de Quervain's tendonitis

Has anyone ever had this?

I was just diagnosed with it in my left wrist. The
Orthopedist gave me a steroid shot but said if it didnt work, or if the pain came back quickly then it was likely I was going to have to have surgery .

The pain in my wrist started late in my pregnancy and has gotten progressively worse, the pain has seriously brought me to tears at times. When the orthopedist did the fenklestein test I screamed so loud, I didn't mean to and almost fell out of my chair, he apologized profusely for causing me so much pain. He said honestly he wasn't holding out much hope that the steroid injection will last long.

So my question is, for those of yoy that have had de Quervain's tendinitis and went through surgery, how bad was it and did it help/ last?

He said it was a 10 min procedure and the pain it would cause would be less than what im in now and wouldn't require me to be in a sling or stop me from taking care of the twins. He said he'd do the surgery on a Friday so I had Marshall home for a couple of days to help.

 

I had this on both wrists, and had surgery on both, about 8 years ago. It was when my daughter was 6-7 months old though; no twins yet. I had my wrists done separately, roughly a month apart. I only had my daughter, but my husband was away at school, so all her care rested with me. The recovery must not have been too terrible since I do know I was able to do it all on my own - I was working full time and still nursing her, plus all the things that go along with a house, baby, dog, etc.

I was put completely under at an outpatient surgical center. My wrists were in a splint and wrapped with a bandage and kept this way until the stitches were taken out. My scars are about 1 inch long on both wrists. I had to go to physical therapy shortly after the surgery (several days after, maybe 10?) and learn a few exercises. I only went to PT a few times before I was released.

I don't remember having any pain or discomfort while I was pregnant, but I know the pain started when my DD was still fairly young. It got extremely painful fairly quickly though. My doctor tried the steroid shot first as well. The pain of those shots almost made me pass out, and I've always thought I had a fairly high tolerance for pain! Ugh!! The steroid shot helped, but didn't completely take away the pain, and it only helped for a few days before the pain was back as bad, or worse, then pre-shot.

Like I said, it's been about 8 years since I had the surgery. I have not had any pain in that area since. Totally worth it, in my opinion! (I got pregnant with my twins literally a couple weeks after my 2nd surgery. I developed carpal tunnel late in that pregnancy that got progressively worse. I ended up having that surgery on both hands, at the same time, when my boys were 15 months old. I have no idea if the two conditions are related. I don't remember if we asked; if we did, I don't remember the answer! The surgery took care of that problem as well. I have no pain in either hand, or either wrist. Phew! It was a rough few years for my hands and wrists!)

 

Yeah I had pregnancy induced carpal tunnel, late in my pregnancy I swelled like a balloon! !! But I was having this kind of pain (now where near this bad though) with the carpal tunnel and my doc said it'd go away once I delivered. Within 3 weeks of the twins being born the numbness and everything was gone but the pain was FAR worse in my left wrist, went to my pcm she told me to get a splint and gave me the dose pack of prednisone, that seemed to help a little bit and then the last month it got even worse, twisting bottles shut, snapping clothes closed, holding my twins, etc almost brought me to tears, and I do have a high pain tollerance. So it was back to my PCM and that'swhen she sent me to ortho.

Tje shot wasn't bad, they numbed my skin with this spray stuff rather than using the beesting shot, thank goodness! But the pain is still there, lessened but still there.

Hopefully if I end up having surgery it will be as successful as yours!