It's been since sometime in early February I have been complaining about an arthritis flare. I have been working on natural cures, homeopathic remedies which take TIME to be effective. I have given the home cures a solid two months and have only felt progressively worse.
Wednesday, I was compensating for the pain in my right arm by using my left hand/ arm whenever I could. I am fairly ambidextrous anyway. It's just most efficient to pick up the dishes left handed and spray them off right handed, and set them into the racks to run through the dishwasher (which is to the left) with my left hand. The pain of the "arthritis flare" was so bad, I was crossing over- picking up dishes right handed and spraying off left handed, then letting the sprayer go and taking the dish in the left hand to stack in the racks. I realized that the SAME pain was starting in my left arm.
As Sam is fond of quoting his Electrical School instructor ... (I) "had an epiphany... a moment of blinding clarity"! While not in a religious sense of the word... it was truly a sudden eye opening.
This pain is from repetitive motion, NOT an arthritis flare. No wonder none of my homeopathic arthritis remedies were working.
At a bit after 2:00am Thursday morning, the screaming, screeching, spasms of pain in the arm woke me up. After almost 45 minutes, I gave up on returning to sleep. I finally, reluctantly took an ibuprofen. It helped... some. While I was still in pain, it wasn't as bad. Until the spasms started again. I realized I was clock watching... counting the minutes until I could take another ibuprofen.
That was really "it". I called the doctor's office as soon as it was open. I asked to see whoever had an opening in the practice. I got a Doctor I hadn't had before. I really like him. He spent a few minutes asking about my reason to visit. Then he took my arm and asked me to indicate where I was having most pain. I showed him. He asked, "does this hurt here?" and gave the arm a poke. "How about here?" . Okay, what about...?" poking a spot by my elbow. (I about decked him.) "Yep, that's what I thought. Tendonitis. Lateral Epicondylitis." (Also known as tennis elbow.)
He put me off work for a solid week, with instructions to return next Thursday. He warned me I may need to find a different occupation. Continuing as a dishwasher will just keep the tendons inflamed. 6 to 12 months of rest of the tendon is usually needed for a full recovery. In some cases, surgery may be needed, and in other cases, even surgery won't help. I'm on an anti-inflammatory, short term drug. (And boy does it make me loopy!)
I will be looking into the natural remedies/ preventatives once I am past this bump in the road. At least I don't have to give up on tomatoes and peppers at this point! (It was my next step in trying to stop the "arthritis" flare.) I had been convinced it was an arthritis flare in the first place because that was what my (retired) Doctor had told me it was, back when I was convinced I had carpal tunnel for a similar pain. He dutifully sent me for carpal tunnel testing, which came up negative... and was not gloating, but somewhat smug that the carpal tunnel tests were negative. Arthritis... it comes with age, he said.
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