A little over a year ago, I managed to aquire a compound fracture of my radius about 4 inches distal of my elbow. This required reconstructive surgery, a plate, and 6 screws.
I have worked at The Home Depot for 2 years. It is a manual labor job. I have gained seniority there and I have worked my way up a little. The job requires heavy lifting. I can manage most things but I simply cannot do others. I am not on a doctor’s note, currently.
Most days, my arm hurts bad after work. Almost everyday, sometime during the day, it will cramp up and throb for about 5 minutes even if I am at rest and have been so all day.
What my question is, is there anything that can be done uninvasively? Pain medication? I don’t have time or money for physical therapy or additional surgery. I simply accept that my body is permanently damaged.
If I were your patient, what would you do? I think pain medication would be the best bet but I want to know what most physicians would do before I pay a copay and he or she says to deal with it.
By the way, I have tried tylenol of every kind, aspirin, motrin, and naproxen. None help with this.
Thank you for your time.
#1 by Anonymous on February 8, 2010 - 12:58 pm
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I’d actually suggest you seek out someone who has experience with ergonomics – it might be a physical therapist or occupational therapist.
What you need is something (brace? wrap?) to help take the stress off your arm when you lift things.
It’s like the old joke:
“Doctor, it hurts when I do this.”
“Well, don’t do that.”
Further surgery isn’t going to help, and pain mediation beyond what you’ve already tried is probably going to create more problems than it solves.
#2 by Anonymous on February 8, 2010 - 4:17 pm
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i think you should see a doctor personally. its really hard for us practioners to give advise and options to patients without seeing them and do examinations.
#3 by greydoc6 on February 8, 2010 - 9:56 pm
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Pangolin’s suggestion is great, but I’d go a step further and consult a physiatrist, a physician specializing in rehabilitation.
#4 by Anonymous on February 8, 2010 - 11:32 pm
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i think you better see your doctor
source: I’m a general surgeon
#5 by w.shaper on February 9, 2010 - 3:20 am
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im not a doctor but i have been dealing with back pain for over 5 years now and most doctors are going to tell you to go see a doc now as to what they will do most cases they will start with either tramadol or vicadin/lortabs (depends on what part of the us your in) and then order xrays and an MIR you should talk to your doc that you dont want another surgery but most doctors arent going to just start you on a painkiller therapy because they dont want to just make you take pills for the rest of your life i had a microlumbar surgery on my l5 and now that disc is torn and after 5 years of messing with it they just now realized that the only thing for me is to take painkillers intill i get old enough for a fusion so dont get mad if they make you run around and jump through hoops its cuz you will get additive to painkillers if you have to go that route and doctors dont like making addicts
#6 by Bacc on February 9, 2010 - 6:15 am
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Pangolin is on the right track: but what about Chiropractic? After an accident, I suffered for years with a painful knee and a distorted hand which the medics said nothing could be done about.
Then recently, I got whiplash, and visited a Chiropractor. After 3 spinal manipulations, the knee pain went. 3 months later, and my hand is almost back to normal…..even the ‘bump’ in my thumb-nail is now growing out.
Everything’s connected to the spine, so why not give Chiropractic a go?
No-one needs to suffer pain on a daily basis…
ps – the whiplash was sorted out in a matter of days!