Wednesday, January 22, 2014

Thumbs

Weird thing was, the night after the massage, I woke up with my thumb aching and pinching hard, both wrists very painful. Got up at 3AM to take drugs, laid ice on the thumb (CMC joint, to be specific), and tried to find a neutral way to rest. Good enough to sleep up to the alarm. Rubbed capsaisin I had at work, once I got there. By mid morning, I took off the brace, and it all felt about back to normal. Hot rub on the scapular knot as well, which seemed to get rid of the rest of it. Last night, ice massaged my thumb (which was stunningly fun) laid on the spiky-rubber ball well into the night, no issues with thumbs nor wrists this morning.



I know massage can mean more pain the next day, but this seemed so distant and random. Pain to wake me in the wee hours bothers me immensely. In no small part because I'm at my utter worst at 3AM. D says I have 3AM courage, which means a great deal, that I will still deal well with a crisis when I'm running on fumes and drugged with sleep. I'd prefer to sleep through it. Too many migraines have hit me at that hour, forcing myself up and opening unopenable migraine drugs -- "here, take heavy narcotics and defuse this bomb."

Have scheduled a follow up massage next month. Because I did NOT have any remains of the permaheadache I'd been dealing with for weeks. Day off after the next one.


Just weird.

4 comments:

the polish chick said...

i've been waking up at night with pain in my forearms and elbows for months now. one turned into the daytime fun of tennis elbow (right) but the left is fine in the day, just bothers me at night. waking up and finding a better position has become normal for me. perhaps it oughtn't be normal, but finding the time to see the doctor and then complaining about something so vague…well, i just live with it for now.

glad your headache's gone. chronic headaches are horrid.

Zhoen said...

pc,
There is a brace/strap for tennis elbow that I've used a few times, very helpful. Tiger balm, ice, and finding out what I was doing to irritate it, and changing that, coaxed it away.

As long as it eases, that's probably all you need. I've found that actively prodding and watching, I can usually find a workaround.

gz said...

Interesting as we both have trouble with this joint, The Pirate, thanks to sixty years of spannering, myself-on both hands, potting,smallholding,being a mum...
Anyhow, look at the congestion/puffiness you may see in your forearm. Think "Tennis Elbow" ? Think of the congestion in between the ligaments and other various bits...working on these relieves pain for us, as well as working on the thumb and palm
I use Tiger Balm or Aloe Vera MSM

the polish chick said...

yes, the brace has been a god send. unfortunately the weird pain in the non-tennis arm seems to only come at night and have no real rhyme or reason. this must be the coming of old age.