My Left Wrist Hurts

I think I have finally figured out what is wrong with my left wrist. I mentioned in a couple of previous posts that I have a long-standing injury that periodically flares up and gives me merry hell for a few days or weeks, and then subsides. I thought it was a sprain from a fall I took ten years ago. Then I thought maybe I’d “jammed” it in the wreck five years ago. But while they were somewhat plausible explanations, neither ever really made sense.

The other day, someone mentioned “carpal tunnel” as a possibility, and I scoffed. (Why would I ever get something so mundane, so “normal,” as carpal tunnel syndrome? C’mon, this is ME we’re talking about.) But after a few days of pain, I thought, well, maybe just this once, it’s not something stupid and rare, but something normal, treatable, and easy. So I looked up the symptoms of carpal tunnel syndrome. Sorry, but that’s not what it is. The only symptom that fit was intermittent pain and swelling. No numbness or weakness. No dropping things. No radiating pain — the pain is highly localised.

So the other day, I was absent-mindedly rubbing the painful area on my wrist and thought of the Aspercreme my Sensei recommended for my sore calf muscle and thought, well, why not try it on the painful wrist? And while I was massaging the ointment in, I noticed a knot under the skin. Hm. Never noticed that before. So I thought, okay, got a mass there now. That’s probably a bad sign. So I went back and started looking up wrist pain. Nothing seemed to fit, until I found this site, with the detailed diagram showing exactly  the point where my pain is (at point B, if anyone cares).

So it’s apparently a ganglion cyst. That’s very interesting. And the question now is, do I just continue allowing it to do its thing, periodically swelling and causing me a lot of pain and inconvenience, or do I take it to a doctor and have it either aspirated or surgically removed?

There are a lot of pros and cons on either side.

Leave it alone.
Con: When it swells, it apparently impinges on a nerve in my wrist, which can be excruciating and it can make it tough to do my daily job, which involves a lot of typing and other wrist motions. It also makes certain exercises and karate positions just about impossible. (Push-ups and crane-hand, anyone?) I usually end up taking massive doses of Aleve, icing it every night, and wearing a wrist brace for several days or weeks.
Pro: Aleve is fairly inexpensive (and so is Aspercreme, which did help); I already have the wrist brace and the ice pack, and I have become fairly proficient at one-handed typing.

Do something about it.
Pro: having it aspirated or removed would put an end to the cycle of recurrent pain and inconvenience.  I could stop taking Aleve, which I’m sure has some nasty effect on my liver or kidneys or some other important internal organ. I also wouldn’t have to carry a tube of Aspercreme around with me, and I would no longer have a greasy wrist. I could stop having to sleep snuggled up to an ice pack. I could ditch the wrist brace and type normally. I could do push-ups, cartwheels, and crane-hand strikes without pain or joint collapse.
Con: I would have to go to the doctor.

Right now, that last consideration is the one thing that keeps me firmly in the “leave it alone” camp. It completely outweighs all of the pros of doing something, and all of the cons of leaving it alone. It’s the 900-pound gorilla against which all the other arguments look weak and foolish.

The reasons why are enough material for another post.

Tags: accident, challenges, Family Life, injuries, injury, karate, pain, True Stories