Tender Tendon
Posted: Wed 7 September, 2011 | Author: Lyle | Filed under: Domestic, Health, Work-related |5 Comments »For the last month or so, I’ve been having issues with the tendon to my left thumb. I don’t know what the hell I did to it, but it’s been extra-painful.
The GP said it’s apparently tendonitis (or tendinitis, for some reason) and prescribed some weapons-grade anti-inflammatories that have done cock-all.
So I’m due back at the GPs in a couple of weeks, once the anti-inflammatories are finished, and we’ll see what gets said this time.
In the meantime, it has periods of being “OK-ish”, but then there are others where anything at all hurts. And I can’t fucking wait ’til those periods are over and done with.
The only cure for tendonitis is not to use the affected part. Hard when your job involves a keyboard and driving…
I suspect that it will improve greatly if you get some essential oil of chamomile and rub it on (you’re supposed to dilute it 1:10 with a carrier oil – any oil will do, even olive oil, but I don’t) several times a day.
IME, pharmaceuticals are absolutely useless for this condition and just have other unwanted effects.
Yeah, rest was recommended. However, it’s the extensor tendon of my left hand – and I’m left-handed.
At the same time, I haven’t been experiencing the pain while typing, using a mouse, or typing – indeed, I haven’t actually been able to identify the offending movement/action at all. Which is – to say the least – frustrating.
I’ll give the camomile a go though – will look for it at the weekend. Thanks!
The very best chamomile oil I’ve found is is that produced by Culpeper’s. I just went off to find a direct link and discovered that they went into administration in February. Damn.
Some info that may be of interest here (found in researching the above):
http://www.stevenfoster.com/education/monograph/chamomile.html
Roman Chamomile is the best – and is not cheap – many cheaper and more dilute/second or third distillation versions are available, but, with essential oils, you really do get what you pay for. Tisserand oils are probably the second most respected brand: eg http://www.amazon.co.uk/Tisserand-Chamomile-Roman-Organic-Essential/dp/B000NTFFCG/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1315488554&sr=8-2.
Chamomile (and several years of using VRS) made my RSI almost disappear… RSI is, of course, a form of tendonitis. I’m pretty sure that it will be keyboard use that has caused yours. I also suspect that you may have had the condition for longer than you think – the drug you were taking before could have been masking the symptoms (some info here: http://www.nationalpainfoundation.org/articles/742/medications ), therefore making recovery much more long-term as your body’s way of telling you you were overdoing things (ie producing pain) went unnoticed due to the masking of symptoms by the SSRI. I doubt your GP has thought of that…
Although you won’t always get pain when you use it, you will be exacerbating the problem by continuing to stress the nerve sheath. Rest it when you can. Trust me, I suffered for fifteen years!!!
If it gets really bad, a TENS machine works wonders: eg http://www.lloydspharmacy.com/en/tens-digital-pain-reliever-35300
Massage is also good – and is easy to do yourself. Do you know anyone who can show you the exact places to apply pressure?
And whatever you do, don’t let them tell you you need an operation. It rarely helps, and my hairdresser now wishes she’d listened to me when I told her not to as she’s now lost almost all feeling and movement in her thumb.
Drop me an email if I can help further – it’s rather a specialist subject of mine!!!
Did you spot the long comment I left yesterday lunchtime amidst the spam? It went to moderation (I suspect because there were several links in it), but, if you’re getting the same amount of spam as I am at present, you might not have noticed it.
Sorry, hadn’t logged in and seen it. – Sorted now.
I’m not getting a lot of spam at the moment, surprisingly.