Hey Yall,
I wanted to see if I could get advice from anyone who suffers with arthritis or rheumatoid arthritis. I am having some serious issues in my hands. I am sure I have arthritis but not 100% about rheumatoid. My hand have been bothering me for about 6-7 years but this past year has been terrible. I wake up every morning and both hands are swollen and painful. (regardless if I worked them the day before or not) My left hand seems to be the worse right now. I get sharp shooting pains in my top knuckles that run up and down my fingers. AND I am pretty sure I now have knots on the sides of my pointer and middle finger top knuckles. I can not tear anything but rather I have to use sissors; it hurts when I grab the door knob; I can't hold anything heavy; I have no strength in my hand; my son can not pull on my hands; i can not touch them together or interlock my fingers with out pain. You can imagine how hard it is to craft! :(
I have tried many different types of over the counter pain meds with not a lot of help. I started taking the herbal joint health "Glucosamine and Chondroitin" about a week ago. Nothing yet but it is still early in the game to see help from that. I am trying to get them looked at by a doctor ask we speak. I am very nervous though I must say. I am too young to have issues like this. I think that is what scares me to most.
I guess what I asking if any one could give me any advice at all to help with pain or knowledge.
Thanks Yall!!!
{STEPH}
You might want to see an orthopaedic surgeon or a hand specialist because it could be carpal tunnel or cubital tunnel (elbow). They can do tests for both with this little machine thing they hook you up to. The surgery nowadays is super simple, they just put a little slit right in the lower part of your palm, release the tendon & you're done with maybe 1 or 2 stitches & a band-aid!
ReplyDeleteThe only thing that I'm not sure about is the swelling - that sounds like rheumatoid (not to freak you out or anything)but they can diagnose it with a blood test, so you might want to rule that out first. Even if it turns out to be rheumatoid there are some really awesome medications now that can help you.
By the way, I should mention that I'm not a doctor (lol)but I worked for an orthopaedic surgeon & a hand specialist/surgeon for 8 years so I got really familiar with all the symptoms & treatments. So, please don't take this as the definitive answer - I'm just suggesting you see a specialized doctor/surgeon & inquire about the tests I mentioned above, at least that would be a good place to start. This is what I know from my personal experiences from watching 1000s of patients come through our clinic.
I know you posted this a few weeks ago but I just now came across it when I was checking out the blog links for the Scappy Moms challenge. Please rest assured that I am not some kind of crazy crafting stalker or anything! I'm actually pretty boring & normal (whatever that means). I hope some of this helps or that you've already found a doc to handle your treatment.
Take care!
Diana :)
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