OH, MY ACHING HANDS

**********

I KNEW I SHOULDN'T HAVE TRIED TO COOK!

**********

I overdid it this Christmas with all the cleaning and cooking I did, and now my hands are screaming in pain. It didn't help that Dan's knee started to swell up on Christmas Eve day and by Christmas Day he was in excruciating pain. I ended up cooking Christmas dinner. It's been a long time since I've handled a full blown meal like that (Dan usually wears the apron in our family.)

I am now at the point where I am starting to drop things, and I can't open a Coke bottle. I am having trouble writing. and I can't make a fist. I can't believe that my original symptoms started in late September in my left hand and now both hands are compromised. It’s like the right hand “caught it” from the left.

Aleve, ibuprofen and Celebrex aren’t working anymore, physical therapy is only briefly helpful and I have no vacation or sick time built up for surgery (not that I want that anyway.)

It's obvious something needs to be done. The first option I will explore is cortisone shots. If the doctor won't approve them for me or if they don't help, I am ready to consider alternative medicine. I'm not giving up on Vitamin B6 yet, but one website says I should have been taking 300 mg a day for the past three months. What??? My vitamin bottle says that 3 mg a day is 200% of the daily requirement. Can anyone say toxic?

That's the trouble with doing one's own research on the web. It's so confusing. Should I order something called Carpal Tunnel Solution? The testimonials sound good. But wait a minute, it costs $160.00 for the 28-day, two-hand “pack”. That’s pretty spendy.

How about herbal medicine? There’s an enzyme found in pineapples called bromelain. Maybe I should just eat a lot of pineapple. I do like pineapple but would probably end up hating it, like my Hawaiian college roommate who worked a summer in a pineapple canning factory. I could, however, take bromelain and herbs in supplements.

Shall I try accupressure, acupuncture, massage or chiropractors? I have never been a believer in chiropractors before, but maybe I should start now. There’s Hellerwork (deep-tissue body work) and Feldenkrais (movement re-education). Both sound German and painful.

Ultrasound, fluidotherapy, paraffin wax dips? Been there, done that, don’t work. Splints, ditto. Rest? Out of the question. Therapeutic touch and magnetic therapy? Therapeutic touch “does nothing”, and magnetic therapy “has no benefit for people with carpal tunnel syndrome”, pooh poohs Mayo Clinic.

The new Balloon Carpal Tunnel-Plasty? Is it even done here in Bismarck? Biofeedback, diet, laser therapy, hydrotherapy, yoga, hypnosis? Aack, too much research. I don’t have the time and money to fool around with all these remedies. Let’s hope the cortisone shots work. I am impatient, I know. I want a solution, now.

If anyone out there has found success with any of these methods, please write and let me know.

I keep telling myself I could have cancer or another terrible disease. But the fact is, I don't. I have carpal tunnel syndrome and when I feel my hands like dead weights at the end of my arms, all I can think is, I DON'T WANT THIS ANY MORE!

(Below - ad for Carpal Tunnel Solution)

(P.S. Dan's knee is fine now.)