repoman

I hope this question isn't too selfish and that others here may benefit from it as well.

Anyway, for a quick background, I am a smal guy (5'6" 135 pounds) who works as a banquet server and just turned 31. I also have had many short term joint problems from when I was about 20 or so. I have gone to the same naturopath/MD (he does prescribe allopaths meds too) off and on for a while and he has seen most of these bangups.

Finally, this week he looked at my wrist problem in my good hand which has ben a problem for a while after I think I tore a ligament from lifting too heavy of a tray during a too busy week. The injury is too old (18 months or so) in a way to to do much about but he squeed my forearm near my elbow and determined that from my reaction i have at least early stage carpal tunnel in my radial nerve. then he did a blood test.

the results of the test were that I tested negative for rheumatoid arthritis antigens, have lowC-reactive protein (0.8 mg/L) but I have highish platelets (367 10^-3/uL :the range was 140 to 415 ) . Everything else looks realy good. He said he wanted to test to see if I was mounting a mexican standoff between my joints and my immune system which luckily I 'm not. But i still don't understand what the high platelets might mean as far as joints or carpal tunnel.

Anyway, he put me on a regimen of ketprophen (2 a day) and activated bromelain w/ sisterol (2 a day) as well as lots of icing and ultrasound. I also have have been wearing one of those bendickson braces when i sleep.

Oh, I especially have pain in the wrist when I am typing with my pinky and ring finger. And about 3 years ago I had a boxer's fracture belwo the pinky, but never did all the therapy for it.

Does this course of action make sense? If it doesn't get better after all of this should I get an MRI or something? Is their anyone else who beat back oncoming carpal tunnel?

Thanks,

Robert

xian

10 years now it has been since i first had chronic tendonitis in my left wrist. it has never healed

i have seen numerous specialists all insisting i have no problem.
grrrr.....i hate it when they say that cuz when you have constant background pain 24 hours a day....you KNOW there is a problem

at any rate....
if you have pain in your pinky that cannot be carpal tunnel. Symptoms of carpal tunnel are thumb to middle finger.. Of course you may have carpal tunnel + something else. But pain in pinky indicates something else to me.

my recommendation: wear a thumb splint (not a wrist brace) every night. THe thumb splint keeps your wrist more motionless than a wrist brace. Having your wrist completely motionless is a good thing while sleeping. it just might completely reverse everything for you. wear the thing every single night....no exceptions.

that is my humble recommendation

repoman

Well, I actually have pain both in my pinky and also in my wrist when typing with my pinky and ring finger. I believe that both types of pain are probable not closely related. But thanks for the advice on the thumb splint.

Strawberry

I had a repetitive strain injury 5 or 6 years ago, mostly from typing at the wrong angle and always being tense when I played piano and cello, which I did a lot, and it was exactly like carpal tunnel except it affected the nerves in both hands that run across the back of the hand and into the pinky, which created a lot of pain in the forearms, wrists, and hands while performing any fine motor tasks. That may be what you've got, although the pinky injury could also be influencing things. I know I had completely normal blood tests.

Jackalope

Try looking up "ulnar nerve compression." The ulnar nerve runs over the elbow (when you "hit your funnybone" that's the ulnar nerve), down the arm and enervates the pinky, ring and occasionally the middle finger. Check and make sure you're not leaning on your elbow or forearm when you're sitting at your desk.

sakrilege

When I went in for numbness in my hands, I was sent for an EMG test. No blood tests. What was found is I don't have carpal tunnel but I do have irritated ulnar nerves and arthritis in my neck. As Jackalope mentions, don't rest on your elbows, also don't sleep with bent elbows (not very easy to do). Splints at night probably don't do any harm but should not be worn unless symptoms are present otherwise the muscles are negatively affected. Good luck.

Dr Rick

The advice you got on this thread is spot-on, repoman...sheesh, what's the point of even going to medschool, anymore?

xian, what kind of chronic tendonitis do you have, and what therapies have you tried so far? I've got to ask: are you sure it's tendonitis and not osteoarthristis or some other condition causing your pain?

Rick

repoman

Thanks again for the input folks.

Dr. Rick, I may have another addtion to the description of the wrist problem that I noticed last night. It's funny how long it can take to actually figure out what is wrong with our own bodies isn't it?

Ok, when I bend my back my hand while keeping my fingers straight the top of my forearm one to two inches from the wrist get tight and feels hot. Then if I wiggle my fingers I feel a crunchiness and popping in the wrist (Unfortunately, I am NOT exxagerrating!). I don't feel it if my hand is straight or bent forward.

I am guessing that this may be from the added pressure in the top side of the wrist, but there may be something else in play. I
i hope that I don't have detached ligaments or tendons!

Jackalope

Unfortunately, if my first couple doctors had stayed awake during med school, I wouldn't need to know some of this stuff. And I might've gone on to finish my degree instead of becoming so ill I had to drop out. While the doctors I have now are competent some damage, once done, is permanent. So please, do continue to be competent, interested, and compassionate. We need all the good doctors we can get.

Mad Kally

http://www.bbc.co.uk/science/horizon...meopathy.shtml

Good ole Samuel Hahnemann, founder of homeopathy again. In the 1700's.

"Unusual claims require unusually good proof"

James Randi

Musings of an Allopath

"Americans spent 18 billion dollars on alternative medicine in 1998! Every week articles appear on alternative therapies in newspapers and magazines. Herbs made the cover of Time magazine. Patients come to clinic with magnets in their shoes and copper bracelets on their wrists. My neighbors sell "nutraceuticals" - (food substances with pharmaceutical value) vitamin supplements.

What is an allopath? It is a term created by Samuel Hahnemann, founder of homeopathy."

lol