Tendonitis - Please help, depression setting in...

[Bongolation]

I'm 48. I had the surgery for tendinitis (actually a separated tendon) in my right elbow in January. While I am not 100% yet, I am better than I have been in years, and incrementally improving every day.

A separated tendon is an extreme injury, well beyond the sort of problem we're discussing here.

I have never personally known anyone experiencing middle-aged connective-tissue degeneration (which does affect people at different ages and to different extents) who had surgery that corrected lesser RSIs and felt it lived up to their expectations.

Not one.

Many felt they were worse off.

Whether this was due to ever-present medical incompetence or the plain fact that their overall rheumatic condition was in irreversible decline, or both, I can't say.

 

[klyph]

Probably the latter. Rhuematic conditions are an auto-immune disease, so surgery is usually the last resort after many other lifestyle changes have been attempted/implemented. The chief one for many RA sufferers is weight loss, but much is still being learned about RA and associated diseases. Smoking cessation, gluten avoidance (if celiac's disease is a possibility), the elimination of any possible allergens, etc., are all primary in trying to diagnose/treat them. Of course, many only really start to have problems in their 70's, at which point trying to make major lifestyle changes is difficult (the same can be said for heart disease). The vanguard for RA treatment is now biologics like Humira. These are incredibly effective, but are extremely expensive, not covered by insurance, and are dangerous, as they work by suppressing the immune system. Of course, if you've ever seen the disfigurement that RA causes in the hands of longtime sufferers....

If you read this and the related thread of Commreman carefully, I think you might agree that these healthy, athletic men are probably not suffering from RA (God help them if they are...), but from RSI's, which often can be treated without surgery (warms the heart to see so many suggest accupuncture), but often can't. Everybody's different, which is why statements like your "if you're over forty..." are not very helpful.

However, if somebody IS suffering from an auto immune disease, and hasn't lost the weight, stopped smoking, seen an allergist, endocrinologist, etc., then yes; surgery is probably a waste of time and money.

Also, surgery is like any other service- you get what you pay for and MUST shop around! If you feel your insurance company is preventing you from getting treatment at the level you deserve, making you settle for "the cheap local guy" then hire a lawyer or healthcare advocate. Money well spent, believe it or not.

 

[Bongolation]

Everybody's different, which is why statements like your "if you're over forty..." are not very helpful.

That was the (admittedly arbitrary) breakoff point independently told to me by two top orthopedic surgeons in San Francisco.

However, if somebody IS suffering from an auto immune disease, and hasn't lost the weight, stopped smoking, seen an allergist, endocrinologist, etc., then yes; surgery is probably a waste of time and money.

It's interesting that you mention autoimmune problems here, as I also appear to have systemic mastocytosis with the really awful problem from a musician's standpoint of dermatographic urticaria. In English, that means I have a violent reaction to the instruments that I'm playing if my body skin touches them. If my bare arm touches the edge of a guitar or bass for a few minutes, I will develop a long hive nearly a half-inch high for the length of the point of contact (much worse than in the linked photo).

I had not considered that this might be connected to my connective tissue problems.

 

[klyph]

Oh man, urticaria? That sucks. So I'm assuming that "adapting my playing style" includes only touching your bass with your fingertips when you play and not resting your arm? I remeber starting to feel some right wrist pain in college and starting to play with my right elbow elevated and positioned in front of the bass body to make my wrist totally straight- worked like a charm, but of course my shoulder would get tired from holding my arm like that- something I worked through and got used to. You must have to do something similar. At least hives don't develop on plantar (well.. it's EXTREMLY rare) or you'd be done on the bass for good!

Remember, inflammation is the name of the game. That's why backing off when you have problems is so important. When people start to feel CT, it's because the sheath is inflammed- that needs to be dealt with before any actual tendon damage can even be discerned, let alone healed or surgically corrected. That's why docs push steroid injections- they make inflammation go bye-bye. So do antihistamines, but both are pure poison to the liver (they can make IT inflammed- go figure). If your mastocytosis presages a reaction like this in your skin, why not in your nerves or connecting tissue? I'm no doctor, but you might want to ask this of your specialist. I don't know if they have an answer, much less a therapy, but it never hurts to ask. Eat your veggies and keep well, buddy.

 

[Greevus]

i've got carpal tunnel and my elbows are both starting to ache a la tendonitis from what i read. i spend waaay too much time on the computer. i also drink coffee non-stop. so i am gonna try some of you guys' advice on here.

 

[tiz_1]

I'll add my experience, which is outside some of the more chronic problems mentioned earlier.

I had tendonitis in both forearms and some hand / wrist pain while playing for some time (1+years?). This escalated to pain in other joints as well (I called it roving tendonitis ) and terrific hand pain while/after playing a gig.

A neurosurgeon said I definitely had CTS. I let that ride for a while, scared of surgery and not fully believing the diagnosis. For about a year I saw a rheumatologist, thinking it was auto-immune or arthritic in nature. Not much progress. But my response to a course of prednisone was amazing. I don't recommend any steroid if you can avoid it. But it was a hint at what was really wrong.

I wasn't making progress and so I saw a new GP to get a fresh perspective. He sent me to an endochrine dr. That dr found that I had a pituitary issue. The pituitary controls all other gland functions including adrenals and thyroid. Once properly medicated to balance my system all the pain went away.

Not saying this applies, because you (OP) don't indicate pain elsewhere. But it *may* be worth a check up to see if your adrenals are working ok. They provide cortisol (natural steroid your body makes) to fight inflammation (pain). I was producing almost no cortisol.

Best of luck. I know what that pain feels like.

--Kevin

 

[Lo end PUNCH]

Modifying your technique may help. This guy uses ONLY his thumb like a pick on his right hand;