Any of you have arthritis in your hands? Is it supposed to hurt this much? I can’t make a fist, and it’s swollen up around the knuckle of my second finger. Feels like it may be broken, and I’m wondering if it is, or if I’ve just aggravated the heck out of it. I took a spill a couple of weeks ago, and it’s been bothering me ever since, but not nearly so bad as it has the last couple of days. I stressed it a bit while mowing the lawn, and now I can’t grip anything. (Even a fly rod) What say ye? X-rays in order?
I feel for you Lew, I have a touch of it myself, maybe you should try holding a bag of ice? Seems to help me sometimes. But in a day or two(right here on 4th of July weekend) if it’s not better get the x-rays.
It sounds as if you may have broken it!! Better get it checked out.
I’d get the xrays. If something is wrong, the longer you wait, the more trouble they will have fixing it. If it is arthritis, you will know and the doc can start you on stuff to help if you need it. If you don’t have a history, it is probably something that got torn up.
I’ve had a bit of arthritis in the finger joints and knuckles, but nothing like this. Tried the ice pack thing, and it feels better when the cold is on, but worse when the cold’s removed. If it’s not improved by morning, it’s going to the Urgent Care. Thanks for the input folks.
Hope you went to Urgent Care - how about a report please?
Hugs,
LF
Hope you went to Urgent Care - how about a report please?
Hugs,
LF
Well, now I really do feel like a crybaby. Had the x-ray done, with no cracks or breaks detected, and the doc said he couldn’t really see much evidence of arthritis. Looks like the inflamation is mostly from soft tissue damage of some kind. The plan is to baby it and ice it, and take the Ibuprofen. It was a bit better this morning, but got progressively worse as the day wore on. Think I’ll tape something to my rod handle to make it fatter. It doesn’t hurt so much when the radius is larger. Thanks, and Fish on folks.
There’s something about fingers, they just hurt at the slightest insult. Give it a break before you go fishing again. That must have been some lawn mowing you did.
Lew
I’m only 48 and I’ve got arthritis in my hands and even on my worst day I can make fists with both hands. Take your butt to the ER and have it x-rayed!!!
Fatman
Looks like maybe a trip to a specialist is in my future. Ibuprofen and ice doesn’t help a whole lot, and it gets sore as a toothache and swells if I use it much at all. X-rays didn’t show anything cracked or broken, or even significant arthritis. It’s got to be soft tissue damage of some kind. Tendon or ligament tear seems likely. Can’t live with it this way, so it’s on to somebody who knows about these things. I can’t slow down my fishing any, 'cause I haven’t been out for a couple of months. Twisting the wheel on the lawn mower aggravated the (insert expletive) out of it.
My doctor here in Livingston told me to use Tylenol for my hand problem, yes arthritis. Better to reduce swelling and doesn’t tear up your stomach.
Try it.
Hugs,
LF
Lew,
Some time back, well, waaaaaaay back, I injured my foot during a parachute jump. It swelled up and turned colors, but I had seven more loads to jumpmaster that day, so I laced my boot up as tight as I could stand it and made seven more jumps. The I went to the hospital. X-rays found no breaks and the Doctor advised me to keep it elevated and iced til the swelling went down. The next morning it was really swollen and sore as all get out. Back to the hospital and another X-Ray. This time it showed seven different breaks in seven different bones. Funny how seven keeps popping up, but it’s the truth. I guess the first x-ray may not catch things that a second one shows. Just sayin.
REE
Pain is nothing but weakness leaving the body…eh? How comes I keep on getting weaker? LOL!
[quote] “Looks like maybe a trip to a specialist is in my future.”
Lew,
By all means, don’t consider it “being a baby” to go see a hand specialist or orthopedist. They really can help. Speaking from experience here…breaks are not at all the most painful, at least in my case. There are many anti-inflammatories available too. Good luck with it. Whether arthritis or an injury, a specialist will be able to help you.
Well I can tell you from personnel experiance that if it is broken you better get it looked at.
This was me this march…
I also have arthritis in my hands , back, knees, shoulder, and wrist…
Baclofen and celibrix keep me moving enough to fish but after a bout 800meters everything hurts so there is not sense stopping then…
I once sprained my right ankle, five weeks later got X-rays done, and the Doc says "breaks like this are usually in a cast!!
DO NOT BE A TOUGH GUY… Get things checked out - that is my advise.
Thanks for all the replies folks. I did get out this week, but it was a stillwater trip, and mostly trolling flies. Still quite a bit of discomfort in the hand, and it did affect the fishing ability, but it seems to be slowly improving. I can aaaalmost make a fist without discomfort now, but still can’t apply stress without a lot of pain. I did remember an event that is almost surely the main cause of the injury. After falling on it, and aggravating the arthritis, I was stapling some thick documents together, and felt the twinge of pain. My reaction to that was to crank down hard on the stapler( just to teach it a lesson) and I felt something pop in the hand. Didn’t think too much about it at the time, but I’m sure that’s what resulted in the pain I’m having now. My son is an Occupational Therapist, and he advised me to run water as hot as I can stand on it, while gently squeezing a washcloth, followed by applying ice. It has helped a lot, but improvement is slow. I don’t know why it takes so long for my brain to realize that I ain’t a kid any more, and can’t do things the way I used to. A half second of thought before acting would have prevented this injury. Thanks again for your input.