What's Wrong With My Wrist?


I have very small wrists that have always been weak and have always made crunching/cracking noises when I move them.

I get on and off again pain that is pretty unbearable and alternates between my left wrist and my right wrist.

My left wrist has been hurting nonstop for about 2-3 weeks now (which is typical). The wrist aches constantly, but gets sharp pains when my wrist is not at a perfectly straight position or when I touch it.

If it helps to know some background info: I am a 24 year-old female. This pain has existed off and on for around 15-20 years. I have TMJ in my jaw (diagnosed when I was about 15) and it feels similar to my wrists; it is the same type of pain that gets better and worse with use and weather changes. My grandmother also has very severe Rheumatoid Arthritis.



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Joshua Answers:


Hello there. I need some more information, but just from what you've said so far, I suspect that a certain portion of your pain in nutritional deficiency in nature.

There may be something structural in your wrists that gives you a tendency for this, but with clues like the TMJ and such, possibly it a Tendonitis....we'll see.

Included with that, I have a hunch that your Grandmother may provide a clue to.

So let's investigate.


Questions:

1. How long has the wrist pain been going on? You said 2-3 weeks of pain is typical.

2. What do you do with your hands, job or activity wise?

3. Say more about your TMJ.

4. Say more about your wrists, and describe the pain and symptoms. What makes it worse, what makes it better.

5. How's your digestion?

6. How's your overall health? Food allergies?




Joshua Tucker, B.A., C.M.T.
The Tendonitis Expert
www.TendonitisExpert.com
















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What's Wrong With My Wrist?

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Dec 11, 2009
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starstarstarstarstar 		PART 2 - Answers - What's Wrong With My Wrist?
by: Anonymous

Joshua, thanks for looking into my story.

1. I remember having wrist pain while taking piano lessons when I was in elementary school, so it's been a pain that comes and goes for several years.

2. I'm a teacher, so no real repetitive movement or strenuous activity.

3. I'm not sure how long I've had TMJ, but my dentist took tons of x-rays of it when he gave me braces when I was a freshman in high school. My jaw is misaligned and opens unevenly. It clicks and pops all the time and will get stuck open if I open my mouth to far. I have to stretch my mouth about every 5-10 minutes to pop it and keep it feeling comfortable. Some days aren't too painful, but other days my jaw just aches. Chewing gum can feel good for a little while, but things like chips and pretzels are painful to eat.

4. I haven't figured out anything that makes my wrists feel better. The pain just comes, stays a few weeks, then goes away. A lot of times my wrists, jaw, and feet will all ache right around the same time. Cold weather is awful. When they are aching, it hurts to move them or even touch them, although I will do little circles with my hands when I can. I dislocated a shoulder when I was little and when my wrists ache it almost feels like that...like they are misaligned or out of place. Moving my wrists makes them pop, but they never seem to pop back into place.

5. My digestion's fine. The past few years I've started getting slightly nauseous every once in a while. I never throw up or anything, it just makes me not want to eat anything. I've been blaming it on birth control pills. And no, I'm not pregnant. :P

6. No food allergies. I feel like I'm in great health. I'm a teacher, so I get just about every cold and flu bug that passes through but I bounce back. Sometimes I think I'm a hypochondriac because of these strange aches and pains that come and then go away, but otherwise I'm fine.


Dec 12, 2009
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starstarstarstarstar 		PART 3 - What's Wrong With My Wrist?
by: The Tendonitis Expert

Joshua Comments:

Hey, you're welcome.

You probably do have some physical soft tissue issues, but you DEFINITELY have some nutritional issues under that.

So let's deal with that first. If we don't, I suspect anything I usually suggest to deal with Carpal Tunnel Syndrome and Tendonitis might help a little, but not much, and not for long.

So.

1. Vitamin D deficiency can cause aches and pains locally and systemically. It is also a HUGE factor in overall health, immune system function and sickness fightning, and is deficiency is a factor in getting breast cancer.

Get your Vitamin D levels tested so you know your actual level. Then we can talk about how much to take to get your levels up.

THIS IS VITAL THAT YOU DO THIS!


2. I suspect you may be gluten intolerant to some degree. It could just be the Vit D, but were I you, I would invest/experiment with going TOTALLY off gluten for 2 months and see what happens.


I could say a lot more about this, but www.Easy-Immune-Health.com talks in depth about Vit D and Gluten Intolerance.

3. Also, I may have already mentioned it, but read through the Magnesium for Tendonitis page with your TMJ in mind, and make sure to click on the Magnesium Dosage link at the bottom of the page and read it to find out what kind and how much to take.

Let's start with the above three. Getting your Vit D levels up is fast and cheap, and that may very well be the key. Same can be said with Magnesium. Gluten intolerance can be slower and more insidious, but go off all gluten for two months, and if that's the problem, you'll be HAPPY you shifted your eating habits.

Let's get those covered, and go from there. We'll want to talk about your jaw here soon too.


Feb 05, 2010
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starstarstarstarstar 		same problem
by: Anonymous

I have alternating wrist pain. The pain just happens. I just wake up and the pain will be more of a ache and then progress to pain. When the pain is full on I cant even grip a pen.

It does not happen all the time. It just started back after 7 months with no issues.

I am having problems with digestion. I am scheduled for endoscopy and colonoscopy this month. The GI is thinking celiac disease. I have lost down to 110 from a normal of about 125. I have muscle pain. I have had to stop exercising because it takes my muscles up to a week to stop hurting after a simple 20 minute step.

My wrist pain has been on and off for about 10 years. Also I have discovered through years of dealing with this pain that tylonol does not help at all, advil will slightly ease the pain, but aleve will take the pain away.

Any suggestions?


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Joshua Comments:

Hi there.

Your digestive/nutrient absorbtion issue can certainly be affecting the wrist pain.

For the wrists, start Ice Dipping and let me know what happens.

For the Celiac or Gluten Intolerance...stop eating all gluten. NO GLUTEN for two months. None at all. Not even a little bit.

If you do have Celiac disease, which is really bad gluten intolerance, basically, then you HAVE to stop eating gluten.

Gluten intolerance causes Leaky Gut). Bad leaky gut steals your nutrition and sets you up for a whole host of problems.

My Kerri deals with what you are describing all the time, so I'm a bit familiar with it.

More questions, more answers.



Mar 03, 2013
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starstarstarstarstar 		hi Joshua, I have a similar wrist problem
by: Anonymous

hello Joshua,
i have a similar problem and i was hoping you could give me some answers. i was dealing with wrist pain for couple of years now, and im 19, soon to be 20.

usually i feel pain in my right wrist but it can happen it the left one too, although not so often. i used to play tennis for 8 years, and im also tall and i grew too fast and some doctors have told me in the past that i get wrist pain because of my fast growth, since my bones grew quicker than muscles could, so my muscles arent covering my wrists properly since theyre shorter.

i havent been playing tennis for a while but i still get wrist pain whenever the weather changes. i thought that in time itll go away, especially since ive stopped playing, but its only getting worse and more unbearable.

i wasnt very worried before but now ive been reading about arthritis a lot and it started to scare me. i want to know if i have bigger chances of developing arthritis in future because of this condition, and also what is the best way to reduce pain.

it usually last for a few days, sometimes more sometimes less. also, i have never broken and bones or had any severe injuries like that, but any strains are possible due to my tennis career as a teenager.

please answer, thank you.


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Joshua Comments:

I wouldn't worry so much about growing pains. Growing pains don't cause arthritis down the line.

Read this whole thread, and read the Magnesium For Tendonitis page. That's a big one for you.

Also, learn How To Reduce Inflammation, do that plus magnesium for a week, and let me know how your wrists feel.

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