Hello! Me and my wrist
Richmcfinn
Member Posts: 17
Hi I'm Richard.
About twenty years ago I hurt my wrist, it wasn't very painful and the only problem I had was some weakness occasionally when lifting really heavy objects. This stopped after a few months so I didn't seek medical help.
Then about 12 years ago I found that I had to stop doing push-ups because my wrist hurt too much, but as this was my only symptom and I'm not a sportsman I still didn't see a doctor.
I continued using my hands as normal doing my care job, digging an allotment, cooking, playing my guitar. Then two years ago I found myself in pain after my guitar practice, I could hardly even spread my toast
As I'm only early fifties the doctor just assumed it was an RSI, I went to physio and got given a set of exercises -the result was my hand swelling up and everything getting worse.
Next stop: another physio who gave me a steroid injection (a foregone conclusion as my stomach cant take NSAIDS) This had no effect on the pain, but a good outcome was that she suspected arthritis and sent me for an X-ray. Months later at my next visit she took a look at it and found I had bad arthritis in my wrist -8 months after seeing my doctor I finally got a diagnosis!
Next they sent me to a knee specialist(!) who passed me on to a hand specialist at last.
Eight months after that I had an operation on my wrist and I am now in week 7 of my recovery, wondering just how successful the op will be....
About twenty years ago I hurt my wrist, it wasn't very painful and the only problem I had was some weakness occasionally when lifting really heavy objects. This stopped after a few months so I didn't seek medical help.
Then about 12 years ago I found that I had to stop doing push-ups because my wrist hurt too much, but as this was my only symptom and I'm not a sportsman I still didn't see a doctor.
I continued using my hands as normal doing my care job, digging an allotment, cooking, playing my guitar. Then two years ago I found myself in pain after my guitar practice, I could hardly even spread my toast
As I'm only early fifties the doctor just assumed it was an RSI, I went to physio and got given a set of exercises -the result was my hand swelling up and everything getting worse.
Next stop: another physio who gave me a steroid injection (a foregone conclusion as my stomach cant take NSAIDS) This had no effect on the pain, but a good outcome was that she suspected arthritis and sent me for an X-ray. Months later at my next visit she took a look at it and found I had bad arthritis in my wrist -8 months after seeing my doctor I finally got a diagnosis!
Next they sent me to a knee specialist(!) who passed me on to a hand specialist at last.
Eight months after that I had an operation on my wrist and I am now in week 7 of my recovery, wondering just how successful the op will be....
0
Comments
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Hi Richard and welcome to the Arthritis Care forums.
As mods we are here to help with any problems you may have on the message boards.
There are lots of lovely people here with a wide range of experiences with arthritis and the problems of living with the condition. Good to see you've dived right in and joined in the conversations.
Sorry to hear you've had such a long path to getting a diagnosis and appropriate treatment.
I'll repost the link I used on the other discussion regarding Osteoarthritis of the hand and wrist - https://www.arthritiscare.org.uk/what-is-arthritis/resources/671-osteoarthritis-of-the-hand-and-wrist
Best wishes
Bryn0
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