Guest guest Posted November 1, 2006 Report Share Posted November 1, 2006 I really can't complain as I feel very good most of the time & now am headache free. Having an iron-clad immune system & never getting infections is also wonderful. But I do have pain in my hands & often in my shoulders too & would like to see what I can do to improve this. I don't remember the details or know whether it was one incident or a number of traumas as a child but my shoulders have always been a problem for me from an early age. I remember a teacher in elementary school making us do jumping jacks over & over, & I would practically cry from the pain, telling her how bad it hurt. Her response was for me to stop acting like a big baby. She had no idea how painful it was on my shoulder-arm joints. Even now, I can't do things that require my arms to be raised to shoulder level or above. A physical therapist who checked me out a number of years back said I had torn & scarred rotator cuff muscles & scarring in my teres major & minor muscles. Exercise therapy has only limited success & many I simply can't do. I did some weight training for a few years (sensibly, I might add) & while I could build strength in other areas, I never could build my deltoids or do exercises with more than 3-5 lb max. Even at 5 lb, it hurt so I backed down to 3 lb. Yet, I could do bicep curls with 15 lb no trouble at all. I don't know if this info is significant or not to help me. I'm not sure if from the shoulder injuries but I have almost constant pain between my fingers around the metacarpophalangeal joints. If I squeeze hard against the sore spots, deeper between the webbing of my fingers, it feels good while hurting differently but it's like a sort of relief. Using my hands lots or resting them makes no difference in pain so I use them, of course, as it's impossible to do my work without using my hands. Surprisingly, they're quite strong too for being small hands. I make a point of not letting my hands get cold but applying lots of warmth only eases the symptoms a very little. Two times in the past I got remarkable relief. One time was when I had nerve conduction tests done (found to be normal) but the small jolts of electricity applied to the elbow for testing relieved the pain in the one arm & hand tested for weeks! I'm tempted to stick my fingers in a light socket (joking, of course). The other time years ago, I had applied some Heet liniment & found no relief so reapplied it like it said could be done. Nothing. I forgot about it & a few hours later did a big load of dishes in the sink. When I put my hands in the hot water, they felt on fire! But boy, the relief from that too lasted a long time but that may be from depletion of Substance P that hot pepper salves can do. Any suggestions anyone on what I could do for my pain? I'm very used to it so it's become bearable & doesn't interfere with activity but I'd love it to be gone SO MUCH. Even with all the TCM treatments I've had & improvement with other things, there's been no difference with this. I just don't know how to go about easing this except for hot liniments & plunging my hands in hot water afterward. I use my hands for gardening (heavier work) but also for jewelry making during colder weather (delicate work). I find that there seems to be an increase in clumsiness the last while, with me dropping things much more often. Not sure if this relates to my problem either. Thank you everyone who reads this & has suggestions. Judy Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted November 1, 2006 Report Share Posted November 1, 2006 Hi, Judy: Two points that might provoke some thought: have you had an acupuncturist work on your elbow or forearms? Sounds like your test is much like electronic acupuncture, perhaps they inadvertantly applied the leads to a spot near an appropriate acupoint? What kind of liniments did you apply, what herbs were included? There may be some key herbs in those that could help your hands. Kind regards, Jack Two times in the past I got remarkable relief. One time was when I had nerve conduction tests done (found to be normal) but the small jolts of electricity applied to the elbow for testing relieved the pain in the one arm & hand tested for weeks! I'm tempted to stick my fingers in a light socket (joking, of course). The other time years ago, I had applied some Heet liniment & found no relief so reapplied it like it said could be done. Nothing. I forgot about it & a few hours later did a big load of dishes in the sink. When I put my hands in the hot water, they felt on fire! But boy, the relief from that too lasted a long time but that may be from depletion of Substance P that hot pepper salves can do. --- Judy Wilkins <isomorphix wrote: > I really can't complain as I feel very good most of > the time & now am headache > free. Having an iron-clad immune system & never > getting infections is also > wonderful. But I do have pain in my hands & often in > my shoulders too & would > like to see what I can do to improve this. > > I don't remember the details or know whether it was > one incident or a number > of traumas as a child but my shoulders have always > been a problem for me from > an early age. I remember a teacher in elementary > school making us do jumping > jacks over & over, & I would practically cry from > the pain, telling her how > bad it hurt. Her response was for me to stop acting > like a big baby. She had > no idea how painful it was on my shoulder-arm > joints. Even now, I can't do > things that require my arms to be raised to shoulder > level or above. A > physical therapist who checked me out a number of > years back said I had torn > & scarred rotator cuff muscles & scarring in my > teres major & minor muscles. > Exercise therapy has only limited success & many I > simply can't do. I did > some weight training for a few years (sensibly, I > might add) & while I could > build strength in other areas, I never could build > my deltoids or do > exercises with more than 3-5 lb max. Even at 5 lb, > it hurt so I backed down > to 3 lb. Yet, I could do bicep curls with 15 lb no > trouble at all. I don't > know if this info is significant or not to help me. > > I'm not sure if from the shoulder injuries but I > have almost constant pain > between my fingers around the metacarpophalangeal > joints. If I squeeze hard > against the sore spots, deeper between the webbing > of my fingers, it feels > good while hurting differently but it's like a sort > of relief. Using my hands > lots or resting them makes no difference in pain so > I use them, of course, as > it's impossible to do my work without using my > hands. Surprisingly, they're > quite strong too for being small hands. > > I make a point of not letting my hands get cold but > applying lots of warmth > only eases the symptoms a very little. Two times in > the past I got remarkable > relief. One time was when I had nerve conduction > tests done (found to be > normal) but the small jolts of electricity applied > to the elbow for testing > relieved the pain in the one arm & hand tested for > weeks! I'm tempted to > stick my fingers in a light socket (joking, of > course). The other time years > ago, I had applied some Heet liniment & found no > relief so reapplied it like > it said could be done. Nothing. I forgot about it & > a few hours later did a > big load of dishes in the sink. When I put my hands > in the hot water, they > felt on fire! But boy, the relief from that too > lasted a long time but that > may be from depletion of Substance P that hot pepper > salves can do. > > Any suggestions anyone on what I could do for my > pain? I'm very used to it so > it's become bearable & doesn't interfere with > activity but I'd love it to be > gone SO MUCH. Even with all the TCM treatments I've > had & improvement with > other things, there's been no difference with this. > I just don't know how to > go about easing this except for hot liniments & > plunging my hands in hot > water afterward. I use my hands for gardening > (heavier work) but also for > jewelry making during colder weather (delicate > work). I find that there seems > to be an increase in clumsiness the last while, with > me dropping things much > more often. Not sure if this relates to my problem > either. > > Thank you everyone who reads this & has suggestions. > > Judy > ______________________________\ ____ Everyone is raving about the all-new Mail (http://advision.webevents./mailbeta/) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted November 1, 2006 Report Share Posted November 1, 2006 Thanks for answering, Jack. I've not had an acupuncturist work on my hands, arms or elbows in regard to the pain. I never even mentioned it before as I had more pressing things bothering me (constant headaches & mental-emotional agitation from ADHD). But I will next time I see my TCM doctor. The nerve conduction tests were done by a neurologist a few years back & not related to TCM at all. It's possible the electrical application was near an acupoint. The only liniment I ever applied was HEET. The active ingredients are methyl salicylate (which I hate the smell of so don't use any more - it's not natural but synthetic wintergreen), camphor (which I love the smell), & capsaicin (what makes hot peppers so hot). It's now known that capsaicin temporarily relieves pain by depleting a natural body chemical called Sunstance P which transmits pain signals to the brain. The pain will still be there but no longer felt when the chemical is depleted. But the body naturally builds it up again & the pain will once again be felt. The surprising thing is I didn't feel it again for a couple of weeks. That's not normally how it works. It will generally return the next day. So I can't say anything about herbs helping my hands since there were none except if you include hot peppers. I used to regularly take turmeric powder to see if it would help since the active ingredient in it is a more powerful COXX II inhibitor than Vioxx. But maybe it's not 'real' arthritis I have as it did nothing even after weeks of taking it daily. I still use it but more in cooking. I know that turmeric is often used in herbal packs for inflammation. There seems to be no signs of inflammation in my hands or fingers. Neither my hands nor my feet ever swell or retain water or look puffy. Judy On Tuesday 31 October 2006 4:49 pm, Jack Sweeney wrote: > Hi, Judy: > > Two points that might provoke some thought: have you > had an acupuncturist work on your elbow or forearms? > Sounds like your test is much like electronic > acupuncture, perhaps they inadvertantly applied the > leads to a spot near an appropriate acupoint? > > What kind of liniments did you apply, what herbs were > included? There may be some key herbs in those that > could help your hands. > > Kind regards, Jack Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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