I've been having problems with for months. I thought I was just sleeping on my arms weird. Wikipedia, who has never lied to me that I'm aware of, says many people with CTS think exactly the same thing. Also, Cap's therapy is working because it's one of the main treatments for temporary relief of CTS. And MrSteve's therapy is NOT working because despite not mousing, I am still typing constantly (such as right now), in a hand position that is ergonomically poor, and therefore, NOT resting my wrist.
I've decided that my upcoming Vegas vacation is no longer a nice break from work, but a medical necessity.
8 comments:
interesting...you should make your company buy you one of the keyboards like mine at home, I love those things. it takes some time to get used to, but after awhile it feels so much more natural.
Also, the reason my therapy worked is because it's actually a good solution to most physical ailments. Rest, ice, pain killers. Granted, I usually skip the pain killers because I actually like pain. I'm kind of a sick fuck. As if you didn't know. Shit.
i pulled muscles in my jaw before.....from clenching/grinding my teeth, thank you....and my doctor told me to take a butt load of ibuprofin (something like 800mg twice a day) and said it might take 2 or 3 days for it to start working, but eventually my pain went away. keep at it, kid.
i think it's funny that Ibuprofen was spelled wrong twice.
i think it's funny that since i wasn't sure how to spell ibufoerepffn, i just looked at how amc spelled it....
i think it's funny that simmy and i are the only ones who call amber amc.
i sprained my wrist last week, for which i am now the owner of a wrist brace that does absolutely nothing and i've gone back to using an ace bandage w/a splint inside.... anyways, i found those little glove things that are supposed to help cps. i wonder if they're any more effective than the dumb wrist brace was for my ailment.
Thanks for not telling me in advance when you were going to Las Vegas. I coulda met you there. That's what this whole story was about for me...Las Vegas. That's all every story is about for me...Las Vegas. Wrist, smist.
Dude, Rick, it didn't even occur to me. I'm going with the bar. Yeah, big surprise. It's the bar and restaurant convention. The owner is paying my way to thank me for spending 60 hours painting the back room of his bar, which I discovered AFTER I started painting is ginormous. I seriously went through like 7 gallons of paint, not including the drywall primer/sealer. Also, I think just to be dicks, the put ceiling fans up before I had a chance to paint the ceiling.
How's about you come visit Chicago first and we'll go to Vegas next time? I promise there will be no "secret ingredients" in any Martini you get at Tai's. And it's way bigger than the Matchbox, I know cuz I painted it. :-)
Come on, everybody knows that the best treatment for pain of any sort is heavy drinking. But I suppose that wasn't quite doing the trick?
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