As soon as someone opens another Stankz Bilgewater Beer and provides the cap; LeRoy will attach the ribbon and I will present to you the HWH James Herriot memorial Medical gong for excellence in diagnosis and treatment of all ailments great and small. Clearly you know what my affliction is like. I have been taking Ibuprofen for about 2 months now and I rest the arm and put heat on the painful joint especially at night. Never one to take much medicine before, at one point I was taking 4 Ibuprofen every 4 hours. Recently I have been able to reduce that considerably until now I am able to control the pain with just rest and heat alone.
Ah, that sounds very familiar. When mine first started, it came on with a bang, and I had so much pain I couldn't sleep, even with the ibuprofen. So on a whim born of desperation, I went out and bought myself one of those electric stimulators (zappers) with gel pad electrodes, and had my son tape it to my back, one pad at my neck, the other at the back of my shoulder. I was getting neuralgic pain right down to my wrist. I turned the machine on, and kept it going (it had a built in 20min timer, so I had to keep refreshing it), and was astounded to find that the electric zaps seemed to disrupt the nerve, so that it would cease to send pain signals while the machine was running, and even more miraculous, after about 1 1/2 hours, the pain would remain absent after the machine went off. This state would persist for about 3-4 hours. Thus, I was able to get a good half night's sleep, then (as the gadget was still taped to me) I could fire it up for three or four 20min sequences, while in a semi-snooze, and that would be enough to have it settle down so I could get the second half of my night's sleep.
Meanwhile in the waking hours I was doing 400mg ibuprofen every 4 hours, as well as running the machine on the same ~1 to 1.5 hr on, 4hr off schedule. This situation persisted for something like 6 weeks, along with visits to a chiropractor twice a week. Then one day, after my 1.5hr of zapping, the relief did not subside after 3 or 4 hours, in fact the pain (like a burning ache from the shoulder to the wrist, and sometimes right out to the middle finger) did not come back at all, and I was able to stop the use of the zapper. This was a huge relief, as I was beginning to think that I might be afflicted with this pain permanently, and would live the rest of my life with electrodes taped to my body (causing little twitches when they went off, so I looked like I had Parkinson's).
Since then, the problem continues to hover, and if I use my arm too much I can feel an ache develop like a "stiff neck" sort of feeling, but relatively mild, which may be anywhere from the elbow to the backbone, and I know to recognize it and behave myself, and take 200mg ibuprofen, every few hours til it subsides. However, I also know that any kind of persistent use of the arm will bring it on, as well as any heavy exertion. No more opening the jars that no one else can, even guys with arms as thick as my leg;* no tightening up 1" bolts, and I have switched over all my mousing to my other hand.
* The easy way to open a jar is to wedge a spoon handle under the lip of the lid and flex to break the vacuum, but that's no challenge. I would do it brute strength. The key is to lean your shoulder onto your wrist, and hold your entire arm stiff, and move at the elbow like pulling on a wrench. Oh, yes, and don't bother to try to squeeze the lid with your fingers, just wrap them, and let the friction as you twist passively sink your grip deep into the lid. That, and turn with all the force you can muster, and keep going, even though it seems nothing is happening, because you are actually making microscopic progress, and as long as you persist for anywhere from 30 seconds to two minutes, you will eventually move enough that the seal will fail. Most people don't have the patience and concentration to persist with full effort, long enough. You have to understand that although I am tall, I weigh almost nothing as I am very light boned for some odd reason (no obvious heredity for it), so I don't look like I have much strength. Yet at neighbourhood cookouts, it became routine that I would let a couple of big guys take a run at a particularly reticent pickle jar, and then step up and pop it open. An easy way to acquire some respect, despite my stature.
