So, I’ve worn my braces to bed the past couple of nights, because I’m extra sore in the morning when I wake up. I think it’s because I tend to sleep with my arms all scrunched up, with my fists tightly pressed into my neck, under my jaw. The braces make it uncomfortable to bend my arm very tight, so I thought it would help to keep me from doing it.
(I never know what to do with my arms when I’m trying to sleep. They always just seem in the way. I start out hugging a pillow so that I won’t scrunch up, but in the morning, the pillow is always on the floor and my arms are scrunched. What do you do with your arms when you sleep?)
Anyway, when I woke up this morning, (an hour earlier than usual), I felt off, but didn’t think much of it. I stumbled out to the computer to answer some emails. I was having difficulty typing. All clumsy and stiff, but I still didn’t think much of it ’til noticed I was absentmindedly flexing and closing my fist and couldn’t quite close my hand all the way. So I looked down at it and kind of freaked out.
I’m swollen. My left forearm and hand don’t look like they belong to me. I took the brace off and was ballooned out over the top of it. I don’t know if it was too tight, if I ate too much chocolate yesterday (Sara gave me a bag of Lindt truffles for my birthday), or if I just slept wrong or what. It’s been three hours now, and the swelling has gone down some. My hand is almost normal, but my wrist and forearm are still puffy, full, and “stretched” feeling. My right arm was only mildly swollen. Not much.
This is so lame. I hate complaining on the blog.
So, the braces are off ’til I’m not swollen anymore. I’m drinking a ton of water to help the swelling go down. I’m taking it easy.
I just tried to record a song to post, but it isn’t working out right and I’m giving up. Sorry.
May 23rd, 2008 at 11:33 am
hang in there!
May 23rd, 2008 at 12:31 pm
Man, that is lame!
When I was having bad tennis elbow pain (if that’s what it really was) my doctor didn’t prescribe a brace but he did tell me to do this at night: fold a towel into fourths, and wrap it around my elbow area securing it with elastic bands (I ended up just using yarn). This is really annoying and requires help to do by the way. But it does help you keep your arms straight. I could never manage to do both arms but I alternated one each night and it did seem to work.. annoying but possibly effective.
May 23rd, 2008 at 12:48 pm
I wear wrist braces every night. If I don’t, I wake up with aching hands. My braces aren’t elastic. They mainly keep me from curling my hands. They are padded and fasten with velcro and I don’t wear them very tight. As long as I wear them every night, I have no problems with wrist or hand pain. Let me know if you want more information about them.
May 23rd, 2008 at 1:32 pm
I actually sleep like I’m in a coffin. Flat on my back with my arms semi-crossed across my chest. Hand me a lily and I’m good. If I sleep on my sides, my arms hurt in the morning.
May 23rd, 2008 at 3:34 pm
ooooh
i hear ya–i have bad wrists as well–but the swelling sounds more serious.
do you think it needs ice??
i know you are being careful–and i’m not sure if you have mentioned this–but have you seen a Dr?
My friend had bad wrists from too much typing and pushed through it one night and wrecked her wrists–
be careful and i hope you are felling better soon!
May 23rd, 2008 at 6:57 pm
Do you think you had the braces on too tight? I had the same problem with my ankle. If I wore a brace too tight I would be all swollen and in even more pain. that’s no good! I sleep on my side with both hands folded and under my cheek…kind of like I’m praying only sideways. I use to sleep on my tummy with my hands under the pillow but the last pregnancy broke me of that. (I use to look forward to having the baby so I could sleep on my tummy again. This last time I had him and once I was healed enough to sleep that way I tried and it just made my back hurt! Go figure!)
I hope you are feeling better soon. Are you taking anything like Arnica? There is also arnica gels/creams for massaging in to the skin. That might help as well.
May 24th, 2008 at 8:18 am
I used to sleep with my hands/arms all curled too, but broke myself of it because it reminded me of the people in the nursing home (where I used to work) who could no longer straighten their wrists. Now I have an annoying cyst by my ear so I sleep on my side with my hand under my face, my ear between my thumb and fingers so there is no pressure on the cyst. I also have to tuck my knees a little to avoid lower back pain. I’m sorry you’re hurting so much! It stinks when you can’t enjoy your hobbies.
May 24th, 2008 at 12:47 pm
Laura, what happened to your arms? It sound like the same thing that’s happening to my right hand. Every morning for the past month I’ve woken up with a right hand so sore and cramped I can barely move the fingers. It’s “stretched” feeling, and I used to have incredible numbness but that went away.
June 6th, 2008 at 9:05 am
Boy, I totally understand. I’ve been dealing with RSI for almost a year and have been wearing braces for about that time. At first it was really really hard, but you get used to them and they totally help in the long run.
I must admit that I had to really cut back on my knitting because of it. Are you doing stretches? I have to stretch every twenty minutes. Yeah–it sucks, but it’s what needs to happen.
Keep at it and good luck!