De Quervain tenosynovitis surgery

[monkey68]

Has anyone had surgery for de Quervain tenosynovitis? I saw my ortho today, who had me see the hand specialist in his practice, who said they could give me one more cortisone injection, but to consider surgery. I know it's a quick and simple procedure, but the idea of surgery scares me, especially the recovery time. I'm a med student, I don't have the time to be out with surgery. But if I need it, I would rather do it sooner rather than later, as I know I can get it covered under the insurance plan I have now, but Dec. 31st, my coverage ends and I would need to go under my school's insurance, and I'm not sure if they would cover the surgery.

 

[happily single]

I had the surgery in 1997. It was relatively painfree. I don't remember being in a lot of pain. However, I did need to stay out of work for 6-8 weeks to avoid re-injury-I'm a secretary. Don't let the surgery scare you

PS I do have a 2 inch scar on the inside of my wrist.

 

[wehavesix]

Has anyone had surgery for de Quervain tenosynovitis? I saw my ortho today, who had me see the hand specialist in his practice, who said they could give me one more cortisone injection, but to consider surgery. I know it's a quick and simple procedure, but the idea of surgery scares me, especially the recovery time. I'm a med student, I don't have the time to be out with surgery. But if I need it, I would rather do it sooner rather than later, as I know I can get it covered under the insurance plan I have now, but Dec. 31st, my coverage ends and I would need to go under my school's insurance, and I'm not sure if they would cover the surgery.

I'll be having surgery on a tendon in the front outer part of my ankle next week. I broke my leg and dislocated my ankle this summer. My ortho is calling it tenosynovitis too. He thinks it's probably a result of the dislocated ankle injury but is concerned it might be some kind of reaction to my hardware.

I know what you mean about not wanting to be down for recovery time. I was on bed rest for 2 months this summer after I broke my leg. I'm expecting to be on bed rest for a couple of weeks following this surgery too. It's definitely NOT how I wanted to spend my summer break (I'm a teacher), nor is it how I want to spend my Thanksgiving break. But what can you do?

 

[izzy]

Has anyone had surgery for de Quervain tenosynovitis? I saw my ortho today, who had me see the hand specialist in his practice, who said they could give me one more cortisone injection, but to consider surgery. I know it's a quick and simple procedure, but the idea of surgery scares me, especially the recovery time. I'm a med student, I don't have the time to be out with surgery. But if I need it, I would rather do it sooner rather than later, as I know I can get it covered under the insurance plan I have now, but Dec. 31st, my coverage ends and I would need to go under my school's insurance, and I'm not sure if they would cover the surgery.

I have the exact same problem on my left wrist. I've gotten two cortisone injections, and my doctor said that if I need it again that I should probably go ahead and have the surgery. I had surgery a few years ago for trigger finger and carpal tunnel (at the same time) on my right hand, and it wasn't that bad. I think I was only out of work for a few days. I have a desk job.

 

[monkey68]

I have the exact same problem on my left wrist. I've gotten two cortisone injections, and my doctor said that if I need it again that I should probably go ahead and have the surgery. I had surgery a few years ago for trigger finger and carpal tunnel (at the same time) on my right hand, and it wasn't that bad. I think I was only out of work for a few days. I have a desk job.

I just had my second injection today. The lidocaine he injected with it is wearing off, I believe and now it just hurts! It felt great right afterwards cause it was frozen and numb, now it just hurts so much. I've been icing it and am about to go to CVS to refill my Advil bottle. My doc said unless I can get rid of what is aggravating it, I'll probably wind up needing surgery, and in my case, it seems to be writing, which isn't something I can just stop doing, I'm in med school! I write a lot.

I feel like such a wimp complaining about my wrist, but it hurts so bad. I tore my PCL a few years ago while I was ice skating, and I kept ice skating for the rest of the session. But this measly little tendon sheath is causing me so much grief, I had to stop writing, stop using the space bar with my right hand, stop straightening my hair, all these little things you take for granted.

 

[izzy]

When mine is acting up, it is quite painful, so don't call yourself a wimp. Sometimes I would wake up in the morning and my wrist/arm would actually lock in position. It would kind of freak me out when that would happen. Unfortunately, I've found that once the cortisone wears off (usually 6 months for me), it seems to come back all at once.

When I had the surgery on my right hand, I actually learned how to write with my left hand, but was I ever S-L-O-W. I'm sure you won't have that luxury in med school as I know everything moves so quickly.

It will feel better tomorrow, and even better the day after tomorrow, if that helps you any!

 

[monkey68]

When mine is acting up, it is quite painful, so don't call yourself a wimp. Sometimes I would wake up in the morning and my wrist/arm would actually lock in position. It would kind of freak me out when that would happen. Unfortunately, I've found that once the cortisone wears off (usually 6 months for me), it seems to come back all at once.

When I had the surgery on my right hand, I actually learned how to write with my left hand, but was I ever S-L-O-W. I'm sure you won't have that luxury in med school as I know everything moves so quickly.

It will feel better tomorrow, and even better the day after tomorrow, if that helps you any!

My first cortisone injection lasted about 3 weeks, which is why I'm not very hopeful about this one. I'm learning to write with my left hand, when this first all started back in August, I was just in a spica cast for a few weeks as I have a huge fear of needles going into me.

Luckily, my school streams lectures, so I can re-watch them if I need to and stop it to write down my notes, but that just takes so much more time. I can't wait for the steroid flare to calm down, I'm not sure what hurts worse, the reaction from the cortisone or the de Quervain's.

I really like my ortho, he's young, smart, listens well, and quite frankly, he's pretty good looking as well. My boyfriend jokes that's the main reason why I like my ortho, because of his looks. Unfortunately, if I need surgery, he won't be the one doing it. He wanted me to see his partner who is a hand specialist, so I won't get to see the cute face during the surgery

 

[izzy]

Uh oh, if your first shot only lasted 3 weeks, that doesn't sound very promising. Are you going to have a break near Christmas that you could have it done then? At least you might have a few weeks to get the initial healing in before classes start back up.

Good luck with everything, and let me know how the surgery goes if you get it done. I'm sure it's in my future. Unfortunately my surgeon is in his 50's and not that good-looking, but as long as he can fix my wrist, that's fine by me!

 

[monkey68]

Uh oh, if your first shot only lasted 3 weeks, that doesn't sound very promising. Are you going to have a break near Christmas that you could have it done then? At least you might have a few weeks to get the initial healing in before classes start back up.

Good luck with everything, and let me know how the surgery goes if you get it done. I'm sure it's in my future. Unfortunately my surgeon is in his 50's and not that good-looking, but as long as he can fix my wrist, that's fine by me!

Yea, I do have a break around Christmastime, which is probably when I would schedule it. The only thing then would be that my insurance is ending at the end of the year, and I would be buying my school's insurance (per school rules, once you're no longer under parent or spouse sinsurance, you have to get theirs, or get Medicare). I would need to find out if I get the insurance done under old insurance, if the new insurance would cover any follow up appointments I might need afterwards.

The ortho wanted to try one more cortisone injection, as some people just need 2 injections instead of 1, so hopefully it will work and it will all be a moot point.