Ask Dr. LJ (srsly)

[prog]

So something went b'doink in a non-TMI region of my body. Coincidentally, I have a physical coming up in a couple of weeks. I am looking for confirmation that it's OK to wait for that, or if I should run-not-walk to the doctor's office to escalate this.

Since Saturday afternoon -- so, for three days now, without letup -- my right forearm has felt somewhat numb and rather painful, from elbow to fingertips. The pain recedes for several hours whenever I eat ibuprofen, but the numbness stays: an unpleasant tingle, especially on all the affected area's skin. It feels especially weird on the inner surfaces of my fingers.

The pain arrived in a sudden rush while I worked on Saturday, and has remained since. But I otherwise feel great, and my arm is fully functional, with no muscular weakness or anything. So: thoughts? Meh wait it out (with a doc appointment after two weeks), or holy shit, jmac, pick up the phone now?

Comments

[ruthling.livejournal.com]

I'm not a doctor, but I'd vote for waiting it out unless it gets much worse or spreads. Sounds like a repetitive stress-type thing though, so maybe you're overdoing the keyboarding or similar work. My suspicion might be a pinched nerve or overuse in the shoulder area.

[cnoocy]

Does it respond to icing or heating?

[prog.livejournal.com]

Yeah, washing my hands or showering under hot water feels great. I haven't tried ice yet.

[cnoocy]

Heat before doing work, ice after. But I'm going to go with jadelennox here. Stop doing any mousing or typing until after you've talked to a doctor about this. If you want evidence for doing so, compare my hand issues with hers.

[prog.livejournal.com]

Hrm. I'll take it easy today and follow up tomorrow, then.

The gmail ads accompanying this conversation are entertainingly alarming.

[jadelennox]

Sound like a pinched nerve, but I am always in favor of running/not walking to the nearest doctor's office when hands start to get numb. Personally.

[taskboy3000.livejournal.com]

Sounds like RSI. You may have pissed off some nerves in your arm.

You may want to try focusing on ero while working. You may need to stop typing/digiting at all for a few days.

But I am not a doctor.

[radtea.livejournal.com]

I'm voting for RSI, so there seems to be some consensus on that. I'm generally a believer that the best medicine is the delivery of as much nothing as possible, and given that a doc is unlikely to be able to do much for it except maybe give you a stronger anti-inflamatory waiting probably isn't going to do a lot of harm.

You might wanna talk to a (sane) chiropractor, although I'm not totally sure how you pick the sane ones from the crazies. I believe there is some association of non-wingnut chiropractors--the ones who focus on empirical results and ignore wack-job theories--but have no idea what it's called.

[hrafn.livejournal.com]

When you see the dr., see if you can get a referral to a physical therapist or to someone who is likely better at diagnosing muscle/nerve/skeletal things than J. Random Internist, MD. Because like the other commenters, this sounds to me like an RSI thing, or like some other pinched/angry nerve thing. Possibly a trigger point thing (which is a really obnoxiosly tight muscle knot).

"It's Not Carpal Tunnel Syndrome" is a good book, in the meantime.

If it were me, I'd probably try to get a sooner appointment with someone who could do something therapeutic (massage therp, PT, chiro, whatever); angry muscles get more difficult to appease the longer you leave them angry.

[karlvonl.livejournal.com]

I don't know if my results are typical, but when I was struggling with RSI issues 3 years ago, the doctors only made it worse. So based on that, my advice would be to figure out what causes the issue, and adjust your work habits and/or the ergonomics of your workspace to prevent further problems.