In my 4th bout of wrist tendonitis in the past 3 months. Why does it keep coming back?

by Melanie
(Apollo Beach, FL.)



Hello Joshua, I hope you can tell me what I'm doing wrong.

Usually after ice dipping for 1 week it is mostly cleared up but within 10 days to 2 weeks it comes back again.

How can I keep it from returning?

This time around it seems to be stuck even though I did the ice dipping. This time its going on 4 weeks.

My Dr. wants me to take prednisone and my question is will this medication keep the tendonitis from returning?

I suffer from fibromyalgia and am wondering if that has an effect on the tendonitis not healing completely.

Any advice you can share would be appreciated.

Thanks, Melanie



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Joshua Answers:


Hello Melanie. Thanks for asking.

Answers in no particular order.

1. RE: prednisone. I'm not 'qualified' to say whether it will help or not. Then again, your doctor won't make any promises, and you won't get your money back if it doesn't work.

I'm not a fan of corticosteroids or NSAIDS. They don't deal with the source of the problem, and they don't even do a very good job of the target that they are supposed to target, which is inflammation.

My prediction is, at best, and notice that I said at best, it will reduce your symptoms for some amount of time.


2. RE: icing.

So icing is effective, good.

But I have a question before I can say more about that.

How active are you with your hands? I mean, you ice, then you stop ice dipping, and then what? Do you do a lot with your hands and the pain comes back, or do you do hardly anything and the pain comes back?

More questions down the page.

Depending on your answer, I may suggest that you ice till the pain is gone, then -keep- icing while you are active with your hands, then reduce
icing until you can be active -and- not have any pain. This is supporting your body keep itself happy.


3. RE: fibromyalgia and Wrist Tendonitis.

That does throw a wrench in the works. The question becomes....do you have wrist tendonitis? Or do you just have symptoms of fibromyalgia that show up focused in your wrists?

Lot of variables in there, that come down to this statement "Fibroyalgia is caused by, among other things, nutritional deficencies, results in a variety of symptoms including localized pain, and is 'curable'.

I say curable, because it is considered a disease, but it's really just a symptom. I can point you to who to talk to about reducing/getting rid of fibromyalgia if you are interested.


But as it is at the moment, answer some more questions so I know more what your picture looks like.

1. Describe your wrist tendonitis symptoms.

2. Why do you think that it is Tendonitis as opposed to anything else?

3. How 'bad' is your fibromyalgia? How long have you had it? In general, what are your symptoms?

4. How old are you?

5. How active are you with your hands?

6. Any other health issues? History of injury to the hands/arms?

Answer these questions, and then I can say with more confidence why your pain is returning.




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













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Comments for In my 4th bout of wrist tendonitis in the past 3 months. Why does it keep coming back?

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Sep 27, 2009
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starstarstarstarstar 		PART 2 - My answers to your questions - In my 4th bout of wrist tendonitis in the past 3 months. Why does it keep coming back?
by: Melanie

Thanks for responding so quickly.

My Dr diagnosed me with Tendonitis.

The way it started was that I woke up one morning and my hand was swollen and in pain and I couldn't move my fingers. I do not recall doing anything specific the day before that would have caused this to happen.

I also have pain in my wrist both on the top and under my wrist however it is not constant but seems to come and go. Ice dipping brings improvement and eventually my hand feels better and I begin to go back to my usual routine.

I'm a 40 yr. old stay at home mom. I enjoy tending to the needs of my home and family. After chopping veggies one evening it came back. This last time it came back after slapping my husband on the shoulder. By the way the slap was done out of fun and not anger.

I also should mention that the 2nd and 3rd time it developed in my left hand too. I guess I was using my left hand more than normal. While my left hand appears to be fine now, I still have pain in my wrist.

I have suffered from fibromyalgia for the past 14 yrs. I have pain in my back, shoulders, hips and feet. I do not typically sleep through the night and when I do I wake up feeling as if I haven't slept at all. I deal with foggy brain quite a bit too.

Recently I tried acupuncture but screamed and cried through the treatment. It was too pain ful!!

Any info on the fibro would be greatly accepted.

I also am on meds for an under active thyroid.

As far as how active my hands are, I guess I do keep busy doing basic household stuff and I sew, quilt and crochet but I haven't had much time for my hobbies so I don't do them on a regular basis.

I'm feeling overwhelmed right now and would be grateful for any advice.

Thanks, Melanie
Sep 27, 2009
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starstarstarstarstar 		PART 3 - In my 4th bout of wrist tendonitis in the past 3 months. Why does it keep coming back?
by: The Tendonitis Expert

Hi Melanie, you're welcome. My pleasure.

Pain and overwhelm is no fun. The good news for you is...there is hope, and there are answers that will work for you getting back to normal, or at least close to it.

You left a lot of good clues...

I don't think that you have Tendonitis.

You certainly have a Tendonitis dynamic of tightness and pain, but I doubt that you have progressive wear and tear damage.

Your system has a lot going on at the systemic level, and I think that that is more a player in your pain and symptoms.

1. Fibromyalgia. You know the pain from it so I won't elaborate, other than to say, long story short, it can be the main cause of your wrist pain.

2. Hypothyroidism can cause carpal tunnel symptoms. My Kerri just wrote an article about that:
Kerri's Hypothyroidism Can Cause Carpal Tunnel Symptoms Article

3. Foggy Brain symptoms are a -really- good clue.


So icing helps because it reduces inflammation and gets new blood to the area. The body likes that.

But you have a big push towards pain, so it's going to keep coming back, predictably. Icing is GREAT, but it doesn't actually target the cause of you pain, which I'd wager is more the fibro and possibly the thyroid disfunction.

I'm going to have my Kerri from www.Easy-Immune-Health.com take a look here and either comment and/or shift this conversation to her site.

The help I can provide you isn't what will best serve you, and likely isn't going to help any more than the icing has.

Not to discount temporary pain relief, that is valid and valuable. But I operate on wanting to deal with the source of the problem.

Kerri has answers and solutions to your fibro, hypothyroid, and brain fog. And I'm going with the assumption that you are motivated and looking for a 'cure'.

Keep an eye out for her in the next day or two.

Talk to you soon:)

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