The TENS machine

It is now four weeks since the surgery and I am starting to feel better. The irritability of my hand is still there however and I get CRPS pain about twice a day, early morning and especially at night. I am using a TENS machine to alleviate the pain. My wrist is still quite stiff, I have good rotation but limited wrist extension towards the forearm, this prevents certain types of movement; the hand surgeon and therapist do not think this will improve.

Scar treatment

I put silicon every night on the scar and the results are incredible. I have been doing this for only over a week and the scar has changed from a purple colour, gaping sides and dry pieces of skin to a pinkish closed neat scar.

Surgery

A week later, on April 4th, I had the surgery and two new steroid injections at the base of the middle finger and little finger; nodules had developed in my palm at the base of these fingers. I had a plaster cast for a week.

  

When the cast was off, I started therapy again.

The first three weeks after surgery were very difficult, the hand was still very irritable ad would “flare up”. My little finger got really swollen and almost deformed and felt really painful. I felt dizzy almost permanently was nauseous and extremely tired. Night time was getting better though, the pain diminished and I could get more sleep.

Carpal tunnel syndrome

This video provides a good explanation o the carpal tunnel syndrome and the need to release a compressed median nerve.

more about “Carpal tunnel syndrome“, posted with vodpod

Carpal tunnel syndrome

After a few weeks carpal tunnel syndrome was diagnosed and I had a cortisone injection in the wrist. After two weeks there was no improvement, I still had extreme pain day and night.

I had an ultrasound which showed a lot of swelling in the soft tissues and tendons and diagnosed the beginning of complex regional pain syndrome (CRPS). I was presented in front of a panel of hand surgeons and hand therapists which recommended open surgical release of the median nerve. A nerve conduction test confirmed the compression of the median nerve.

Tried to cope with the pain with a TENS machine. Helped a bit in reducing intensity of pain, but pain never really goes away.

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Blog giving tips on the management of carpal tunnel pain: http://wordpress.com/tag/wrist-pain/

Splint

Three weeks later the cast was removed and rehabilitation started, I had to wear a splint.

The hand remained swollen, especially the middle finger which I could not bend. The therapy sessions were very painful and I often felt sick in the stomach. They would also trigger irritability in my hand and sharp pains along the thumb, middle finger and forearm for hours after each therapy session. Pain would keep me awake at night.

Cast

I was referred to a hand surgeon who sent me to a Hand Therapy Centre where a cast was fitted;

in firbreglass, which was great, I could wet it and take showers.

The beginning…

I fell on my outstretched right hand while bushwalking on January 3rd. It hurt quite a bit at he time and immediately became swollen. I had to drive the car back home, using one hand, and had to wait until the next morning to see my GP.

I bandaged my hand for the night but didn’t get a lot of sleep.

MY GP sent me to have an X-Ray, neither the radiologist nor my GP saw the fracture.

Three weeks later, the pain and swelling hadn’t gone down so I went back to my GP who sent me to have another X-ray. This time the radiologist diagnosed a distal radius fracture.