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As I mentioned previously<\/a>, I had severe — can’t sleep can’t concentrate can’t deal with life<\/em> level severe — pain in my left wrist and hand. Also, I couldn’t bend my fingers or wrist. Eventually, I got a shot of anti-inflammatory (injected into a buttock, not into my arm, but my butt hasn’t gotten any smaller as a result), and a day or so later things began to get better. Sooooo much better. Still not completely well, but getting pretty close.<\/p>\n When I was wearing a splint, it was interesting (and a bit irritating — which is a bit unfair of me, since the advice was kindly meant, but I was in pain!) how often non-doctors would offer me a diagnoses. I’m not talking about friends, but about near-strangers I’d meet at work or in a store. The popular consensus seems to be that my problem was (is?) carpel tunnel syndrome, even though I lacked the numbness and tingling<\/a> typical of CTS.<\/p>\n The last person I saw (a physician’s assistant; the physician herself wasn’t available for an appointment for weeks) I saw seemed to be leaning towards a diagnosis of psoriatic arthritis<\/a>, not <\/em>a happy possibility.<\/p>\n We’ll know more after the next round of blood tests, but I think she’s mistaken. True, I have a large rash on my side; and I can see why a rash combined with hand and wrist pain would make someone think “psoriatic arthritis.” But the rash doesn’t resemble psoriasis at all, to my eyes (not scaly, no patches around my elbows or knees, not red enough, in two big patches rather than lots of clumps…). Nor did my pain precisely resemble any of the typical kinds of pain<\/a> patients with psoriatic arthritis experience.<\/p>\n As it happened, I also had no primary care physician (although I have one now, who I will perhaps see in person someday). Which gave me an opportunity to see how truly horrible it is to be relying on urgent care centers and emergency rooms for one’s physicking. Maybe it really is psoriatic arthritis; neither the ER nor the urgent care doc even considered the possibility, because neither of them knew I had a rash. (They didn’t ask, and it didn’t occur to me that it could be a relevant thing to mention.) This country desperately <\/em>needs universal health care. ((I’m not saying universal health care would have solved my problem; I am saying that people who think that ERs and urgent care centers are in any way adequate for people who can’t afford health insurance are wearing rose-colored glasses two inches thick.))<\/p>\n Anyhow. I can type again, but I don’t want to overdo it, so I’m going to take it light on blogging for at least another week or so. But, meanwhile – welcome back, me.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" As I mentioned previously, I had severe — can’t sleep can’t concentrate can’t deal with life level severe — pain in my left wrist and hand. Also, I couldn’t bend my fingers or wrist. Eventually, I got a shot of … Continue reading