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Tuesday, March 11, 2008

Wristy Business

Carpel Tunnel Syndrome? It sucks. I have had it for quite some time, mostly in my right hand, but, also in my left. I had been dealing mostly with numbness and tingling, especially at night but at various points during the day as well. Gradually, it has gotten worse and more pronounced, and more recently the pain has gone from mild to major. I have woken up at night with my entire right arm sore, and it has continued to bother me during the day. I have a wrist support thing which helps at night but during the day? The wrist support is almost as annoying as the pain itself. I have also noticed generalized muscle weakness and while the support helps, well support and stabilize the wrist, it still screams with pain when I do anything with it that requires some strength (like picking Julia up for instance). I have to pick her up using my forearm rather than my hand itself, and even that hurts.

All of this brings me to this question: If money, health insurance and scheduling were of no concern, how long would you wait before consulting a physician about non-life threatening injuries/health problems?

Me? Forever, or maybe even never. And I don't have insurance or monetary concerns (I always have scheduling concerns but nothing that can't be worked around). I don't really get it to be honest with you. I mean, if my wrist was hanging off of the end of my arm by a thread or something similarly dramatic, there would be no question. I even went to the ER a few months ago when my gut instinct (oh and the chest pressure and not being able to breath) told me that I had more than the common cold (turned out to be pneumonia). When it comes to the non-life threatening things though? I could let it go forever. You?

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

I would not wait a real long time.
Its a huge hazard to Screen printers and I have seen some people with nasty cases of it that they have put off. If you wait to long its an operation and months of physical therapy. It will likely be physical Therapy now.
I would have it checked out if nothing else.

Anonymous said...

I wait at least forever. Sometimes longer. Is it wrong that I'm sort of happy when I don't have insurance for myself so I can avoid going when I probably should?

I have no problem with kicking other people into going when they probably should, or with taking the kids. Myself, though? Not so much.

Deb