Near broke my wrist

[Auxin]

Ok, I just need a peer review of my logic since this type of situation is extremely rare for me and a hospital would just be a bad joke and a $1000+ one (I'm american).

While balancing on a half meter crate I thought was stable I fell off, I had to think fast to contort to keep from falling on a glass jar... well I didnt think fast 'nuf and instead I fell on my left wrist. My balls and lower back also hurt a bit >.

For the wrist: doesnt seem to be damage to bone, no intense pain, little pain at all when at rest and in the right position- it just feels swollen, I can flex my fingers into a loose fist without pain, I can put pressure on each finger with my thumb with no pain, extending fingers to open my hand is sensitive and gets painful when reaching full-open, I can bend my wrist 10-15* in each direction before pain hits, twisting my forearm hurts, slight inflammation on the right side of the distal (outboard) side of my wrist and more 4 cm down from my wrist on my forearm on the inside, I can lightly hold small light objects if I dont bend my wrist... I figure I damaged that tendon that extends the fingers to a open hand.

So, what I figured to do:

First, dont balance on crates with a plant between my knees

I figure if theres damage, regardless of type, inflammation would be bad. No bleeding or bruising. I took aspirin and applesauce with 25 ml turmeric, 10 ml cinnamon, and 8 ml black pepper in to stop increase of inflammation. I figure on aspirin and a bandage before bed.

I decided: fuck cooking. Luckily I have 3-5 days frozen pre-cooked food I keep for shit like this. No plans to go out or do anything much for at least 2 days.

I have 2 blocks of frozen nettle (Urtica dioeca) Its building and nourishing but I dont know if it might stimulate the innate (inflammatory) immune system (IIS). I figure if swelling reduces by tomorrow I'll eat one block then and one the next day assuming it didnt promote inflammation (INF).

I have a medicine made of astragalus, burdock, jujube, and lycium. It stimulates the IIS and as such isnt used at the peak of fever or illness. I figure to avoid it so long as INF persists. Might help after.

Well thats about all I've figured out.

Other medicines on hand I dont immediatly see a benefit for include:

budock, Scutellaria baicalensis root & leaf, S. barbata root & leaf, mullein, oregano, tea grade sage and melissa and fragaria leaf and thyme (I like me teas, lol), crystallized ginger, fresh garlic I cant chop, marshmallow elecampane and calamus roots, and dried ashwaghanda berries that are too experimental for me to try just yet. Prolly also have ibuprofen and paracetmol kicking around somewhere.

Whatcha think my fellow hippies and ethnobots? Does my diagnosis sound rational? Treatment sound rational? Based on whats on hand any suggestion?

Took half an hour to type that one handed, no worsening of INF in that time.

[FancyPants]

Make sure you've got no nerve damage too, a pinprick test on your fingertips and the sides of your hand might be wise? You don't have salix alba around?

Ouch though, and I can't for the life of me understand why the majority of Americans aren't for free healthcare :/

[Auxin]

good thought on the nerve dead-zones, didnt think of that

just poked all up and down both sides my arm and fingers with my pocket knife and felt every one

No Salix.. neighbors have one but theyre strange religious extremists and I'd just as well not ask for a favor

so, aspirin instead

If america had rational health care there would be limits on cost and minimums on quality, thus huge campaign bribes ensure it wont happen.

That one aspirin would have cost $18 from a hospital.

My state is having a whooping cough epidemic too, I checked and the cheap vaccine costs $200 mostly due to fees and procedure. Medicine is a serious scam here.

[GoOnThen]

Hey Auxin

The aspirin is probably not the thing to take at the moment as it will thin the blood and cause more bleeding. What you need to do is stop the swelling which is internal bleeding. most injuries of this type are damage to the tissue, tendons and muscle . The first thing you need to do is get your self some ice (the stuff in the freezer ) you can use frozen peas or whatever you have. If you only have ice the best thing to do is put some in a plastic bag and wrap the bag in a thin cloth (tea towel) and hold it on the injured area for about 20 minutes then take it of wait an hour or so and then back on with the ice and repeat through the day.

If you cant do this regularly during the day try and ice it at least 3 times a day and you really need to do this for at least 3 days the best is a week. You don't wont to take any thing or do any thing to the injury that will cause any more bleeding so don't rub or apply heat with any lotions or creams. The idea is to stop the injury getting any worse in the first week and then you can go about trying to help your body to repair it self.

Hope that's some help

Cheers

Got

[niggles]

Hey there,

Im still recovering from my broken scaphoid.

I dont know how long ago you did this to yourself, but bandaging ice and elevation is very helpful within the first 24 hours of the injury.

It doesnt sound like you've broken anything, but it can often be hard to tell.

The scaphoid is the bone that generally takes the impact from falls on hand ..

http://www.assh.org/...es/Scaph1_c.jpg theres a picture to help locate it... pressing on the scaphoid will usually give you noticeable pain if it is fractured.

I would recommend bandaging or using a tubigrip type thing to help give your wrist a bit of support and to encourage the swelling to go away.

12 weeks post accident I am waiting to find out if I need surgery cos my tendons dont seem to be healing correctly.

--edit-- when I saw elevate, raising your hand above the level of your heart is most effective.

I managed to sleep for the first few days with my hand raised in the air..

Edited April 5, 2012 by niggles

[niggles]

Oh yeah, a handy hint I learnt from hanging chatting with ambos, if you apply ice and it dramatically increases the pain, that generally means it is broken.

(But that didnt work for me with my break, also the doctors told me nothing was wrong and sent me home...)

[Auxin]

8 hrs post injury.

You are right GoOn, I need to be icing it and despite a personal loathing for all things cold I'm doing that now.

niggles, damn man I hope you heal up good.

Disconcertingly one of the two areas of inflammation on me is directly over the scaphoid, like a lump right on it, that bit did take some damage and worries me most. At this point massaging the swollen bit and even flattening my hand and manually lightly lifting my index finger and thumb produces no notable pain in the scaphoid region so I am quite hopeful.

Times like these I wish I were in a somewhat more civilized country

[niggles]

D'oh. That doesnt sound so good auxin.

By the way, heat, rubbing, alcohol and exercise are all not good for trauma. You should avoid these things as possible.

So try not to rub and prod at your hand too much. Just for diagnostic purposes and let it rest.

I cant use videos and such on the computer I am using, but you might find some nice videos to help you check if your scaphoid is fractured.

I could move my hand fairly comfortably, til a day or two after when the whole thing felt fucked.

Pressing on the topm then the bottom of the scaphoid to feel if bone moves around or if pain flares seems to be the standard method of checking. (Mine didnt hurt on the scaphoid at all but the xrays showed fracture)

Good luck and rest up.

--edit-- from memory icing for 15 minutes every hour or so is most effective.. icing more than that tends to increase blood flow to keep the area warm.

Edited April 5, 2012 by niggles

[incognito]

This may sound daft but.... Have u seen a dOctor? X-ray?

[chnt]

This may sound daft but.... Have u seen a dOctor? X-ray?

 

this may sound daft but... did you read the OP?

[Auxin]

lol, I will if I have to but I'm a stubborn son bitch.

A guy I know had a similar injury, he went to the hospital. Ultimately they determined there was no fracture and told him to do what he planned to do anyway... and they charged him nearly $5000 cash for it. Usually its not quite that bad, and I would (and may) pay that if I believed it was truly needed. But until I believe that I'm staying out of hospitals. I should decide within a week.

Doesnt help that my hospital is notorious for MRSA staph infections and we're in a whooping cough epidemic here.

Aging is inconvenient... I keep getting less and less indestructible, lol

[GoOnThen]

Aging is inconvenient... I keep getting less and less indestructible, lol

This is so true. But It doesn't stop us from thinking we are still teenagers and bullet proof

Cheers

Got

[Auxin]

Well I sucked it up and got x-rayed, lol, price for just that wasnt bad and I got a discount for paying cash...

And no broken bones! :-D

Just soft tissue damage they say will take weeks/months to heal.

So slow cause almost no blood goes there.

Thunk through my pharmacognacy and biochem and got Centella asiatica to improve angiogenesis and fibroblast activity/wound healing while not promoting scar tissue- should get blood there and get the little workers working, got ginkgo extract to improve microcirculation there to feed the little workers, vitamin C cause its a biochemical requisite for the synthesis of connective bits and joint fluids, and lots of fruits and berries to make the synth run even smoother.... getting injured or sick is a fun puzzle in its way but damn it can be an unpleasant one, lol.

[niggles]

Glad to hear you're not so badly injured.

Hope they havent misdiagnosed you like they did me!

Be sure to take good care of it anyways.

[niggles]

hows that wrist going auxin?

[Auxin]

Starting to show some slight improvement. Still swollen and I can only hold, not move, a slice of bread with that hand, lol. But getting a slight bit of range of movement back and I now dont even feel it when its just stationary in the safe-position.

And I proved I'm inventive enough to cook one handed

...I frikkin' love me food.

[niggles]

thats great to hear. Doctors tell me that most people over use their injured wrists and that I should take it easy (potential 6 month recovery period) Its easy to say that, but hard to do.

So do take it easy If you can.

[Sallubrious]

I hope it wasn't the hand you normally wipe your arse with.

It's like the other side of your brain couldn't be fucked to do the job properly and you end up with a crusty crack.

Edited April 10, 2012 by SallyD