3rdJanuary

deQuervain’s Tendinitis

Yup, I’ve got it. DeQuervain’s tendinitis that is. I’ve had it since Miles was about 1 month old which means that oh my god I’ve had it for one whole year now. After suffering through it for the first couple of months I finally went to see my primary care doctor. She diagnosed it but said that since I was nursing I really couldn’t take the medication necessary to reduce the swelling. She did kindly prescribe a nice brace for me to wear but I just couldn’t get it to work with my outfits. Kidding, I wore it for a little while but it didn’t really help.

Fast forward to two weeks ago. After suffering with this stupid, painful bump on my wrist I decided to get aggressive. I’m not pregnant, I’m not nursing, I can finally go after this thing and get rid of it once and for all. So I self-referred myself to a hand specialist (at least that is how the specialist put it). He agreed that it is deQuervain’s tendinitis and explained exactly what it is. Basically it is inflammation of the tendon sheath on the thumb side of your wrist. Any activity involving my thumb can be very painful. For example, last month I was carrying a bag of dog food and somehow tweaked my wrist just right an ouch! I felt the pain for at least a week. The swollen lump is also very tender.

The specialist gave me a cortisone injection, told me to wear my lovely brace for a week, and sent me on my merry way. Now I am wearing this cumbersome brace and clumsily typing away. New screens keep popping up randomly as I type this because my brace is hitting keys on my keyboard. It is also below zero outside and guess what? No gloves fit over this stupid thing. I had to force a huge snowboarding mitten on this morning just to cover my skin from the frigid temps.

The best part is, if the cortisone doesn’t work then I have to be cut open. Yeah, surgery is the next step. Wouldn’t that just be lovely. The one advantage of surgery is that it would prevent this from flaring up again, ever. I am afraid that without the surgery when I have my next darling (no news to report) it will be a problem again. But for now I am just hopeful that the current course of action will take care of everything.

2 Comments

Leslie says 6th January @ 20:23

Ouch! I hope the cortisone shot works for you.

meega7 says 26th January @ 12:17

HI. First I tried to sign up for the newsletter but it said your signup link was inactive. Second, I also have deguervains!! (My doc told me tho that i have Deguervains disease.. and that it can flare up at any time, or go into remission for however long. ) When I was younger I had carpal tunnel disease which runs in our family. My dad and others had multiple surgeries on their wrists, only to have it come back time and again, and to have more pain much of the time due to scar tissue issues. So I took the nonsurgical route, and would encourage you to do th same if possible. I upped my bcomplex, and you need to take a good soluable form, preferably in sublingual or spray , or liquid form. Then you need to up your antioxidants… and have a massage therapist or chiropractor work on your wrists.. it is painful initially and its slow… but within several months, my carpal tunnel and my deguervains went into remission. I Have only had 2 short times this year where the deguervains was not real tolerable and flared up. And like you, i also use write braces, but i found sometimes its better to use the longer brace..than the shorter ones. I am so happy I did not choose surgery, even tho I have a bad case of it. My doctor was great and willing to work with me either way. Wishing you the best… be well. cathy

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