Mandatory Rest & Being More Efficient

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Carpal Tunnel Syndrome Complaints

I wrote about this issue I have with my hand a few weeks ago, at that time, the pain was already quite out of control to the point where it literally drove me nuts throughout the day. It didn't even matter anymore if I did absolutely nothing or was sitting behind my desk for a short time. I also wrote that I was going to be more efficient, simply because I was forced to do so at that point. I honestly tried to look at things from a positive side because otherwise this thing would have driven me completely nuts.

I made an appointment for a scan (I think the doc said to rule out other things), which will take place in a few weeks, there was no earlier free spot. Meanwhile he prescribed me prednisone which was a very bad idea and I had a very scary experience, so I quit taking them immediately and switched to taking turmeric paste twice a day, served as golden latte, which I already started loving after a few days.

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If you're having any similar problems or other inflammations, I'd recommend you to try making the paste yourself (see link above) and consume it at least for a few weeks, as I'm quite sure it has contributed to wearing off the pain during the past week. It's easy to make as well as a nice drink that kept me from drinking a lot of coffee every day since I started taking the golden latte twice a day. A win-win, I'd say.

I'm curious what will be seen (or not seen) on the scan and what the doc proposes after the results come in. I personally would like to aim for some physiotherapy combined with the turmeric paste.

A good routine and rest when needed

I've learned to accept that this may be something that will not be over even if I decide to try meds, and that it could be something else than CTS after all. So while I accepted that, I'm also forcing myself to look at some other aspects and not be stubborn but relax my hand(s) in time, preferably before it starts to hurt. I have to say that last week, I have not sat behind my desk for more than 1 hour straight once.

I admit that partially this was reached thanks to my boss(es) giving me a week holiday and a boyfriend nagging me every time he even caught me behind the desk (even if I was there for just 10 minutes). I appreciate the concern and care though, so I took as much chill time as I could, even though it took me a few days to not feel restless anymore, I felt like being on withdrawal from work tasks, imagine that.

The week is coming to an end and now that we are staying in all day, I decided to create a work schedule for myself, including personal tasks as well as my Hive content. I ran out of posts within the payout window today, so I have to start creating again. My plan is to stick to the initial idea of handling work A on two days a week, and work B also spread over 2 days max so that I can be as efficient as possible. I will focus on Hive content two other days and try to work ahead for a few days every time I schedule time for that.

Housewife duties

Since I started taking the resting more serious, for some reason I felt having a lot more energy and excitement to do food prepping and have a good meal ready in time every day. I was resenting that for some time and it meant that often we had a battle here between going for a tapa or eating bread or another fast thing to pull from the fridge or freezer. I'm really on top of the budget because I have a goal for buying a car and therefore it became annoying having to battle for a hard NO to go out for food. Needless to say that my newly found schedule/routine in the home also means less spending on groceries as well as adding to our savings a lot faster. I like it! It's highly motivating and I will keep pushing to get it all done in the timeframe I have in mind. After all, there's a full week holidays at the end of December for my boyfriend and we don't want to waste that at home!

I admit that I don't do the heavy stuff that's too much for my hand, I really don't hate vacuum cleaning but it's too heavy and I will regret it afterwards, so my boyfriend does it whenever I ask. The same goes for the heavy pans in the kitchen, he cleans them before I can even think about grabbing them (because sometimes I automatically do it and instantly get punished with pain). It's amazing to find out how often weight pressures on my wrist now that I'm trying to be so aware to avoid it from happening.

A curse that turned out to be a blessing (partially)

I still curse when the pain pops up heavily but I also know that if this didn't happen recently, I would have not been focused on taking some rest and improving things that will contribute to the overall health. I'm happy to say that I notice a difference with my new office chair but also know that this will still be a no go for longer periods of time because I need the foot rest to go with it. That one is stored at our friend's house in another part of Spain, which I'm really hoping to be able to pick up within a month. Even more reasons to stay focused on our goal.

And with that, it's time to end this post and focus on dinner and some food prepping for tomorrow when I'll be making falafel for the first time and homemade hummus. Let's see if they turn out nicely.

Have a great weekend everyone!



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7 comments
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This is so useful. I'm keen on all-natural remedies, so this one will be bookmarked for future attention.
Yes, taking rest is key for such conditions, something that's hard to do since it involves the hands.
Best wishes🙏

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Thanks for stopping by @millycf1976, I hope you're well!
I'm very sure about the fact that the paste can work magic, even though I expected it to take much longer to see improvement. Either way, 100% worth it to keep taking that as I'm very curious how it helped me in months from now as well as other health benefits that become clear later on.

Resting is defo very hard, I also noticed now it's time to ignore the keyboard for the next hours, to avoid being punished!

Have a great weekend!

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In the majority of cases, CTS starts in the shoulder region. Good physios and chiropracters will know this but typically, the average 'medical doctor' is clueless (as they are about most things that don't involve generating pharmaceutical profits or costly surgery).

Rest is important, but as someone who has had (and fixed) very bad CTS due to being a professional programmer, among other things, I can assure you that these are the most effective ways to resolve the situation if your problem stems from computer use:

  1. see a good holistic chiropracter.
  2. learn about earthing your body - essentially, connect physically with bare skin to the earth. this will dramatically increase your body's ability to reduce inflammation and to repair itself. i have a special mat that goes next to my mouse mat which connects to the grounding point of the house.
  3. move your body more and in ways that you wouldn't ordinarily move it.
  4. release emotions as sound and movement instead of being suppressed.
  5. consider intermittent fasting or a sustained water fast. this will free your body energy from the intensive process of food digestion and allow it to focus more energy onto resolving health issues.
  6. yoga.

some or all of these in combination will definitely help!

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Hi, first of all, thank you so much for this comment, it's very helpful! I definitely think it's coming from the shoulder region for several reasons. First, before our emigration, my shoulder was constantly in pain because of the lack of a decent desk and workplace. It was what it was, I had to deal with it. Maybe I overdid it too long and it started there.

When my boyfriend massaged me a few weeks ago to give me some relief, it was very clear that it went all the way from hand to shoulder.

I was happy to get something from the doc at the time, but had no clue it was prednisone until I was home and read the info, reading the side effects made me reluctant to take it but I also read a low dose could bring relief so I tried it. I'm a very sensitive person in many ways, sometimes a bit too sensitive you could say, meaning that I need very little quite often to get a bit overloaded. I assume that's also why it didn't need more than 4 tablets to get my blood pressure through the roof. I will take it as a hard lesson where I learned not to just trust a doctor on his word and look for other options than the meds they prescribe first. We all know big pharma is the one pressuring them so I should be more careful just accepting heavy meds.

I will look into the other things you mentioned, I do walk barefoot most of the day, unless I go out, I hate socks and shoes on my feet lol, as soon as I get back home I take them off.

Again, thank you! I hope you don't have any of these issues anymore yourself, I can't even imagine having this stuff for years in a row. I had the same complaints when pregnant with my first child, but they disappeared after birth.

The turmeric seems to help though, but as soon as I type too long (the desk is still too high for the right position) I feel that the burning feeling and cramps get back quite fast, so I will keep taking it slow and use my time behind the screen wisely.

Have a good week ahead!

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I had CTS before because of the nature of my work (IT/desk job) and it lasted almost a week, so I needed to make contraptions by binding my hand tightly with a cloth to avoid unnecessary and painful movements.

Sometimes, my arthritis also pains me from time to time but I don't that's the same with your case.

Yea, turmeric is great for inflammations. Then you can also consider getting some comfy hand/palm/wrist "resting" stuff... gomen, I forgot its name, but it helps preventing joint/muscle stress while working.

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