hand pain

• Hand pain - Help
  • hand pain - MT
  • Help - LuAnne
  • Don't know what it is. :( Can you rest them on a heating pad in your lap before and while - you're working? nm Wanderer

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Help!  Both of my hands today are very painful.  Sometimes I get the usual aches and pains in my hands and wrists from transcribing, but today they BOTH hurt so bad, especially between the index finger and thumb areas.  They feel cramped and the pain is similar to when my shoulders get tense and you rub the knots.  It's not a sharp pain, but a pretty intense pain when I put pressure on my hands, try to lift anything or touch/massage them or even stretch them.  They're painful in the first four digits on both hands.  Has anyone had this and/or have any clues what it is or what I can do to help them.  TIA!

Hand pain is miserable.  I tried transcription gloves and they help.  An ergonomic keyboard is better than a standard keyboard.  Once you get used to using one, you won't want to go back.  One thing that truly helps me is a parafin wax treatment for my hands.  I am also a guitarist so my hands work very hard. I got a home parafin wax setup, not too expensive.  Bed, Bath, & Beyond used to carry them. Refill wax you can find at a beauty supply store.  It wraps your hands in wonderful heat.  Good to do on your night off.  Good luck!

My hands are absolutely killing me!!  I've been tested for carpal tunnel about a year ago, and nothing was abnormal, but I've got the classic symptoms, the numbness, the tingling, the pain.  I've got a good ergonomic setup and I've been transcribing for 6 years, so it's not like my hands aren't used to this.  I get cramps and spasms in my wrist/fingers, and I'm wondering if anyone else has ever experienced this and if so, what have you done to help it?  It's really cut my production down.

Thanks so much!

How long had you been in the business before the onset of the symptoms, how fast did they progress, and what steps did you take to keep the symptoms at bay, without surgery.  Even those who have had surgery, you may reply whether or not it helped.

For me, my symptoms began after seven years, just aching.  I then switched keyboards to split.  That worked for a few months, then the joint pains in fingers.  I typed softer, really concentrated on not BANGING the keys out.  Those two things helped another six months.  Last year about this time, pain again caught up.  I got splints..started B6, magnesium, muscle relaxers, took sugar and pasta out of diet (most), and coffee, carpal tunnel exercises.  If I deviate off this diet for even one day, I get the inflammation in the wrists.  The night splint worked for exactly one year.  Here we are, i'm now on the same boring diet, and have resorted to wearing the splints during the day as well.  I believe this is my last year as an MT.  I need to get a dif job and do this part time or find an editing job which seems impossible.

Could some of you share your time lines so I know how severe mine is in comparison?  Also anything I have not tried, if you could share.  Thanks. 

had nightmares for 2 days after that.

status.

Anyone have experience with companies who hire you as an employee, certain hours but don't provide you with the equipment you need?  Worked for a company that did that but no medical spell checker on their software, some accounts they want YOU to buy a C-phone for etc. etc.  Asked them up front if account I would be working on would have medical speller, told yes.  It did not.  Also there was some kind of ShortHand program built in that they knew nothing about, we couldn't get to and conflicted with the autocorrect I used in Word.  Kept asking and it was always we will ask the hospital and then nothing.  Went out bought my own spell check and whatever I needed then three weeks into working, they dump the account.

Start over with a new account, different problems, they want me to buy even more stuff.  Said no I am outta here!

Anybody had that problem?

I start med school (been an MT for 24 years) August 2006. 

One of my classes last semester was Intro to Medical Practices.  I especially inquired about pro bono work by all the physicians and dentists who spoke to the class as guests each week.  All gave significant amounts of their practice to pro bono work.

One physician in particular impressed me.  He is a cardiovascular surgeon.  His main area of expertise is doing cardiac bypasses.  To make a long story short, because of insurance changes (MCare) over the past few years, he only makes about $650 per bypass for his own pocket and that is gross.  Of the $1850 MCare and insurance companies pay him for this procedure, it costs him $1200 in overhead for that procedure.  Until last year, he would often do the procedure for free for patients who could not afford it and had no insurance.  However, for 2 years he had to BORROW MONEY to pay his OVERHEAD because he did so much pro bono work.  He finally decided he just could not go bankrupt doing that.  So now, he STILL does HIS PART for free but the patient has to pay his overhead.  He tells them to call their family, friends, churches and if they have the $1200 for his overhead, he will donate HIS skills/time/energy for free.

The physician (maxillofacial surgeon) who directed this class said his annual pro bono work runs around $250,000 a year. 

As well, while dentists recoup 95% to 100% of the fees charged for their services (they are ALWAYS getting their money up front), physicians (with the exception of cosmetic plastic surgery) only recoup an average of 31% of their fees.  For every $1000 they spend on a patient, they will only get back approximately $310 and must write off the rest. 

Now that is INSIDE information - direct from the physicians and dentists we had in class.  I was shocked.  Not deterred, but shocked. 

Regarding that lovely cardiologist who gives so much away, take into consideration that the $650 for HIS skills/time/energy for ONE cardiac bypass -- he invests a total of 12 to 15 hours for that one procedure (that is WITHOUT complications happening) including his consult/operative time/followup visits, hospital rounds, etc.  That comes out to about $54 an hour -- and plumbers and electricians around here make more than that.  My Ford dealership in town gets $76 an hour. 

And now, since we are starting to do bypasses endovascularly through the femoral artery, he has to really put the money down for more education to train to do this or he will be out of business shortly. 

Interesting huh?!  When people make comments to me about my future as a physician as a way to "get rich", I tell them not necessarily so!!  LOL  I'm not doing it for money!  You couldn't pay me enough to go through all this at this time in my life!!  LOL  

I do get offensive when someone doesn't like my children simply because of their skin tone.  I'm not saying that the OP said anything about my children or even posted about the topic.  I was just offended that she can so casually admit to being a prejudice person.  Prejudice causes hate and violence.  I take offense to that.  I think that you should, and everyone should take offense to it so that it can be stopped.  If everyone were okay with it or  no one ever stood up about the subject, where would we be? 

Also, there is a difference between knowing someone as an individual that may be a "bad seed" and be a minority and not liking them versus not liking someone without knowing them as a person simply because they are a minority.

All I know is, when those of us who are saved make it to heaven, there will be every race there right along with us, as God has created us all in his image.

I've transcribed since 1983.  You can lessen hand stress if you observe how you hold your hands as you type.  When I was in my twenties I noticed that there was a real difference in the way I held my hands and how the older transcriptionists (they had their wrists up and hands pointing down at the keyboard).  I have always had my wrists laying on something and my fingers are going up.  I have never had one bit of carpal tunnel or pain whatsoever.

I have had a problem with swelling in my lower legs and feet and also my hands for the past few years now.  When this first started I had problems with headaches, went to the doctor and found my blood pressure was high.  So now I take HCTZ 75/50 once a day and do pretty well on it.  It is a pretty good diuretic and my B/P is very well controlled on it. 

In the mornings I have no swelling at all, but I notice though that by the end of my workday my hands and legs are really swollen.  My doctor says to just start exercising regularly and elevate my feet whenever possible.  I also try to avoid salt.  I'm a bit overweight so I'm sure that is not helping either. 

I'm just curious if any of you other MTs have this problem also and how you deal with it.

The OP explained her situation and then elaborated on the situation again. It sounds like she is a giving person by helping other family members and it also sounds like she just wanted some ideas on frugal ways to make a dollar stretch until she gets her affairs in proper order.  Should she require the family members pay SOME type of rent to be accountable?  Probably. We all know the real estate market is not what is used to be and some people are in a bind with their property right now. The OP is clear that she was not fully informed about the whole transaction and there could be particulars that the OP may not have been privvy too. Maybe mistakes were made by the OP and her husband and it's too late to repair the problem.  People make mistakes all the time.  As you are reading this, consider what mistakes you have made in just the past 24 hours.  The key here is that before passing judgement understand that there could be many variables that you are not aware of. 

I work in my finished basement and in the winter it is normally a little chilly, but not horrible.  But, for the past few weeks, my right hand has been freezing cold.  I got some gloves and cut the tips off, but that doesn't even help much...my fingertips remain freezing cold.  I am starting to wonder if there may be some other sort of problem, especially because this does not happen to my left hand.

Any suggestions as to what might be causing this? TIA.

I have never used Instatext, but I have used ShortHand for 10+ years and love it.  It is versitile, easy to use and I can use it in every system I work in.  I have used it in Meditech, Citrix, Star, and all worked well.  AND I was able to convert my FlashForward to it and my autocorrect to it.

Hi - I just developed identical sympotms as you in the last week.  Especially while typing, my right hand goes cold and I have pain in the joint of my thumb and wrist.  I also have very mild swelling in the hand (no one else notices but me).  I can tell the fingers are all slightly more swollen on the right hand.  My suspicion is this is a "repetitive movement" agitation of the joints kind of like tennis elbow or something.  My plan of action - which will be very hard to accomplish - is take advil to reduce pain and swelling, and reduce movement of the hand by using my left hand instead.  If the problem continues, I may try a home made splint or something from Walgreens.  If after that, I'll go to the doctor to get a referal to someone who knows how to fix it. Please respond to this if you ever found out what your problem is.  I'm at the beginning stages and people have said, "maybe you have arthritis".  Well, I'm only 36, there's no way I'm gonna have arthritis this young, right?  Anyway, I'd like to know what others have found.

Thanks