356 - A Jab In My Thumb

Since 2016 I’ve been dealing with numbness in my left hand, principally my thumb and index finger. This was precipitated by applying too much pressure to the webbed area between the thumb and index finger for too long a time, injuring the nerves. How I came about to do that to myself is another story.

Doctor after doctor was convinced this was carpal tunnel syndrome even though I had NONE of the other symptoms of this condition, to the point where I even went through useless surgery. Doctors consistently said my condition was “interesting” but the were unable to figure out what was going on.

I’d pretty much given up and consigned myself to having to live with this condition - fortunately the numbness didn’t affect my piano or mandolin playing but any other kind of fine work that required both hands was affected.

Then late last year, quite by accident, a doctor I was seeing for something entirely unrelated said he knew a specialist that used ultrasound to examine nerve injuries like mine and gave me a referral. This person immediately saw where the nerves in my hand between my thumb and index finger were swollen. It turns out if you inject glucose around upset / bruised nerves it encourages them to heal.

And she was right - for the first time in over five years things started to improve.

Then just yesterday when I went for a bi-monthly follow up, an offhand remark I made about how my middle finger was also mildly affected sent her about a half inch lower into my thumb because she said that’s where the branching to all my other fingers occurs and there are so many nerves there it would be very difficult to see issues through ultrasound. She was speculating this would be a good area for glucose based on how my middle finger is mildly affected.

Jabbing me here was pretty brisk, but for the first time afterwards my thumb actually felt cold, which she said was a good indication she hit the right spot. Today my thumb has been tingling most all day.

This is all great news as far as I’m concerned. It takes about two weeks from the time of an injection before I notice improvement, but I’m anticipating great things.

As she was looking at ultrasound imaging while positioning the needle near the nerves (I was able to watch the screen this time), I made the observation that I can’t believe what she’s doing is so new and exotic that none of the other doctors, especially the surgeon that cut my hand open for useless carpal tunnel surgery, didn’t do this at some point to pinpoint the area that needed attention, which seemed pretty basic to me all things considered, and she just kind of shook her head, uncomfortable with speaking ill of colleagues.

Had any one of them thought to do this six years ago it would’ve been appreciated.

We’ve made great strides in medicine but it doesn’t do any good when you’re dealing with “professionals” who don’t know how to use the tools they’ve been given and instead engage in guesswork.