De Quervains syndrome

WHAT?! what is that? and why are we even discussing this!?

I've been diagnosed with this syndrome this afternoon. After a few days of an aching wrist/tendon and a dodgy thumb, I went back to the doctors and got sent on to seek physiotherapy for my swollen wrist/thumb. I thought I'd slept on it awkwardly, at first, and so left it for a day, but it didn't get better. I went to to doctor and saw a dodgy one, who told me to take parecetomol and perhaps splint it. I decided to back to see Dr again today (2 days later) because it's getting worse and more painful. This time, Dr Molony gave me a list of physiotherapists whom he'd recommend (esp after I told him I had private health insurance!), and I rang one of them, and made an appointment for this afternoon (result!).

Anyway, so I went to St Lawrence Sports and Physiotherapy Clinic and saw Oli. And Oli told me that I have De Quervains syndrome http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DeQuervain's_syndrome. He's really spot on as it sounds like I really do have this syndrome, with a swollen tendon near my wrist and thumb. Several factors have contributed to this, including the fact that I've just been pregnant (we release Elastin during pregnancy and after that, whilst breastfeeding, which basically makes us more flexible), the fact that I'm doing alot more carrying (baby, car seat, lots more stuff!), and the fact that I'm double-jointed or hypermobile http://www.nhsdirect.nhs.uk/articles/article.aspx?articleId=563&sectionId=1

oh dear...it's all sounding more and more ominous. So, he used some ultrasound treatment on me for 3 minutes, and some light therapy for a minute or so. It did feel better, but hey, it could have been a placebo effect! My wrist is hurting again. :(

I gotta go back for another treatment next week, and hopefully the wrist guard will be ordered and waiting for me then. Wonder how long this will take to treat. He didn't say anything... According to some of those websites, it said it should take 1 year... a year?!?!

let's hope the pain subsides... *fingers crossed*

p x