Dear So and So

[Catrin]

Catrin - do you have CMC joint issues? That pain is at the base of your thumb joint as it enters your wrist. Have they only checked you for carpal tunnel? They just need to take an xray to see if it is CMC. The things that will cause you pain the most when you have this is any kind of pinching action.

I've read that it's common for pain originating in the CMC joints to be referred to the MCP joints, and vice versa, too. It's most common in the thumb joint, but I don't see why any of the CMC joints couldn't be arthritic.

CMC joints? Will look that up and see where those are

Spokewrench, while sometimes I do have pain there, a pinching action doesn't bother me. Really, 99% of it is right in the middle of my palms, just last week it was really bad...but THIS week there isn't a bit of pain at all, for which I am thankful. My fingers are always a bit cranky, but am so used to that I am hardly aware of it... Of course it doesn't mean the pain isn't referred to my palms from elsewhere.

I am considering asking my doctor about it the next time, I need to see him about my dog bite anyway which still isn't quite healed... I just hate to say something and get a bunch of co-pays for tests to only find out that I need to take ibuprofen for it...

[sgtiger]

Mimi, well wishes for you and Don. May he recover quickly after his surgery and beat the cancer.

Catrin, well wishes to you, too. Hopefully, your doctor can get some answers for you and a treatment that works.


Dear Time Keepers,

Would it be possible for me to have an hour a day to myself that is outside of normal time?

Thanks,

Not enough hours in a day

[redrhodie]

Dear Saddle,

Thank you for hurting right then, because that's why I decided to pull over and adjust your tension. Had I been on the road, rather than on the side, I suspect that SUV with the idiot, driving so erratically, probably going 80 in a 25 mph zone, driving so stupidly fast he almost lost complete control as he passed me, well, you know where I'm going with this. Thanks.

Thanks also for feeling better after I made the adjustment.

[spokewench]

CMC joints? Will look that up and see where those are

Spokewrench, while sometimes I do have pain there, a pinching action doesn't bother me. Really, 99% of it is right in the middle of my palms, just last week it was really bad...but THIS week there isn't a bit of pain at all, for which I am thankful. My fingers are always a bit cranky, but am so used to that I am hardly aware of it... Of course it doesn't mean the pain isn't referred to my palms from elsewhere.

I am considering asking my doctor about it the next time, I need to see him about my dog bite anyway which still isn't quite healed... I just hate to say something and get a bunch of co-pays for tests to only find out that I need to take ibuprofen for it...

Catrin, your problem may be totally different than mine, but since I've had CMC joint issues for a long, long time, I'll give you some advice on arthritis in your hands and riding mountain bikes, etc. I road and raced mountain bikes and road bikes and I know you have started riding mountain bikes. The abuse your hands take on a mountain bike is actually quite a lot. I'm not telling you to quit, because I never quit doing stuff i like to do; but you might try (even if it sounds a bit counterintuitive), wearing just a neoprene wrist band for support. I found that early in my development of cmc joint pain and arthritis that this actually helped me keep from hurting so much. If you do have cmc pain and joint arthritis, there are splints just for that as well; they are just neoprene soft supports. I'm actually wearing one right now on my right hand. (That's my worst hand because I'm right handed.) I have it in my other one too!

Wrist supports, etc. are really cheap ways to help you mitigate the pain; so maybe it would be worth a try. If it does not work, you are not out much.

[Catrin]

I will check it out Spokewrench, doesn't sound like an expensive test. I've not noted that things have gotten worse since I started mountain biking, I think last week I did something wrong when tossing weights around. My Endura full-finger gloves aren't too tight around my wrist to prevent a thin support...

[OakLeaf]

Wow Red. Spooky. Glad you weren't in that person's path!

[redrhodie]

Wow Red. Spooky. Glad you weren't in that person's path!

Thanks! So am I! He came so fast that I didn't even hear him until it was too late to get his plate. I really thought he was going to flip from overcompensating while passing me (and I was standing on the side of the road, not in the road). He was driving like someone who just got fired, or was dumped by his girlfriend, or some other great enraging trauma.

The funny thing was, I didn't have my multi tool with me, and had to wait until I got home to fix my saddle, and I was 99% sure it was on my other bike at the time, so yeah, spooky indeed.

[Owlie]

Dear potential advisor:
Please get rid of the reed diffuser. If not, change scents to something that is not patchouli or open the door. I was in your office for an hour yesterday and nearly suffocated.

[jessmarimba]

Dear hardwood floors:

I know you need refinished, but that 3/4 inch splinter you shoved into my foot (when you knew I'd been missing the tweezers for a week!) was a rude reminder. For that, I may just cover you in carpet again. Hmph.