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Member
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Join Date: Sep 2011
Location: Chicago
Posts: 306
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Member
Join Date: Sep 2011
Location: Chicago
Posts: 306
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Waiting to Hear about Spread
Ahh this waiting is driving me nuts!
A few months ago I started having pain in my wrist. It kept getting worse and then I started having thumb pain as well, so I finally saw my orthopedic surgeon. He first started me on an NSAID and put me in a brace, but then when that wasn't helping, he sent me to physical therapy since I couldn't have an MRI done because of my SCS. The thumb pain is tendonitis, supposedly from compensating for the wrist, and I have definitely noticed improvements with that with physical therapy. The pain in the wrist has been more of a shift, though. It's less mechanical and now feels like nerve pain. I remember this is how it was with each of my knees when the RSD started in those. After describing the symptoms to my therapist, including the oh-so-awful burning, she vocalized my fear: that the RSD is probably spreading. My ortho said, though, that he wanted to make sure to rule out anything else like nerve impingement before we say RSD for sure, since I do have some numbness in my fingers sometimes and scar tissue in the wrist from a past surgery. I told my pain management doctor about this before my SCS revision surgery on Thursday and he was ok with the plan too. So I went for an NCV nerve test on Friday and I don't see my OS til Wednesday and then my PM hopefully on Thursday.
Who would have thought that I'd ever want to see positive results from that test? I'm hanging onto the hope that it's something else and a big coincidence, but I feel chances are greater that it's the RSD spreading. My PT also said that since I had surgery in this wrist before, about 10 years ago, that it could be a "weak link" which would explain a lot. I don't know how I'm going to deal with it in a whole additional area if it is. I'm so anxious to hear the results!
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