I've had chronic wrist pain for many years
(probably ten or more), and it has gotten
worse over the last three years (I'm a
wedding and portrait photographer, and
this is my right wrist/hand, the "working"
hand I'm having problems with).
I've been to two orthopedic surgeons, one
of which diagnosed me with CTS immediately
and rec'd surgery ASAP, and the other took
x-rays and decided that CTS was the most
likely cause because there were no broken
bones on x-ray. I've gotten three
cortisone shots to the carpal tunnel; the
first worked pretty well for eliminating
some of the pain, but the successive shots
didn't do a damn thing
Over the last five years I've been
diagnosed with and treated for the
following:
-tennis elbow, right arm
-de quervain's tenosynovitis, both wrists
-carpal tunnel, right wrist
-tendinitis, right arm and wrist
and warned that the next things to come
would be trigger thumb and even worse
ulnar entrapment. I'd had a nerve
conduction study done in 2005 which showed
NO nerve entrapment whatsoever, but my
orthos don't seem to care that the nerve
study conflicts with their diagnoses.
I've been told more times than I can
stomach, I need the surgery - which as a
photographer with only that source of
income, it's a good four months without
any salary whatsoever. It's not an answer
I really want to deal with - and I'm
afraid that release surgery won't correct
my symptoms at all.
Here's what I *don't* have:
I do not wake up at night with tingling,
sore, or otherwise "weird" feelings in my
arm/wrist/hand. Ever. Never have.
I do not have tingling or loss of feeling
in just the thumb, index and middle
finger. I do have a loss of feeling in
ALL my fingertips, including the entire
ring finger and pinky. I cannot say it's
worse in any one finger than the next. It
isnt terribly significant - the pain
overshadows this by miles.
I do not feel like my fingers are swollen
I *never* feel like "shaking out" my
wrist/hand - in fact, I fear that motion
as it would result in a whole boatload of
pain
-------------
Now on to the symptoms I do have:
-VERY painful "wringing" motion - turning
ignition, knobs, or god-forbid opening a
can. It's so painful I have to have
others help me, or I use my left hand to
do things like start my car or open
doors.
-clicking of the wrist when I extend it up
or down, very consistent - it always
clicks. Grinds when I go down, along with
clicking. It's gross.
-I feel like I "Have" to "click" my
wrist... feels like there's pressure in
there that needs to be relieved.
-can't tell when something's too hot on my
fingertips, it's been like this for at
least a decade if not more. I have gotten
burned because of this, from holding a
match too long, lighting candles, etc.
-Decreased motion of the wrist - I can't
pull my hand back NEARLY as far as my
left, nor can it go "down" as far... and
it's painful to try
-'pushing' hurts a lot - even something as
benign as scratching my head, because i
put pressure on the fingers, hurts in my
wrist. Pushing a door open really hurts.
-pulling also hurts - i can barely do this
if the object is heavy
-holding a coffee cup hurts the de
quervain's area
-decreased grip strength - confirmed by
the ortho, but i don't have any stats for
that
-decreased blood flow? My hand is always
colder than the rest of my body
-pain extends into my shoulder and neck on
the right side
-i have constant pain in my wrist and
lower palm, mostly thumb side
-spasming of the thumb muscle, no clue
what that's related to or if it's related
at all, it seems to come and go
-pain (aching, dull) on the top of my
hand, in the bones (feels like)
-------------------
Honestly, it feels like my wrist is just
unstable, like there's some structural
problem - but the x-ray I got earlier this
year showed NOTHING like that. I have no
idea where to go next. I feel like carpal
tunnel would present more logically. I
suppose I could get the release surgery
and see what symptoms are left over and
then tackle that? But I was hoping
someone out there would recognize my
symptoms and give me a heads up on what
types of things I should ask my doctor.
I'm truly at a loss. I've been going to
doctors for about six years or so for this
wrist, and I've never been able to get
anything but a CTS diagnosis and a
recommendation for surgery. After all
this time I should just accept it, but
something tells me there's something else
going on.
Help?
THANK YOU!!!!!
