This is it.....I really cant take it anymore....wrist pain

[newbie~wan]

I have a bent keyboard, I have a vertical, joystick-like ergonomic mouse. I have tried placing the keyboard and mouse on my lap. I've used massive Ibuprophen pills. I am currently using celebrex for an unrelated injury, but which may also be very applicable here.

I don't know what to do. I have to work w/ a PC. Most of things I enjoy use a PC. But I CANT use a PC anymore. The wrist pain started less than a year ago, but if I allow it to continue, I'm sure I'll experience irrepairable damage like many people who have used PCs for years. I cant knowingly allow that to happen.

Has anyone here experienced anything like this? What did you do? Or, since you are clearly using a PC, what ARE you currently doing about it? Did you have to quit a job? Did you get workman's comp? I've heard carpal tunnel and related repetive motion injuries are difficult to prove and are often refused. I love using computers, both at work and home, but I just can't anymore. Idon't know what to do..........

[vass0922]

Ummm
Call me crazy... mental... disturbed whatever...

have you considered visiting a doctor?
They can help!!!

Its not a good thing, and you certainly dont want to leave it be Do get some attention for it.

[newbie~wan]

I have seen a doctor, first I was prescriped massive (800mg) ibuprofen, did that for about 9 weeks and it was no help (for my tendonitis in sholder/elbow OR my wrist pain). Now I'm on celebrex, which is what they give people w/ arthritis (don't ask me........ ).

I know its the mouse use that got me, not the keyboard. At first it was just the right hand (my mouse hand). I then switched to left, which was fine for a while, but eventually started hurting too. Now they both hurt.

I'm seeing an orthopedic next Tuesday (primarily about my sholder). Maybe he'll find that all of my pain is related. I feel much better now that I've been typing for a while and haven't touched the mouse in 20 minutes. EVIL mouse!!!

Try either a Trackball or a glide pad instead of a mouse for a bit. Might help if they are different movements from the mouse.

Listen to the orthopod carefully, but don't take it all at face value without some more advice. Orthopods know about bones and muscles, but not so much about inflammation. You may need to visit a rheumatologist as well for a complete diagnosis. May sound funny, but rheumatologists are the best when it comes to inflammation disorders like tenosynovitis.

I'v never had this problem, but did have a few patients at my old job (workers comp rehab nurse) with something similar. They worked in medical records areas where they did lots of data entry, and they had to change what they did a bit. One lass was diagnosed with fibromyalgia, which is a debilitating disease which can cause muscle / tendon pain as well as fatigue. The orthopods she saw missed it, the rheumatologist found it and treated her successfully.

So get as many opinions as you can.

Cheers
Mick

[kg2k]

I have never actually seen a doctor about it but I also get wrist pain from using the mouse. I bought a track ball but that didn't help. What does work for me is using a wrist brace, the same kind they prescribe for carpal tunnel syndrome. You can buy them at any drug store for about $15 or so. I wear one on my right wrist whenever I plan on sitting at the computer for more then a few minutes. It keeps the wrist in one position but still allows you full use of your fingers. It helps a lot. I sure feel it if I forget to use it.

[Lemon]

A friend of mine had surgery for carpal tunnel several years back. She has not had any reoccurance of the problem and she is a computer programmer. What the surgen does is split open the insulation that the nerve in your wrist is in. This gives the nerve more room since her problem was that this insulation had swollen and was pinching the nerve.

[cowboybooter]

Quote

Listen to the orthopod carefully, but don't take it all at face value without some more advice. Orthopods know about bones and muscles, but not so much about inflammation. You may need to visit a rheumatologist as well for a complete diagnosis. May sound funny, but rheumatologists are the best when it comes to inflammation disorders like tenosynovitis.

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Agree with this in priciple, although most orthopods these days refer hand/wrist to Plastics boys ( Orthopaedics for Wuss'es ).
CT Scan and tissue sampling will pick up any condition relating to inflamation.


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[newbie~wan]

Rheumatologist eh? I guess he'll be next on the extensive list of doctors I've seen over the past year. Thanks for the suggestion Mick!

Cowboy, is a 'CT scan' a 'cat scan'? ?Also, what are "plastics boys"?
I had an x-ray done on my shoulder (no problems found), and an MRI (which revealed tears in my front shoulder/chest tissue). All doctor correspondence so far has been in the context of my shoulder/chest pain, which I believe was caused by weightlifting. The wrist pain didn't start until I started using computers, which was months after I quit lifting weights.

I have only been using computers for a little over a year now (began in July 2001). The pain in my right wrist started a couple months later and hasn't gone away since. It's not like I've been using a comp for years and years or something. Arrg this is such BS!!

[cowboybooter]

Basically, yes, Computerised Tomography vs Computer Aided Tomography.

'Plastics' boys, my speciality is Surgery as opposed to medicine, and Plastic Surgeons now do the majority of hand / wrist repair in the UK.


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[thekingofpain]

I used Dragon speech recognition a couple years ago to almost completely navigate the computer with ok success, and the more you use it the better it gets---with the right program it could be worth a try rather then torture typing-
My Opthalmologist uses it in his exam rooms instead of writing notes and paying to have them transcribed, works reliable enough for him...