De Quervain's Disease

d.a.walker · Post by **d.a.walker** » Wed Mar 14, 2007 5:57 am

Yep, I have officially worn out my right thumb. I have been diagnosed with De Quervain's Disease and I have to stop playing the piano for the near future. I'm really really depressed about it.

I have to have steroid injections into my thumb. I can't even use my mobile phone, play the playstation, write with a pen. It just sucks.

Everything seems to be going wrong for me at the moment.

Post by **alx5962** » Wed Mar 14, 2007 8:26 am

This is a very sad news, even more for a musician...

d.a.walker · Post by **d.a.walker** » Wed Mar 14, 2007 8:51 am

What is more frustrating is that I'm having to learn to do routine tasks with my left hand. I can't even turn on a tap or unscrew a bottle with my right hand now but I keep trying to out of habit and it's agonising. All I can do at the moment is put my hand in an ice pack when it gets really bad. I'm not looking forward to the injections either because they sound very painful.

My mother and grandmother both suffer/ed from severe rheumatism in their hands, hips and knees. My mother started getting it in her knees in her 20's and in hands during her 30's too. I had to have an arthroscopy in 2000, at the age of 24, in my right knee along with a release of my knee cap. What also scares me is that I am allergic to ibuprofen, one of the main pain reliefs for the disorder. My gran had both of her hips and knees replaced, and died due to complications of a third knee replacement.

I'm so scared about my health now as I seem to be going down the same path.

blue · Post by **blue** » Wed Mar 14, 2007 1:45 pm

That's really sad, Daniel. Arthritis is such a bugger, and being allergic to Ibuprofen doesn't help.

I don't know if it's of interest, but my GP told me recently that she'd rather I take paracetamol when the arthritis in my hips is really bad (unfortunately it runs in my family too - my father and my grandmother had to have both hips replaced in their 40s, which is a worry for me as I approach 40), she's not keen on using Ibuprofen at all because of the potential side-effects of long term use. I didn't realise it but I was already suffering some ill-effects of it. I've switched to paracetamol and so far it seems OK.

The steroid injections are a bit horrible but they are necessary and will help.

Post by **sound world** » Wed Mar 14, 2007 4:10 pm

That's really sad,Daniel.I completely sympathise insofar as playing the piano goes; I know I'd be completely lost without the piano.
Best of luck to you.

wirbel · Post by **wirbel** » Wed Mar 14, 2007 9:18 pm

hang in there Daniel! even though things look bad you will learn to deal with them; maybe you'll get really good using your left arm and you'll be able to record songs with that. Having a slight disability in my hands myself (that may deteriorate as well) it's no fun to not be able to do certain things (well), but i'm always trying nevertheless; it gives a good feeling when you make something work...

I hope the injections will work and you're not having much pain. And maybe there's other painkillers that work?

Post by **RobB** » Wed Mar 14, 2007 11:57 pm

My sympathy to both Daniel and Beth.....it seems you're both having to endure the pain and misery at fairly young ages.
Its bad enough to watch my Dad hobbling about with his arthritic knee but he's 75 and you have to expect fair wear and tear at that age but to be in your 20's/30's.....not even middle aged, then that must be really horrible situation to be in.

Good luck to you both.

d.a.walker · Post by **d.a.walker** » Thu Mar 15, 2007 12:09 am

What amazes me is the speed in which it happened, literally from fine to agony. I even had x-rays just to rule out a fracture the pain was so bad. I can so sympathise with you Beth, because like Rob said, to be worrying about this in your 30's is not right. I'm so scared by the sudden onset of this. My knees got a lot better after I lost about 45kgs in weight 2 years ago, but they still make the most awful noise when I bend down and up again. It's also scared me at how much my health is mirroring my mother and grandmother.

Have you had the injections Beth? How much did they help initially or did they take a while to show the benefits?

I've been trying paracetamol but it's been not too effective, only briefly relieving. The dr is probably going to prescibe me some panadeine forte, which spaces me out a bit but is great pain relief.

I'm just glad I recorded the instrumental tracks for my album, because I can't now. Not being able to do that would have been very damaging. I just hope that the injections are going to work well. I almost felt like saying to the dr, 'but will I ever play the piano again?'

Post by **RobB** » Thu Mar 15, 2007 12:17 am

I hope you can (both) take some heart from the fact that medical science is advancing all the time, and so what was suffered by previous generations in your family doesn't mean that you're going to have to suffer in the same way.
Even five years is a long time in medicine.

blue · Post by **blue** » Thu Mar 15, 2007 1:17 am

d.a.walker wrote:What amazes me is the speed in which it happened, literally from fine to agony. I even had x-rays just to rule out a fracture the pain was so bad.

From what I've found out recently Dan, rheumatoid arthritis can and does sometimes begin quite suddenly, there are different triggers and progression rates for different people even within families. Although I've always known I was at risk of developing arthritis at a younger-than-usual age, I hadn't had any symptoms at all until about two years ago. I only went to the doctor late last year, after a series of falls that I thought might be connected. Initially they x-rayed my hips and said everything looked fine, but it gradually emerged via other health problems and further blood tests that I've contracted a virus which has sent my immune system doolally. It's triggering various kinds of inflammation in the soft tissues, which is what they put the pain I'm in down to, but they've now said it HAS triggered the arthritis. Between the x-rays taken back in the autumn and the one in February, the difference is visible. It's so annoying because if I hadn't contracted the virus, I might well have gone a few years yet before developing arthritis.

d.a. walker wrote:Have you had the injections Beth? How much did they help initially or did they take a while to show the benefits?

I've not had them myself yet and will put it off as long as I can, purely because I'm terrified of injections.

But my father had steroid shots toward the end of the period before he had the hip replacements, and although he didn't exactly look forward to them, they did help considerably with his movement. I don't think he'd have been able to keep working as long as he did without them.

d.a. walker wrote: The dr is probably going to prescibe me some panadeine forte, which spaces me out a bit but is great pain relief.

I do find codeine a great painkiller, but like you I react very weirdly to it so I only take it when I'm absolutely desperate and I can take the next day off work. I made the mistake of taking it AT work last year and suffice to say, my manager sent me home because I was apparently saying very odd things and had no clue what I was doing.

You will find a way to come to terms with it Dan, unfortunately with arthritis and its many interesting variants there is really nothing else you can do. It's in the genes, it's been triggered, and that's it. It's not going away, so just get your pain relief right, take it easy on yourself and gradually you'll learn to live with it.

Post by **sound world** » Thu Mar 15, 2007 1:26 am

When I thought I had arthritis a couple of years back (I didn't),lots of people I know in the alternative health field were saying 'drink cider vinegar' (with hot water/honey) which is supposed to help stop the advance.
Tastes absolutely fecking horrible though,even with honey

blue · Post by **blue** » Thu Mar 15, 2007 1:46 am

I think honey is one of those cure-alls, isn't it. I've recently been advised to start inhaling a honey infusion to help with my asthma, apparently a lot of asthmatics have found it useful. I might look into it, anything is a worth a try at this point. The steroid inhalers don't seem to be keeping it under proper control.

barrett · Post by **barrett** » Thu Mar 15, 2007 12:11 pm

Have you folks tried Cod liver oil for your arthritis ?
I started to get arthritic pain in my shoulder .elbow and knuckle joints about 3 years ago.After suffering the agonising ache for a few weeks ,someone recomended cod liver oil capsules which i started taking ,one a day.Within a week the pain had completely gone ,but if i missed a day it returned .
So now i take one every morning and am pain free,even though it means
breaking my vegetarian diet.

Post by **RobB** » Thu Mar 15, 2007 2:58 pm

blue wrote:I made the mistake of taking it AT work last year and suffice to say, my manager sent me home because I was apparently saying very odd things and had no clue what I was doing.

I suppose if nothing else its kind of reassuring that your manager noticed the difference in your bahaviour!

Post by **RobB** » Thu Mar 15, 2007 3:03 pm

barrett wrote:After suffering the agonising ache for a few weeks ,someone recomended cod liver oil capsules which i started taking ,one a day.Within a week the pain had completely gone ,but if i missed a day it returned .

That is suspiciously quick as usually they say it takes a good six months for the oil to spread in the system and to take affect.

Its good stuff though and i use to take bottled cod liver oil for a few years but unfortunately it is rather fattening so I gave it up in the end.