MetalPedaler

So I'm sitting at my desk yesterday, after just having done some Tabata intervals on my spin bike (Too windy to ride yesterday- 40MPH)....and out of the blue, I get this searing hot pain in my left wrist/outer side of my left hand. I didn't do anything to injure it- Nada... Now it hurts like the dickens if I'm not real careful how I hold my arm/hand...or if I do anything with my left hand (And I'm left handed for many things- like writing- although writing and using a mouse doesn't bother it)

The pain is along the outer side of my left hand, from the wrist to about the top pinky knuckle.

Any ideas? Some kind of repetitive-stress Crappel[sic] Tunnel type thing maybe? I'm supposing there's not much one can do to speed healing of something like this, eh? Just good old time?

Any idears? Anyone? [It's weird, because I NEVER get injured- ain't been to a doctor in 35 years.....] [HINT: Don't say "Go see a doctor"! I slipped and bashed myself in the head with the 20 lb. steel fence post driver once, and didn't go to a doctor for that...I sure ain't gonna go for a sissy little thing like this!]

slowpedaller

Did you try ice? If it's nerve pain caused by some inflammation that might help. With some Aleve.

Myosmith

First off, there is nothing sissy about seeking medical advice for severe, unexplained pain affecting your dominant hand. I'm not one to run to a doctor for every twinge and ding either, but your assumption "I'm supposing there's not much one can do to speed healing of something like this, eh?" might be right or it might be very wrong. Waiting to see if something will go away on it's own can result in permanent disability or worsening of the condition if you guess wrong. The fact that it had a sudden, unexplained onset is more concerning than if you had injured it cycling, or sprained it, etc. at least then you'd know what was going on.

I'm not saying you have to run to the emergency room immediately, but keep a close eye on it and if it gets worse, you start losing sensation or movement, the area gets hot to the touch, anything gets severely swollen or turns colors, or it doesn't improve with rest and ice, it probably isn't a bad idea to get it looked at.

GrouchoWretch

Only an orthopedist can really advise you on this.

If it doesn't go away as magically as it appeared, get it evaluated.

You can mess around with it for a while, see if it gets better. Otherwise, there's only one answer on this one, I'm afraid.

MetalPedaler

Thanks for the replies, guys.

It seems like it's feeling a LITTLE better- so if I avoid doing anything heavy with that hand, I think it'll be on the mend. (Just hope it goes away fast, as I am planning to break ground on a new out-building very soon!)

What is Aleve? Like Tylenol or something, just for pain? Meh...I can keep it so that it doesn't hurt unless I move it certain ways. No swelling or anything. It seems to like heat....as last night I was holding my hot tea cup against it, and it seems like it did it good.

No sense going to a doctor, because really, all they can do is give you drugs (which I don't want) or do operations (which I also don't want).

I was just wondering if maybe this was some kind of common cycling-related malady or something (Although, due to the weather, I've barely been riding once a week for the past month or two).

Just so weird how this just popped up out of the blue! I could see if I were doing something and maybe stretched my hand or my arm the wrong way and puilled something...or if I was lifting something heavy...but no...I was just sitting here...and it's the middle of winter, so I haven't been doing much at all.

Strange! I've never experienced anything like this, without a cause!

The way it's going though, I suspect it'll be be better in a few days. (I'll just have to try and hammer with my right hand when I start on the new building....as hammering 20d nails was kinda rough on my arms the last time I built something.......

Machka 

Pain on that side of the hand isn't carpel ... it's ulnar. And that's not uncommon if you're putting too much weight on your hands when you ride (i.e. you haven't set the bicycle up properly).


Is that you can't afford to go the Dr?

GrouchoWretch

My neon-hued friend of Italian descent, the fact is that you cannot know whether or not there's inflammation in there, and whether or not it's causing or aggravating that condition, or if NSAIDS or heat or cold or immobilization or rest or exercise will help it. Orthopedists are paid to know complimacated stuff like that. They don't always give you drugs and sometimes they even help you.

But yeah, see if it just goes away on its own first. Or sometimes you can figure out what you may have done to cause it and do less of that.

If all that fails, orthopedist is the answer, and the rest is guesses pulled from our hindquarters, leading to preventable pain and suffering for you.

MetalPedaler

Ahhhh! Not from cycling though....I think I sometimes put to much weight on my hands when sitting at the 'puter- i.e. leaning on an elbow, or on my mousing hand....etc. [Sedentary activities are the WORST things!]

Nah, I could afford to pay a doctor [Wouldn't like it though!]...I just don't like the modern medical profession nor have any faith in it. I don't like drugs; and I don't like to sit in waiting rooms and waste two or three hours for some guy to see me for 5 minutes, and then just say "We'll have to run tests/get an MRI/consult the witch doctor"....

'Bout the only time you'd get me to a doc, is if I had a limb severed or severely mangled....was bleeding profusely from an artery or was unconscious.

MetalPedaler

HAhahaha!! I like that!

Now THAT is the question! Only thing I can think of, is it must've been something on the spin bike, as that is what I was doing just before it happened.

It is on the mend though.

Ironically, my sister is a hypochondriac- We, the taxpayers must spend at least $100K a year for her to go to the doctor every week, for every little complaint. She's not sick when she goes...but she often is afterwards. She's actually got a real blood disorder now, one which can be caused by exposure to too many MRI's- of which she's probably had at least 100 in the last 15 years.

slowpedaller

Still, NEVER visiting a doctor is equally extreme. If you could only have one bike, your whole life, would you neglect basic maintenance on it because you were afraid of bike mechanics?

My dad didn't visit a doctor for over 30 years. Then had a stroke, liver failure, and died at age 60. His high blood pressure had no symptoms, and would have been easy to treat.

MetalPedaler

Sorry to hear about your dad.

Oh, I do DO more than basic maintenance on the ol' bod. Eat good healthy food; live a clean life....get enough sleep; live in a good and clean environment, etc.

If I have any deadly maladies....well, I'll just have to take my chances....'cause i wouldn't take none of their pills and potions or surgeries, anyway.

My mother is currently 88- still in very good health. Just as of late, she sees a doctor twice a year.

I'm healthier than anyone I know...and everyone I know goes to doctors. I reason that I know how to take care of me better than some pill pusher.

If they told me I had something, and there were no symptoms, I wouldn't believe 'em.

Guy I used to know: 49 years old. His wife convinced him to go to a doctor, because his father had dropped dead of a heart attack at 49. He went to the doc, got a clean bill of health- two weeks later he dropped dead of...a heart attack.

I have no confidence in doctors. I think we can live just fine without 'em. I'm betting my life on it!

It's kind of a religious thing, too- I believe health and long-life come from obedience to God.

So far, at 50, I'd say I'm doing O-K. My blood pressure is the same as it was when I was 16 (110/70 - My mother has a sphygmomanometer) - I'm within 5 lbs of weighing what I weighed at 16.....I beat an 11 year-old up a big hill on foot....he was huffing and puffing so hard...I was practically breathing normally.....

Thanks for the concern.....but I think I have a better handle on my health than anyone else could. When you think about, 90-something percent of human ailments are still incurable. People go to the doc; he gives 'em a pill and says come back in two weeks. They go back, they feel better- just as they would have had they not gone to the doc to begin with, because the body heals itself- but they think the doctor and the little pill "cured" them.

I think a lot has to do with genetics, too. People that die young in my family, lived to be 80.

MetalPedaler

'Course if I get hit by a truck while riding.....all bets are off!

Mr. Beanz

I like this mentality. Don't go to the doctor for a sissy thing like this. Just complain about it on a bike forum. Uhhh Yeeeah, nobody knows you're a sissy now!

Try riding a steel bike, the ride is much smoother and steel is real, no hand pain.

GrouchoWretch

Or wear a copper bracelet and strap magnets to your hand.

Looigi

Thoracic Outlet Syndrome? "Pain is almost always present, and can be sharp, burning, or aching. It can involve only part of the hand (as in the 4th and 5th finger only)..."

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thoracic_outlet_syndrome

GrouchoWretch

Or dengue fever?

MetalPedaler

I know what it is! I'm a lesbian trapped in a man's body....that was just part of me trying to escape!!

Well fellers, it's 99.5% better! (Went outside and did a little work...that must've done it!)

I'm pretty confident that when I get up tomorrow mornin', it'll be good as new. (This morning, it hurt to put my bathrobe on)

Or maybe it was being out in the cold that did it good....it was almost like having ice on it!

Who said healthcare isn't free?

GrouchoWretch

If it's really dengue fever, there's no way you're feeling better already.

MetalPedaler

Ah, not to worry- it was only malaria.

JanMM

Mosquitoes fly south from Indiana to KY for the winter.

cyclist2000

I didn't know that this was forum for physicians. It just seems like over the years that, I always read posts about "I have this symptom, do you know what I have?" In the mechanics forum when someone asks that type of question about their bike, they are recommended to go to the LBS. I perfer to see a physician that can tell me to turn your hand this way or that way or pull as hard as you can, then will tell me "oh you have tendenitis" or after an xray "oh, you have a bone spur that broke off and is floating around your elbow", instead of guessing.

MetalPedaler

Thank goodnerss they don't make it this far south! Had enough of them in NY! (Only those came from Jersey!]

Seriously, in 11 years, I've never seen a mosquito down here!

Awww, it's much more fun this way. You gotta admit, it sure beats sitting in a room full of sick people for an hour; giving out 3 pages of personal info, and signing away your privacy; only to have some guy barely glance at ya, and routinely say [for insurance purposes] "We'll have to schedule some tests". Let's face it- the days of a doctor taking a look- even at a rather simple malady, and making a diagnosis, are long over.

Hey, C'mon- I see it all the time on bicycle forums....people asking about various pains and strains. (Usually the consensus is that they need a $250 pro-fitting from their LBS... )

MetalPedaler

Funny thing is, I just got reminded while posting in another thread, that I actually know a guy who's a chiropractor/wannabe neurologist.... I could have asked him!

Mr. Beanz

I have lots of friends that ride bikes and it pays.

One friend is a Dr. at an ER. Another an Oncologist, another an optometrist, an AC guy, and one installs ceiling fans, and one a computer tech so I'm set pretty well.

cyclist2000

I must be out of the times, I thought that a pro fitting only cost $100, thats why I remember my doc doing the push and pull diagnostic thing.