I only waited one month to update instead of three this time, so that's an improvement! I wish I could say I'm seeing improvement in my pain level. I started having problems with my right arm in Feburary, and that isn't getting any better, either. It's not so bad generally, but my right hand/wrist has really been acting up lately. I think it's because of where I put the steno machine to make it more comfortable for my left arm. It seems like my left arm works better if I bring the machine in close to my body and angle the top left corner away from me. Unfortunately, when I do that, I can immediately feel pain in my right hand/wrist, which seems to be more comfortable if I have the machine farther away and angled with the top right corner away from me, which brings the top left corner closer to me.
I think an Infinity Ergo might be the solution to that particular problem. I've been thinking I should probably get one for a long time, but I didn't want to spend the money and take the time out to learn how to write on one. A lot of tweaking of key sensitivity would need to happen, just like when I got the LS, and that's a scary prospect. It's also tough to find one. I checked with the owner of the company, and they don't have any sales representatives in my area. He said he would check with customers in the area. That was a couple days ago, and I haven't heard anything back yet. I figure I'll give it about a week and then start posting on groups/forums and try to see if there's anyone around that would let me try theirs.
Even if I do decide to buy one, I think it takes 2-4 months before you actually get it.
I went to the pain clinic, and the doctor there suggested taking Lyrica and a ton of other mediciations. He said I could talk to my PCP about those. I don't want to try any more medication. It would just be masking the symptoms, and I don't like the idea of potential side effects. The pain isn't so bad that I physically *can't* write at this point, so I'd rather just deal with it than take medication. He also suggested a process of coming back for six sessions where he would numb different nerves in my arm to see if that stopped the pain, and try to hone in on which nerve is affected.
I think that's a good idea. It will require me not taking any jobs for the rest of the day, though; he said my arm might not work properly for up to 12 hours after being numbed. And of course there's the scary prospect that the arm would be permanently paralyzed, but hopefully that won't happen. I had that appointment over a week ago, and he said they would get it approved by my insurance and then call me to set up an appointment. I haven't heard anything back yet. I should probably call and follow up, but it's kind of not something I really want to do, so that's why I haven't yet.
I'm still trying to just get in different positions and see if something will fix it. I started rolling up a towel and putting it behind my back vertically when I sit. The physical therapist suggested doing something like that. It might help a little with the back pain; I'm not really sure. It does feel like it adds some support when I write, at least.
I tried leaning back into the chair and writing with the machine on my lap yesterday, and that was a disaster. My back was comfortable, but both of my hands/wrists hurt a lot. Right now I'm trying out tilting the machine towards me (I just tried tilting it away, too, and as usual, that makes it hurt worse) and having it a little farther away than usual. And I'm focusing on sitting up really straight, and keeping my neck straight/head high/chin tilted down. I have a tendency to scrunch down and forward when I write. I think it's just comfortable. But it might not be the best thing to do.
My neck hurt a lot for a few days. I'm not sure what was up with that. It was probably related to some posture thing I was trying to do, who knows what. It seems to more or less be back to normal now, though. I noticed for some reason when I try to relax my shoulders/arms, I feel a lot of strain in my neck. I'm not sure how to avoid it, but I'm definitely looking out for it now.
This really should be so simple! You sit and you "type" on a machine. It shouldn't be stressful on the body at all! I still want to get an ergonomic specialist in to watch me write and tell me what I'm doing wrong, but that's not as easy to make happen as I thought it was going to be. The doctor at the pain clinic didn't know of anyone who could help, so I emailed the physical therapist, but she didn't know, either. She said she would check with their work injury specialist and let me know, but that was a week ago and I haven't heard anything, so I guess that's not going to happen.
I got a little elastic wrist compression brace to try out. I tried it on both wrists when I wrote, but it either made it worse or didn't seem to help. I tried it during data entry/regular computer work on the right hand with the same result. I also just tried putting some padding in it and using it just as a padded wrist rest, without any compression, and I didn't like that, either.
No comments:
Post a Comment