Just a note to let you know that I haven't been on here lately as I am in a lot of discomfort with my carpal tunnel and ulnar nerve compression in both wrists.
I am at my sons again and having 2nd IV iron tomorrow and then IVIG on Monday. I have a lot of weakness and extreme fatigue with this anemia and issues. Not getting much done toward getting my house sold but then it is still winter in MN and ice is prevalent. Not warm enough to encourage cleaning and going to the dump. Supposed to get another foot of snow this weekend so they say!!!
I am still a work in progress at my coop apartment but slowly getting a few things done. I run so much to doctor, etc and am exhausted from all of this. I will leave my sons for home next week and then be back on the weekend as I have surgery on my worst wrist on Tuesday....if they don't cancel it because of my lower hemoglobin.
This will be an incision on this surgery versus laparscopy the first carpal tunnel surgeries on both wrists, one in 2004 and the other in 2013. This will make things a little more difficult. I expect to have more pain now also as I have really had some wicked pain at times. So it goes. If it isn't one thing it is another. We certainly have things happen that make us learn patience don't we. Interesting tidbit. My sister had a stroke in December and both of our houses are sitting empty now and to be sold. Happened within about 6 weeks of each other. We are 3 years apart in age with me being the oldest and we are both nurses. She is doing quite well but not able to drive due to vision damage and short term memory that made her stop driving. Thankfully, I can still drive and hope it continues til we get all this personal property taken care of. Have a good weekend. Irish
Good luck with the surgery Irish. Let us know how you are doing.
Good luck Irish.
Hope to you back in the forum soon.
Wishing you a speedy recovery. Take care
I hope all goes well with your treatment, Irish. The house can wait, your health is the priority. :)
Hope all goes well for you Irish. I agree at times it does seem like its never-ending. It's good you and your sister have each other to lean on. Hope the surgery and treatment go well...and it all passes quickly. Keep us posted when you are able.
Dear Irish,
So much is going on! And snow on top of everything medical in your life.......
It is wonderful that you can drive, and cope with snow, as well. Giving up driving (I began during my period of myoclonus and syncope, which is gone now, but I still don't drive) has been very confining for me. As the song says, "you don't know what you've got 'til it's gone". (Big Yellow Taxi, Joni Mitchell)
Anemia is exhausting. I slept my way through our last trip to China in 2007, due to severe anemia. Since then I take iron tablets twice a day, and don't have anemia. No 'cause' can be found for mine. Do you know why you're anemic? How often do you have to infuse iron?
I didn't know carpal tunnel problems could return after the laparoscopic surgery has been done. I'm sorry to hear this is happening to you, Irish. Immune Disorders attack our ligaments in so many ways, it seems.
Again I sing the praises of our magic window into the world with our computers and the internet. And of course the wonder of our Sjogren's Forum connecting us around the world. Imagine how isolated we would be in our Immune Disorder journey, if we were all alone.
Rest your body, mind and spirit, Irish. Know how much support, vital information, love and joy you bring to all of us here on our forum.
Love, Elaine
poor irish,im sorry you are going through all this and i send u my best thoughts of recovery from europe
Oh Irish, I wish you well. I can say that I had fairly conventional carpal tunnel surgery earlier this year. Other than the doctor not even getting all the stitches out the first time he removed them once it healed I felt much better. I can dress myself for the first time in a long time, it's wonderful!
(((Hugs))) Heal well!
Have to say that my first carpal tunnels in both wrists were straight forward with very little pain post op. I had pain off and on prior to surgery with a fair amount of night pain that kept me rolling in bed and unable to sleep.
This time both hands and wrists started sort of out of the blue and I certainly am not doing much physical compared to years ago. The pain was excruciating at times and I had so many other issues going on that I could not keep all the balls in the air at the same time. I have had to pick and choose what to deal with first. Also, with the advent of the cervical spinal cord compression I was told that a lot of my pain could be from this also. The EMG prior to my fusion showed definite ulnar and carpal issues.
I am sort of dreading the surgery cause I know this will be a painful recovery as I have pain most of the time and by night it is miserable. I use ice packs which help a lot and then heating pad at other times. Doctor says I should get some relief but he can't promise that I will get rid of all the pain. The muscle shrinkage is very noticeable and spasms are frequent. I try to exercise and massage my hand and fingers every day to help keep them alive. I can hardly turn a page in a magazine and folding clothes and any other work is hard and results in pain. The less I do the better off I am.
However, I am determined to rehab my hands and fingers so I can sew a little and crochet some also. I need something to keep my hands busy so they don't put food in my mouth. Yes, the Sjogrens wrecks havoc with the tendons and ligaments. I had the ruptured tendon in my little finger years ago...did it pulling a weed. Painful as heck. I could not bend that finger at all for years but massaged it every day to keep it limber and low and behold I can now bend the big joint about half way when I make a fist. It came as a surprise to me. This is also good cause a straight finger hits things and gets in the way all the time.
Take care all and stay warm and safe., The wind is howling in central MN with intermittant snow showers. Don't know how much snow we are supposed to get. Irish
Irish - wishing you a successful surgery and minimal pain afterwards. I'm glad you are staying at your sons house for now.
I've thought of you a lot this weekend as I heard weather reports for MN . . . hopefully, you won't get as much snow as they are predicting for your area.
Sending a hug and prayers for you Irish.
Bucky
Just to let you know that my carpal tunnel/ulnar repair was done over a week ago. The surgery went very well and the anesthesia was really good and they knew their stuff. The doc was really nice, the staff in this clinic/out pt surgery were awesome and the best I have dealt with in all these years. The doctor even called to check on me the next day as did his clinic.
I am home and feeling better. My iron infusions have helped I have more energy. The best thing is that carpal tunnel surgery seemed to relieve my back pain. My neurosurgeon had told me that the spinal cord compression of C4C5 was very likely also causing pressure on the medial nerve was probably causing issues in combination with the carpal tunnel. My spinal fusion earlier this year helped some. I have had a little back pain after this carpal tunnel but nothing like before surgery. I was in tough shape before surgery with my arms, hands, fingers, etc and back so was glad to have the surgery,. My hands are pooped from keyboarding. Irish
So glad to hear the surgery went well Irish!
Wishing you a speedy and full recovery! :-*
Dear Irish, so glad you came through the surgery with flying colors, and are recuperating and having less pain. Win win, all around.
Hugs, Elaine
Irish, so glad the surgery helped on more than one level. Wishing you all the best.
Irish, I'm glad to hear your surgery was a success and you feel better. Continue to recover from your surgery.
Take care,
Bucky
Irish,
I just read the good news, and I am so happy for you.
Hugs,
susanep
Just to let you know I asked my orthopedic surgeon who did my carpal tunnel surgery about autoimmune sjogrens being a cause of carpal tunnel and he said that of the autoimmue diseases sjogrens is more apt to cause the carpal tunnel problems.
I will have my other hand done in a couple of months. This is certainly causing me more discomfort this time and I am still icing and heating my wrists and now the right hand is worse because I use it more and it is getting all the strain.
I asked my surgeon that since I am 75 years old and doing this surgery for the second time on both wrists will I need to have it done a 3ed time. He said "no" and I am thinking.....we'll see.
All the literature one reads about Sjogrens talks of the tendonitis and carpal tunnel issues. They don't dwell ono the other tendons but those of us with problems know that we have issues in strange places.
This open incision at palm and wrist level was quite deep and is taking time to heal. A whole different ball game than doing the laproscopic surgery I had on the first 2 carpal tunnel surgeries I had.
Good luck irish
Hi Irish :)
Hoping the healing continues. Hang on in there!
Take care - Scottie :)