health.rsi

[wispfox]

Tendonitis is bad enough.

Not being able to read, cut my food, be on the computer at all, grasp or push anything for a month, if I wanted to not keep making myself worse? Bad enough.

The boredom from the above? Bad enough.

Having to now be very annoyed because I accidentally pushed myself too hard in strength work while not being able to tell when it got to tendons, too? So I was out of flare for a week, but have been back in for two? Bad enough.

Having to fight - and still fighting - to get on the short-term disability that work has, so I don't have no income for a month, and half for another? Insult on top of injury, especially considering how often people want things to be written. Or want me to go visit my doctor - who is a 40 minute drive each way, when gripping is part of the problem - when my doctor knows far less about what's going on than the PT who is a 5 minute drive away. They are currently claiming that there is not proof than I needed to be out of work for more than a week, and that it's a worker's comp claim (it's not - it was my own stupidity outside of work hours that pushed me over the edge into tendonitis. But at this point I'm kinda wishing it had been, so I could be done with this!). This is probably because it's difficult for me to get to my doctor, and I have no idea how often I ought to be visiting, anyway. It's not the doctor who is being helpful, it's PT. (and australian_joe, and my own developing awareness of what is too much, and chiro, and massage, and my patient/helpful/pushy roommate reminding me to not make myself worse by letting her do what she can that I should not, and... _not_ the goddamn MD who is the one that work and Short-term disability all want to talk to)

Worse yet? To need to send a form to my doctor - because I can't drive there to give it in person - in order to prove that I really am out of work for a good reason, and am not just slacking (this is something relating to being able to continue getting medical/dental/etc benefits while not working full-time). And when I get the form back? They seem to think that I ought to have been able to be working part time for a month, 6 visits to PT, and then be fine again. Also, they thought some paltry amount of ibuprofen 3xdaily would be sufficient. How the _hell_ did the doctor get that impression, when I went in to that office after having tried to go back to work the first time, and I got a note saying to not go back to work again until PT said I was ready?!

Why do I need to talk to a doctor who obviously knows very little about tendonitis when the PT is the one who knows what's going on? Why can't the PT be the one talking to HR and short term disability?

Beginning to think I need to try to track down a doctor who is tendonitis-aware. And _not_ someone whose first suggestion is surgery. And who is closer to home.

Also wish I could actually get an appointment with _my_ doctor about this, rather than just other doctors at the office. But she's not got time until July. Perhaps I should make an appointment for July. Can't hurt.

Sure, the pain isn't awful, unless I'm doing _way_ more than I should. This could either be because, hey, maybe I have high pain tolerance. Or, possibly, because it's about _NOT_ making myself worse.

Fuckers. I am _so_ tired of this.

I want to be able to work full-time. But I also want to not totally disable myself. And to be able to do anything with my goddamn hands again.

But first, I need to get my wrists back out of flare. Again. Which is so immesurably frustrating!

No wonder I have no bloody stamina.

I'm just glad I'd started saving up for my intended traveling/going back to school _before_ this, because it means I have a fair amount of savings to fall back on if I have to. Which I likely will, starting this pay period.

Comments

[ratatosk.livejournal.com]

Good luck! That sounds truly awful.

Also, I miss you.

[wispfox.livejournal.com]

missing: Ping me via email, and we'll figure out visiting!

(and yes, awfulness)

[australian-joe.livejournal.com]

First:

and that it's a worker's comp claim (it's not - it was my own stupidity outside of work hours that pushed me over the edge into tendonitis. But at this point I'm kinda wishing it had been, so I could be done with this!)

I didn't realise you were making this distinction.

Uh. It *is* a worker's comp thing.

If a job requires that their employees not do anything that uses a particular body part outside of work so as not to injure those parts - that is not a safe system of work. They take their employees as they find them, and that includes employees who use computers and PDAs recreationally for long hours outside work.

Your PDA use would likely not have caused you tendonitis if you weren't already close to your limit through work. Relying on you never going over that limit due to non-work use is like saying "our factory line is perfectly safe so long as you don't play football on the weekends".


Doctors:

PTs don't count as much for these sorts of things because (1) they don't require as much formal education, and (2) they are considered "too sympathetic" to the claimants. You are being pushed towards doctors precisely because they are less likely to write a favourable report.

However it *is* reasonable to object to the assessment both as being incorrect (3 ibuprofen daily is *not* the appropriate answer for someone who is crippled to the point of being unable to use household cutlery at the dinner table) and inconsistent with their prior assessment. You *can* go get a second opinion on your own recognizance from another GP, who may also be able to refer you to a specialist.

I am very surprised HR is giving you grief about this. Most IT employers are terrified of law suits from staff acquiring RSI/OOS conditions.


The strength work is what got you back into flare. Strength work is a luxury, to be done only when you're not actually hurting at any point in a week. NUMBER ONE RULE - DON'T GET WORSE!

Also, your PT is on crack for wanting strength work daily. *No-one* can get good results from that. You need a minimum one day of rest between working the same muscle group, and usually two days between any isolation exercises. Even when out of flare, twice weekly for any one exercise is probably the most you can manage... and you can rotate the exercises so are doing less muscle work in any one sitting.

ie. five exercises, do a subset of two exercises every second day.

It is ok for very short periods to up your anti-inflam dose. Rotate between the different sorts you have available as that helps minimise the effects of having too much overall.

Mew!

[wispfox.livejournal.com]

You should have linked to your post, with the 'Number one rule' bit. 'Course, that might not have helped with me feeling like you were telling me things I already knew! :)

PT & strength work: she keeps being confused, I think, by what she wants me to be able to do by the end of PT (be able to do 3 reps of 30 of each of the excercises w/5 lb weights). I feel sorta odd about having to explain to her how strength work is supposed to be done, since you'd figure this is her _job_, but I'll do my best to point out the whole 'rest between strength work, dammit' thing to her. I mean, I sorta knew that one shouldn't do it every day (kinda; I'm not sure I remembered it at any point, but I _did_ know, ever), but beyond that I had no idea.

I need to poke Lisa to get that part printed, because I'm _not_ going to remember, beyond 'not every day even if you weren't broken'.

[australian-joe.livejournal.com]

I kinda want to point you at any of thousands of weightlifting articles about the common mistake of over-training and the absolute need for sufficient rest between sessions.

Serious weightlifters will go a week between repeating any one exercise (but might do three separate unrelated things each day).

[jedi-diplomat.livejournal.com]

That completely and utterly sucks!! Really really hard core!

[randysmith]

Oh, I'm sorry. I wish I was surprised, but I'm not; at least, this was the attitude towards tendonitis when I was most struggling with it. But I'm sorry. Good luck with the windmill :-J.

[wispfox.livejournal.com]

Happen to know of any doctors who are actually tendonitis knowledgable?

[dancingwolfgrrl.livejournal.com]

Yuck! MDs are magic for many "certify this health thing" cases, sadly, even when they're *not* the ones in the best position to know about a patient's situation. Any chance your PT can talk to the MD on your behalf?

Hope everyone falls into line sooner rather than later!

[docorion.livejournal.com]

They want to talk to the doctor because a) doctors are at the top of the medical food chain; they don't want to go through multiple layers, and b) as australian_joe noted, PT's are viewed as being more sympathetic and less objective than doctors.

Believe you me, doctors, with few exceptions, hate having anything to do with those forms. (Or any forms, for that matter).

Having your PT bespeak your doctor is one of the best ideas I've seen in this thread. Suggest it to your PT, if possible.

I also concur that strength training daily is perhaps not the wisest possible course. Some strength training, yes. Daily, not so much. Every other day also seems best to me.

[wispfox.livejournal.com]

Already tried having the PT talk to my doctor. The best she can do is send updates, I think.

Happen to know of any tendonitis-aware doctors in greater boston?

(going to check w/PT to see if she has suggestions, on australian_joe's suggestion, but other options can't hurt)

[docorion.livejournal.com]

"Happen to know of any tendonitis-aware doctors in greater boston?"

The only hand guy I know in the Boston area is Joe Lenehan, who is at South Shore Hospital; for the record, he's an *excellent* surgeon, with a fairly gruff (and possibly off-putting) bedside manner. However, you almost certainly don't need surgery, which is a good thing. For the type of work you need, you need a physiatrist (also known as Physical Medicine and Rehab, or PM&R, specialist). Don't honestly know any in Boston, as their practice and mine intersects almost not at all. (I know one in Kona, HI, but that's because there are so few doctors there that I know them all :-)

[keyne.livejournal.com]

Andrea Wagner, MD, at Somerville Hospital. She's terrific.

[wispfox.livejournal.com]

Thank you! If the ortho I see later this morning seems not clueful, that info is going to be _very_ helpful!

[drwex]

Get voice recognition software for your computer. Start training it now. At least it's not sitting around being bored?

[wispfox.livejournal.com]

If I recall correctly, voice recognition software for linux is... less than available or good quality.

[drwex]

So, having asked People Who Know, it turns out you're correct. For pure Linux solutions the software sucks. The people I know in your situation are all running cheap PCs with cygwin on them to emulate the Unix environments, or expensive Macs that actually are Unix boxen underneath.