It's a long story, so get comfortable.
Back in August my cow (Yes, you read that right) slammed my wrist in between herself and a metal pole while we were at the county fair. It was pinned there for a few seconds until she moved. I went to the first aid stand at the fair. They made a splint out of a bunch of thick paper and wrapped it up with ace bandages. They told me that I should probably go to the ER. I didn't think that it hurt THAT bad, and I knew that my insurance wouldn't cover the trip to the ER (At that point I already had $1500 in medical debt) so I just went to wal-mart and bought a wrist brace that had a splint in it. I didn't go to the ER nor did I go see my Dr. I figured that it was just going to be sore for a little while, but that it would heal on its own. After the accident though, I lost normal feeling in my hand. Whenever something would touch it, it wouldn't feel like a normal touch. It felt like pins and needles. My wrist was painful for about a month, maybe a little longer, but then the pain went away. The feeling of pins and needles didn't. I stopped wearing the brace and went back to my normal way of doing things. However, my wrist was still sore if I did certain things... Mainly if I tried to crawl around on the floor with my son. If I had my hand flat against the floor and tried to crawl like that, the pain in my wrist was very intense. If I made a fist and crawled on the floor like that, it didn't hurt at all.
Then in late November, I was at work (I'm a cashier) and pulled a turkey forward on the belt with the wrist/hand that had been injured. Pain instantly shot up my arm. There was an intense burning feeling in my wrist and I wasn't able to use it the rest of the night. I put the brace back on when I got home, but my wrist was still very sore after that. My family finally convinced me that I needed to see a Dr. I called my clinic and told them that I just wanted the first person available. I did not see my regular Dr. because she wasn't available for a few weeks. The Dr. that I did see looked over my wrist, and had the lab take a few x-rays. The x-rays came back fine so she referred me to a specialist. I saw him the next day. He gave me some exercises to do to "restrengthen" my wrist and sent me home. I did the exercises and only wore the brace while at work or out in the barn like he instructed me to. My wrist was still in pain, but if it got too bad a couple of tylenol would be enough to take the pain away.
One night while I was out in the barn, I had to pick up a 5 gallon bucket of water and dump it into a trough for the calves. I thought that it would be easier on my wrist if I picked up the bucket with my bad wrist/hand and then scooped my good wrist//hand under the bucket to tip it. As soon as I picked up the bucket pain shot up my arm and I had to drop the bucket. I finished the barn work as best I could with one hand and went inside. It was that same burning type of pain. When I finally found some tylenol (I had to go to my grandma's to get it, because everything we had at my house was at least 2 years expired), it didn't work. It was hard to sleep that night because of the pain. The next day, I couldn't take it anymore and went in to the urgent care. They did an xray and saw a stress fracture. They put a splint in my wrist and wrapped it in ace bandages. They told me to go see my Dr that week and get an MRI done. Then they give me a prescription for pain killers and sent me home.
By the time I had the MRI done, I had given up on the pain killers and was miserable (The first script I got made me so sick that I couldn't even get out of bed to take care of my son. I was only on that for 2 days. The second script I got I didn't even fill because I knew it wouldn't work (My sister already had some of those pills at home and had given me one when my wrist was really bothering me). The third script that I got, I had a severe allergic reaction to and ended up having to go to the ER because I was having a very difficult time breathing. I was only on that for 1 day. The fourth script I got made the pain go away for maybe an hour, but I could only take one every 6 hours so that was still 5 hours of pain. After two days of that, it stopped working completely.).
I went in to my Dr.'s office a few days after the MRI to find out the results. He looked at the copy of the x-ray the ER had given me and agreed that the x-ray showed a stress fracture. Then he brought up the MRI and told me that the MRI, however, showed a perfect wrist. There was no broken bones or torn tendons or nerve damage. He was completely stumped at why my wrist was causing me so much pain. He said that it was a long shot, but we could try an EMG. I had that done on Wenseday. The Dr. who performed the EMG said that everything looked fine.
Everyone is stumped as to why my wrist is causing me so much pain. They all say that my wrist is perfect. There is nothing wrong with it.
The specialist did say that he could refer me to a surgeon, but he didn't think that anything would come of it. I'm nervous to go the route because when this all started he said the same things about the MRI and the EMG... That they were things we COULD do, but he really didn't think that anything would come of it. Those tests gave me nothing but more questions.
I know you guys aren't doctors, but I don't know where else to go for answers. Does anyone on here have ANY idea why I'm in pain? Or where I could go to find more answers? I know that I need to keep searching because I don't want this to become permanent. I just don't know where to search.
Edited To Add: One of the things that both the MRI showed and the Dr doing that EMG told me was that I do no have carpel tunnel. That's what my dad thought it was too because he had it and the pain sounded very similar.
Have you thought about seeing a chiropractor. things may have gotten moved well you were pinned and maybe they can adjust things back to the right place my chiropractor has done amazing things for pain the doctors can not explain.
I had a similar problem with my elbow ... pins and needles, mysterious pain when I moved my elbow or leaned on it a certain way. Couldn't recreate it for the life of me while in the doctor's office. Finally landed at an orthopedic surgeon's office (lucky me, he specialized in everything from the fingertips to the elbow!!). Turns out I crushed the teeny, tiny tunnel the nerve runs through. He went in and released / moved the nerve around and WAA LAA ... no more pain or pins and needles. Go see the surgeon; just make sure it's one for orthpedic work. Good luck and feel better!
I was having chronic shoulder and arm pain and was referred to a neurologist after the usual diagnostic tests showed nothing amiss. He ran some nerve conduction tests and said that I had an irritated nerve. As I recall he gave me a medication called neurontin that cleared up the pain in a couple of weeks.
My brother had a torn ligament as well as other shoulder issues and the neurontin eased the pain. Gabapentin is another name for it.
Here is a web site for it. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmedhealth/PMH0000940/
Carpal tunnel usually doesn't give a pins and needles feeling.
It feels more like a burning sensation and is due to repetitive motions (and sometimes water retention in pregnancy).
I think something's pinching a nerve somewhere.
Do your finger nails on the injured arm/hand look bluish or does the hand feel cold?
If yes, then there might be a circulation problem which can also contribute to pins and needles.
Carpal tunnel--no--that's develops slowly, over time because of repetitive movements usually.
I'm thinking if the xray shows a stress fracture, then most likely there is O.. They can be teeny tiny and hurt like he&%.
MRIs can miss them.
Usually for stress fractures, all you can do is wait until they heal and baby it until then. I'm sorry--I don't think they can surgically do anything to speed the process. I would protect it (splint/bandage) and use it as little as possible.
Considering how much you use your wrist (work, chores, heavy lifting, child) it might take a REALLY long time....It can take 6-12 months to heal.
carpal tunnel. you lose feeling in your hands, sudden unset of pain.
since you are a cashier - you have more likely instance to get carpal tunnel.
You should have gone to the ER that day. There are some things that you should NOT let money be a factor - your health is one of them. You can make payment arrangements...the fact that you waited so long means that your body most likely healed wrong and if it was broken - they would need to re-break it and re-set it. Painful and long.
If MRIs and EMGs don't show anything wrong - could be psychosomatic pain....phantom pain...
sounds like you may have a ganglion cyst in your wrist. its from the injury you got. go to your dr they may want to surgically remove it. i have a visible one on my wrist that causes pain and lack of mobility. it also may be a stress fracture.
sounds like carpel tunnel with tennis elbow-i have both in both arms-it can be extremly painful.ask your dr.for cortizone shots in both wrist n elbow-sleep with your wrist braces on-then ice rite away in the morning.get a slinky-yep kids toy and while sitting watching tv relaxing use it-its great therapy for carpel tunnel n tennis elbow.i shouldve had surgery yrs ago-but being a single working person its tough to take time off.they also make bands for your arm for tennis elbow.good luck..oh try asking your dr.for 600 mg.of ibuprofin to take at bedtime.makes a huge difference,i cant take narcotics side affects are to brutal.
You might consider seeing the surgeon if he/she is a neurosurgeon. Because the pins and needles sounds like a nerve was damaged to me. And nerves take a long time to heal, 6 to 9 months for the nerve damage in my back. I had horrendous pain, pins and needles, etc etc.
I ended up with a good pain management doctor who kept me going along with my massage therapist until things healed on their own. I was told I had a fifty fifty chance of needing surgery...basically if I couldn't stand the pain anymore they could surgically correct it or if I could take the pain it would heal on its own.
See the neurosurgeon and see what they say...what's one more medical bill at this point, right...if it might get you some relief.
If xrays showed a stress fracture then you need to rest it until it has started to heal. If the fracture was worse when you originally injured it you may have long lasting problems if it didn't heal perfectly. Also it is very common for wrist xrays to be very hard to read. I fractured one bone in my wrist this fall. The doctor said it looked like a fracure, the radiologist said no the line the doc saw was a blood vessel, the orthopedic surgeon initially said not fractured and then after taking some additional views said it was fractured. So as you can see, even experts have a hard time with wrists. My fracture (just one little crack, no surgery needed) took 2 months before I could really use it to lift, twist, or pull with any power. I can still feel twinges occasionally even though my return visits show it has healed beautifully. If your specialist has not included seeing an orthopedic surgeon, I recommend doing that. In the mean time rest it, ice it for some pain relief. I know that is hard to do with barn chores but it needs to happen.
