It has been a crazy week. I’m now going to physical therapy three times a week for my shoulder, plus I had my follow-up appointment today with the orthopedic doctor for both my shoulder and my wrist.
It is officially official CTS. (Carpal Tunnel Syndrome) It is moderate to severe, although I didn’t have a lot of problems with it before mid-July. I was able to knit without any problems, typing was only an issue at the giant desk, and in general I was doing fine. Now it is numb a lot (although less than it was when I had my first appointment on July 29th), and my wrist and elbow hurt from time-to-time.
The physician’s assistant came in to give me the prognosis, and then said, “At this point, we can either do a cortisone injection or surgery.” Call me crazy, but those aren’t exactly equal options. Wouldn’t you try the injection before you did surgery? I moaned and groaned about the injection though because the one in my shoulder last month hurt A LOT. I couldn’t lift my arm for 3-4 days. In the long run, it didn’t help my shoulder much (like it was supposed to) but it did help my hand/wrist. But it hurt. And I am a wimp. So when the doctor came in to look at me, I said that I really didn’t want it, and he said that was ok – but to be warned that it could eventually cause permanent damage that could not be reversed.
I checked out with my prescription for two wrist splints in my hand and no shot. Two wrist splints at night — how sexy is THAT??? I got about 10 feet down the hall when I realized that I really should do the shot. It might hurt for a few days, but hopefully it will help in the long run. I went back to the office and asked if it was too late to change my mind. They said it was ok, and took me back to an exam room.
If you should ever consider having the cortisone shot in your wrist, be warned. It is a special kind of pain. Searing, burning, shooting pain going across my hand and up my middle finger. I considered making gestures with that finger in response. Ok, ok, I wouldn’t have done that because they were taking good care of me – but the thought crossed my mind.
It isn’t hurting too bad now, but I’ve been warned that it will hurt tonight. This time they gave me a prescription for pain killers – would have been nice to have had those last time!
As for the shoulder, we did X-rays today, and he didn’t see anything on there. They think it is an impingement, and I get to continue the physical therapy for now to treat it. I’ve also got medicine to try to help with the inflamation, so hopefully I’ll see an improvement there.
Typing with a wrist-splint is fun.
11 replies on “Ouch.”
Ooo. Get better soon!
they keep telling me i can get cortisone injections for me knees, and my mom swears it really helps, but i say NO WAY. i’ll take surgey over needles in my knee. at least with the surgery they’ll knock me out! it’s not that i have a fear of needles, i just hate the thought of needles in joints. ick.
Hi! long time lurker.
I started having similar problems and was thinking about going this route
http://www.wacom.com/comfort/index.cfm
Oooooh… that is a great thing to know. Thanks for sharing the link!
I have problems right now with writing for a long time, but hopefully after this shot that will help. The touchpad on the laptop is my friend because I can keep my wrists flat on the laptop while tapping the mouse. That may not last for long though.
The cortisone is very, very hurty, but the op, while it will suck ass for a while after, *should* make things better for longer.
I have cubital tunnel syndrome (like carpal, but in the elbow) and I had nerve decompression and transposition surgery which gave me back the feeling I was losing in my fingers.
It sucked for a long time after (I don’t heal like normal people) but it’s way better now than it was.
But yeah, jabs do not equal surgery – not nerve surgery, that’s for damn sure.
Hope that things improve in the short term – and as for the splints – just knit sexy covers for them. 🙂
Though I’ve never been officially diagnosed with CTS, I used to wear a hard wrist brace while at the computer, but I always thought they made my wrists hurt worse. I recently got some Handeze gloves and I LOVE them. They don’t get in the way like a brace can, and I can comfortably wear them while typing or knitting. They can usually be found at craft stores like Michael’s.
I wonder why your injection hurt so badly. I get them in my SI joint and I’m only a bit sore for a couple of days and them I’m fine. the shot itself doesn’t hurt at all b/c they knock me out.
I did the surgery…yes, it was a pain but in reality after 3 months my hand for the most part is back to normal. Didn’t think it ever would though. No more pain the only thing is sometimes when I try to left a heavy obect I haven’t the strength so plan on using weights to remedy that.
Love your blogs
Geeky – try the needle before you try the knife. It might help. My wrist isn’t hurting anywhere near as much as my shoulder did last month when I got the shot there. This shot hurt more in the process, but in the long run it’s doing a lot better.
Girl – my arm was better after 3-4 days when I had the shot in the shoulder. Well, better as in I could finally move it. The pain itself is from an impingement, so it seems that physical therapy might be the best fix for it overall.
Pix – if the shot doesn’t help, then surgery will be the next option. I figured trying the shot first was the best thing to do, since the recovery time is shorter.
my shots sucked, I had cortisone flares in left wrist yesterday.and today it is in right hand. Thank god for ice and pain killers.wrist cortisone shots may help in long run. but short time after shots sucks..
I’m right there with you. Last week I had a stiff neck and left shoulder. Then my left index finger went numb, followed by my entire left arm.
The doctor put me on Robaxcin, Mobic, and Vicodin and I left. They didn’t help much, so the next day she did the cortisone injection in my shoulder. It made the numbness go away in my arm, but my index finger is still “pins and needles” all day.
Now I’ve got shooting pain in my elbow that feels like someone is tapping my funny bone with a ball-peen hammer every 7 seconds.
I don’t likey.