5581

That’s 3-4 pills a day, it shouldn’t hurt you. Max recommended is 12-16 I think. Prescription ibuprofen is 800mg per pill.

5582

I was taking 2400 a day during PT. There’s a good chance you have a trapped nerve from too much desk time, you need to get it properly diagnosed (fucking doctors just kick you out the door unless you’re screaming bloody murder, which hurts us stoic types) and fixed. I had it bad in my right arm, maybe 10% strength left for years, and a couple of months of A-stim and stretching fixed it completely.

H.

5583

I am so burned out on editing. Anyone else want to edit together six hours of footage into 12 minutes? Anyone?

5584

Mine’s been randomly going numb. Initial research/asking around indicates that it’s probably early stages of carpal tunnel. Awesome.

5585

I know a doctor in California who doesn’t just kick people out the door, but I don’t plan on being in CA anytime soon. I think I’m just going to deal with it until I can make an appointment with her…

5586

Don’t assume that, please. Carpal tunnel is an incredibly painful, rare condition that would shut down your whole life. Nerve entrapment is a common result of scar tissue buildup in your arms and causes weakness, pain, and numbness. One takes invasive surgery to ameliorate and will probably result in a less-painful life but not full recovery. The other is very treatable with a minimum of effort and has full recovery. Is the pain or numbness concentrated in either your ring/pinky or index/middle/ring fingers?

H.

5587

Which one makes your fingers/wrist twitch spasmodically on one hand, and is exacerbated when lifting objects at certain angles (like drinking a cup of water)?

5588

Both. The point is that one is very different from the other. If your insurance supports it, go straight to a PT that specializes in arms, they can run you through some simple motions and figure out what it most likely is. There are two big nerves that control your fingers, they meet in the middle of the ring finger so you can tell which it is. Usually it’s the ulnar nerve from a hard desk edge grinding at the lower arm which presents in the pinky and half of the middle, as well as the wrist.

Anecdotally my right arm got weaker and weaker, particularly in regards to grip, over a five year period. At the end a glass of water was too much when it was at it’s worst. Two months of scraping the shit out of my lower arm plus daily stretching and it returned to perfect. Go see a PT.

5589

I think you just diagnosed me. At least it’s not ALS (family history).

5590

Get it fixed. As someone with an unusually high chance of having his arms photographed, I can assure you that nerve entrapment is a pretty easy fix:

CRUSH!

5591

Yes, I’ve been neglecting it for years (I’m pretty sure it stems from my hardcore EverQuest days, and the way I’d rest my arm on a part of the desk), and it’s just gotten worse. Lately it’s been acting up more than ever, and I’ve been on the verge of getting it looked at, but I’ve been to the doctor for so much stupid shit lately I was avoiding tacking on another issue, for now.

But, your post is a spot-on description of what I’m experiencing, and I didn’t want to undergo the hassle of surgery to fix it, so I put it off. I think I’ll schedule an appointment when I’m done typing this.

5592

Thanks for the tip. It actually hasn’t been as common lately…it has never ever been pain, just numbness and tingling, and might even be subsiding, as I’ve probably only noticed it once in the last week or two. Seems like typically it does “tingle” the most in the pinky.

5593

Hey, its 4pm. Maybe I should take a shower today . . .

5594

I guess you should.

5595

I’m touched you would remember something I posted six months ago Kerzy!

But since I do have to go somewhere later, it is a shower day. ;-)

5596

Don’t worry, I didn’t remember you so much as the conversation about my sperm.

5597

That’s almost exactly what it is, the tingling is somewhat in the wrist, strongest in the pinky, and then diffuses over to the adjacent fingers. o.O

Does that mean that this is less serious or more serious than my doctor led me to believe it was when she said it was probably RSI/carpal tunnel?

5598

Much less serious than carpal tunnel, which is a throwaway diagnosis without an MRI. You know your funny bone? That’s a channel in your elbow in which the ulnar nerve glides as you bend your elbow. When you hit it you’re whacking that nerve which causes the shitty sensation of the “funny bone.” If you build up enough microscars along your forearm you can trap that nerve, preventing it from sliding through the muscle and bones as it is supposed to do.

What you do is go to a PT and they do something called “Astym,” which is scraping the absolute hell out of your arm meat with a dull plastic scraper. This breaks up the scar tissue enough so that you can restore movement of the nerve by doing rigorous stretching. Couple this with fixing your ergo situation (no hard edges, no prolonged contact, no arm rests) and you’ll be back to perfect in no time*.

H.

  • a few months, and you can’t skimp on the stretching.
5599

Cool, thanks! I’ll call my insurance company on Monday and see if we even have any in-network PTs in this area, heh.

5600

Do you have the mouse callous, the acorn-sized lump on your right wrist where you rest your hand while using the computer? Good indicator you’re on there enough to cause issues.

H.