RA, Carpal Tunnel Release Surgery, Sleep Apnea, Acid Reflux and the Mental Screw.

By Rena Saturday, March 12, 2011

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Hello everyone. I have been off line for a while and have now decided to crawl out of my hole and back into the land of the living.

I have been struggling with a lot of health issues, as I am sure everyone else does too. But...it seams that mine seam to all wait to hit me until their are at least (3) of them. Murphy's Law is a Killer!!!

I just had carpal tunnel release surgery done on both hands on 3-11-11. I originally thought that doing both hands at the same time was a good idea, as this would minimize the time I had to be off my Enbrel. Hind sight: Not a good idea! The temp. stop of my Enbrel two weeks prior to the surgery sent me into a RA Flare, which I did anticipated. But the lack of use of both of my hands and the post anesthesia stuff...Holy Cow! What was I thinking?

I am sure glad that week is over. I started my Enbrel again, right after the surgery. It is still not working its magic yet and I don't do prescription pain killers. They make me sick to my stomach.

Another poor decision that I made was to do an Upper Endoscopy on 3-15-11, while I was off work for the carpal tunnel surgeries. Hey, might as well go for the gusto, huh. NOTE: I now know I was completly out of my freaken mind!!! I must have thought that I was really tough. What I have found is that I have crumbled like a wet cardboard box. I am just now pulling myself up from the depths.

The endoscopy identified some more medical issues that I now have to address and some more medications that I will need to take. NOTE: It is beginning to bother me when I go to my pharmacy each month and walk away with a HUGE sack of med.'s!

I go in for my endoscopy follow up and biopsy results on 3-19-11 and to my hand surgeon on 3-17-11 to have the stitches taken out and see how my hands are doing.

I know that we learn from our mistakes and this has been an extremely painful lesson for me to learn both physically and mentally. I know now that I must stop being my worst enemy and begin being a friend to my body and my mind. I am not invinsible. I do not have to be tough. I do not have anything to prove.

NOTE to ALL: Be kind and gentle to yourselves.

Bad reaction to Budeprion.

Comments (4) | Add comment

V, Health Guide

3/14/11 7:43pm

Hi, Rena,

Oh, my. You have been through it. Thank you for your post. It is an excellent reminder to everyone who reads it. I certainly hope things settle down for you soon, and you get some rest and many, many good days.

Peace,

Rena

3/14/11 11:13pm

Hi V! I am beginning to climb out of the "hurt locker" now...thank goodness! It makes me feel better to hear that my post could help other people. We can all use a little help from our friends and your reply makes me feel better. Thank YOU!

Ellen Galo

3/14/11 9:55pm

Oh my goodness I feel for you! Take each day as slowly as you can. One thing that has helped me heal from surgery (or at least I believe it has) are post-op supplements from makemeheal.com. Expensive but I had no bruising and not very much swelling.

The year I had my ankle surgery, I had carpal tunnel several months later, and almost scheduled a wrist replacemtn after that (yea, I know the thought of "let's just get it DONE" but I stopped before that ... the cumulative effect. (Are we crazy?) I also had only one wrist done. So now - give your self as much time as you can just to rest and heal. Dont' take shortcuts. Accept what help is available. (I'm wondering how you take care of the personal care stuff with two hands healing! It was difficult enough to keep one out of the shower>>>!!

I have also had GERD and endoscopies but not while everything else was going on .... and consider the fact that stress can make reflux worse, etc. So don't try to take it all at once. LEt yourself sort out what you most need to pay attention to first, then second, then .... one thing at a time, if at all possible. WE are not machines, as much as sometimes we tend to think, yeah, just do all the 'repair' work at once! No, no no.... GENTLE is RIGHT! Peace & quiet, prayer and/or meditation, or just vegging the couch, with a favorite book, TV program, video whatever makes you relax and feel BETTER!

Rena

3/15/11 12:09am

Hey Ellen! Thanks a bunch for commenting. It always helps to have friends who really do know what you are going through. I am getting better, slowly. I think I have gotten over my big, big mistake and am now trying to learn from it and be kind to myself. Slow and easy is absolutely right!

I have never heard of post-op supplements from makemeheal.com. I have had a lot of bruising (is looks like someone ran over my hands) and a little swelling. I am going to check into this for sure.

You are so right about that "let's just get it done" mentality. I do think that it is temporary insanity! I have not been a patient person in the past with getting anything done. I want it done now. I have always been the take care of it and fix it person for my family and at work. I am going to have to rethink this. Who's team am I on anyway???

As far as taking care of the personal care stuff with two hands healing...Those big yellow rubber cleaning gloves and duck tape ("if all else fails...duck it!") were the key. Crazy...I know, but it does work. My hands/dressings and now my wrist braces aren't getting wet. It was extremely difficult the first 6 or 7 days though. It was painful and I did some crying and beating myself up for placing myself in such a predicament.

Doing the endoscopy 4 days after the carpal tunnel surgeries was definately not a good idea. I hate missing work and only had that on my brain. I guess I was thinking that I should just go for the whole "tune-up" at once...there's that "get it done" mentality. Again...Who's team am I on??? Not only the stess of the added procedure, plus more anosthesia and the added stress of the findings of the endoscopy almost put me over the edge. I put myself through a "Controlled Car Crash" really.

I am going to take your advice and attack this one thing at a time. Hands first. Allow time for the Enbrel to start working again and for me to feel better, then look at the digestive health issues. By the way, do you also take medications for acid reflux or sleep apnea??? If so, how does it work with your RA medication?

I have a DVD on beginning meditation that I have never tried. Thanks for reminding me. That is going to be a goal for me to do tomorrow.

I just need to remember that I am tough. Anyone who has RA has to be tough! But... I am not invincible!

Thank you so much for taking the time to reply. It means a lot to me. Your kindness, understanding and constructive comments are the best medicine of all. THANK YOU ELLEN! YOU AREA THE BEST!

RA, Carpal Tunnel Release Surgery, Sleep Apnea, Acid Reflux and the Mental Screw.

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