5 ms·

It's not beneficial to believe that you have "RSI". That's like saying you have "cancer" and are treating it with chemotherapy. What if you just had Thyroid Can

It's not beneficial to believe that you have "RSI". That's like saying you have "cancer" and are treating it with chemotherapy. What if you just had Thyroid Cancer, in which case you merely needed to take a special iodine pill. In other words, both cancer and "RSI" do not have a single treatment. RSI doesn't have to be this chronic, debilitating condition... but in my experience, you can't put too much faith in orthopedic docs/surgeons, either. I find orthobullets.com to be a very useful source of information on orthopedic conditions. Give it a look and see if your symptoms really do align... https://www.orthobullets.com/hand/6021/cubital-tunnel-syndrome https://www.orthobullets.com/hand/6021/cubital-tunnel-syndro...

rickydroll 3y ago
I've been living with this problem since 1994. Some of the symptoms match up with cubital tunnel syndrome in that my hands feel split along the middle finger ring finger line. At the same time, the palms hands feel like they are burning, and my shoulders are caused me low-level discomfort. If I overdo it, the pain migrates up into my neck. sometimes my forearms and fingers swell. When the finger swelling happens, I lose mobility in my fingers. I've also lost fine motor control and can no longer do things like write. One of the drugs they put me on gave me tremors that have not gone away so now I can no longer write or use a soldering iron. Sometimes tremors are bad enough typing is literally hit or miss. I miss juggling and cartooning. For the first 10 years I chased doctor after doctor hand surgeon orthopedic surgeon etc. looking for a cure. Nobody gave me consistent diagnosis and even some of the recommended surgical interventions for some of my symptoms were not recommended because I didn't present in a way that indicated the surgery would be successful. I've tried numerous things acupuncture, physical therapy, trigger point massage, and drugs like gabapentin and tricyclic antidepressants. The only thing that gave me any relief whatsoever was lidocaine injections in trigger points around my shoulders. The release lasted only 48 hours but it was so wonderful. I've given up that there's any medical intervention that will help and I just have to live with it the rest of my life.
- stronglikedan 3y ago
  I went to a few MDs as well, for what presented like de quervain's tenosynovitis. It was only in my right hand, thankfully, so I could still mouse with my left. I also could use nothing but a split keyboard, which made it tough to use a laptop. And I could no longer use my phone with my right hand either. But after a while, I started getting symptoms in my left as well. Obviously, no where near as bad as your case, but there nonetheless, for years. MD after MD told me there was nothing wrong with my hand, so nothing they could do. Finally, after no longer being able to trust my right hand at all, because it would just randomly let go of whatever I was holding, no matter what size object, I finally went to a DO who takes a wholistic approach. After a few sessions of soft tissue therapy, involving massage, scraping and cupping, combined with stretching and strength training exercises, I'm pretty much back to normal. He worked from my neck down, to get the nerves to "floss" correctly through my system, down to my hand. I've now moved past the treatment part, but as long as I maintain the daily stretches and strength training, both hands are pretty much back to normal. I do have minimal pain in the right hand if I have a particularly grueling work week, but I'm back to using normal keyboards and even laptop keyboards. And I can mouse and use my phone with my right hand again. I can even trust my right hand to not drop things anymore. Of course, YMMV, but traditional doctors couldn't get the job done for me. I'm so grateful it didn't discourage me after a years long journey, and I'm grateful for the wholistic approach that worked.
  - gymbeaux 3y ago
    My experience has been that orthopedic surgeons are BAD at diagnosis. This is at least partially because they are always in such a hurry (in the US anyway). You were smart to persist and I'm glad you found a solution. Your solution is essentially one that has not only helped me tremendously, but I think would help so many others too. So many who blindly trust what the docs tell them. I don't blame people for trusting in medical professionals, but I do blame them for believing what these docs tell them when it goes against what they believe (e.g. doc says hands are fine but they hurt constantly). At that point you MUST take responsibility for your diagnosis and treatment, and it sucks, and it's not ideal, but if I hadn't done it, I'd be unemployed and on disability by now.
- 3y ago
gymbeaux 3y ago
[flagged]
- rickydroll 3y ago
  As far as I know I didn't vote down the comment. If I did,, it was by accident as this site is not very friendly to speech recognition and shaky hands..
  - gymbeaux 3y ago
    No worries, I just have to imagine the downvotes are coming from people who aren't familiar with orthopedics, otherwise I don't see why they'd downvote... but downvoting reduces visibility, so potentally-valuable content is seen by far fewer people. If something I said is incorrect, that's what you want to see happen, but if it's not, it's only hurting others. No skin off my back if I lose fake Internet points.

rickydroll 3y ago

I've been living with this problem since 1994. Some of the symptoms match up with cubital tunnel syndrome in that my hands feel split along the middle finger ring finger line. At the same time, the palms hands feel like they are burning, and my shoulders are caused me low-level discomfort. If I overdo it, the pain migrates up into my neck. sometimes my forearms and fingers swell. When the finger swelling happens, I lose mobility in my fingers. I've also lost fine motor control and can no longer do things like write. One of the drugs they put me on gave me tremors that have not gone away so now I can no longer write or use a soldering iron. Sometimes tremors are bad enough typing is literally hit or miss. I miss juggling and cartooning. For the first 10 years I chased doctor after doctor hand surgeon orthopedic surgeon etc. looking for a cure. Nobody gave me consistent diagnosis and even some of the recommended surgical interventions for some of my symptoms were not recommended because I didn't present in a way that indicated the surgery would be successful. I've tried numerous things acupuncture, physical therapy, trigger point massage, and drugs like gabapentin and tricyclic antidepressants. The only thing that gave me any relief whatsoever was lidocaine injections in trigger points around my shoulders. The release lasted only 48 hours but it was so wonderful. I've given up that there's any medical intervention that will help and I just have to live with it the rest of my life.

stronglikedan 3y ago
I went to a few MDs as well, for what presented like de quervain's tenosynovitis. It was only in my right hand, thankfully, so I could still mouse with my left. I also could use nothing but a split keyboard, which made it tough to use a laptop. And I could no longer use my phone with my right hand either. But after a while, I started getting symptoms in my left as well. Obviously, no where near as bad as your case, but there nonetheless, for years. MD after MD told me there was nothing wrong with my hand, so nothing they could do. Finally, after no longer being able to trust my right hand at all, because it would just randomly let go of whatever I was holding, no matter what size object, I finally went to a DO who takes a wholistic approach. After a few sessions of soft tissue therapy, involving massage, scraping and cupping, combined with stretching and strength training exercises, I'm pretty much back to normal. He worked from my neck down, to get the nerves to "floss" correctly through my system, down to my hand. I've now moved past the treatment part, but as long as I maintain the daily stretches and strength training, both hands are pretty much back to normal. I do have minimal pain in the right hand if I have a particularly grueling work week, but I'm back to using normal keyboards and even laptop keyboards. And I can mouse and use my phone with my right hand again. I can even trust my right hand to not drop things anymore. Of course, YMMV, but traditional doctors couldn't get the job done for me. I'm so grateful it didn't discourage me after a years long journey, and I'm grateful for the wholistic approach that worked.
- gymbeaux 3y ago
  My experience has been that orthopedic surgeons are BAD at diagnosis. This is at least partially because they are always in such a hurry (in the US anyway). You were smart to persist and I'm glad you found a solution. Your solution is essentially one that has not only helped me tremendously, but I think would help so many others too. So many who blindly trust what the docs tell them. I don't blame people for trusting in medical professionals, but I do blame them for believing what these docs tell them when it goes against what they believe (e.g. doc says hands are fine but they hurt constantly). At that point you MUST take responsibility for your diagnosis and treatment, and it sucks, and it's not ideal, but if I hadn't done it, I'd be unemployed and on disability by now.
3y ago

gymbeaux 3y ago

[flagged]

rickydroll 3y ago
As far as I know I didn't vote down the comment. If I did,, it was by accident as this site is not very friendly to speech recognition and shaky hands..
- gymbeaux 3y ago
  No worries, I just have to imagine the downvotes are coming from people who aren't familiar with orthopedics, otherwise I don't see why they'd downvote... but downvoting reduces visibility, so potentally-valuable content is seen by far fewer people. If something I said is incorrect, that's what you want to see happen, but if it's not, it's only hurting others. No skin off my back if I lose fake Internet points.