I'm weighing up surgery on my thumb joints
Posted , 148 users are following.
I have osteo arthritis of both thumb joints. I'm 70, still very active ( currently on a skiing holiday) and work full time in my business. My condition is getting increasingly painful. I get by with painkillers. I have seen a surgeon but I'm really concerned about the long recovery time.
Has anyone here had basal thumb surgery and if so would you mind describing...briefly...what the surgery and recovery like and any complication. I would be most grateful.
Cheers.
10 likes, 917 replies
judy46008 caringbah
Posted
i had this procedure and first 4 weeks were difficult but with diligence in physical therapy improvement was great, but don't expect full recovery for about 6 months. iwad fully functional at 2 months
JUDY
cynthia58296 judy46008
Posted
Judy would you please describe where you are now? I am five weeks out and wish I could turn back time!
janet57817 caringbah
Posted
So I did have my surgery this past May 2019, and it has now been three month since I was last at work. I will be returning on Monday because my FMLA is up. I am a little nervous about returning to work because I am not 100% recovered, but I knew that was how it was going to be. I'm an OR nurse.
I had the CMC arthroplasty with internal brace. I had OT the past month. My strength is of course not the same as my left hand, but it is getting better. I take an Ibuprofen 800mg once a day if I am going to have a "challenging" day, so I don't take it every day. I still wake up with a stiff hand in the morning, but after applying some heat, a little massage, and the exercises my therapist taught me, things do loosen up in that hand. I try to do more things with that hand every day. I do not have the pain that I had before the surgery. That is a plus. I was sick of living with that. I know things will get better. I just have to give it time.
caringbah janet57817
Posted
HI Janet and Cynthia,
i have managed to keep going without surgery. im 74 and still working full time. i cant afford two years of whatever time i have left for recovery from surgery. i am mostly pain free and most of the time im not even thinking about my thumb joints. So far im very happy that i have not gone down the surgery route. i do not take painkillers.
This is what i have found to work. Believe me ive tried everything.
PRP injections. My doc would extract blood from my arm and then centrifuge it until it seperated out into its two phases. the clear liquid on top (Platelet Rich Plasma) he would then inject into my thumb joints. This is very painful but only lasts for a few seconds. this gives me three to four months relief.
GINSENG capsules. this not a drug but a herb. i find that these lower the inflamation and hence the pain.
COMPRESSION GLOVES
these are a godsend....very simple and cheap. ...these tight fitting gloves provide INSTANT relief...better than any painkiller.
Microcurrent therapy.
this consists of two electrodes, one of which has an inbuilt battery. the two electrodes are joined by an eight inch lead and the area inbetween the two electrodes is the area that receives the relief. i purchase these fron my local pharmacy. battery lasts 300 hrs. i use them overnight.
i believe these four methods will see through to the end of my days.
feel free to PM me for details and brand names.
cheers
peter
caringbah
Posted
i have discontinued the PRP injections. its a good method but relatively expensive. i find the other three methods i listed provide the same relief as the PRP.
hope that helps.
Peter
cynthia58296 caringbah
Posted
I would love to hear more from any of you regarding post op recovery and how it's going . I am 5 weeks post op, and had wonderful range of motion, wrist side to side, thumb touching pinkie, making fists, the tendon glide exercises -all wonderful until last week my op hand swelled up to the size of a boxing glove and movement has diminished significantly . Does this improve? I am woefully unhappy. Please share any insight!
cynthia58296 caringbah
Posted
I would love to hear more from any of you regarding post op recovery and how it's going . I am 5 weeks post op, and had wonderful range of motion, wrist side to side, thumb touching pinkie, making fists, the tendon glide exercises -all wonderful until last week my op hand swelled up to the size of a boxing glove and movement has diminished significantly . Does this improve? I am woefully unhappy. Please share any insight!
janet57817 cynthia58296
Posted
Hi! I had a CMC arthroplasty with internal brace to my right hand a little over six months ago. I returned to work 12 weeks after my surgery in August. I have since retired--about four weeks ago. I had occupational therapy for about six weeks in July/August. I was told that my recovery would be about 6 to 12 months. Even though I am only at the halfway point in my recovery, I am still waiting for things to be "perfect" again, but I don't think that is ever going to happen. I do not have the same pain that I had before my surgery, and I do not have to take ibuprofen everyday, but I do have pain everyday. My pain has gone from being at the base of my thumb to involving my entire hand and wrist--but not the base of my thumb--that is gone. It's like whatever changes were made during the surgery affected my entire hand. I had the surgery because I did not want to continue taking ibuprofen everyday. Plus I did have some decreased function/strength in that hand. I take an ibuprofen now only if its bothering me a lot. My range of motion is good, but I still do not have the strength in that hand that I had before this arthritis started. I never experienced what you are going through. Was there some contributing factor that lead up to this change?
cynthia58296 janet57817
Posted
there wasn't a clear event, sadly. everything seemed so positive and I felt on the road to recovery. The incision stopped oozing so much, apparently two aberrant dissolveable stitches gad gone road and did not dissolve. then the incredible swelling and virtually no strength or range of movement. And the pain... distressing
caringbah cynthia58296
Posted
So sorry to hear of your pain and distress.
Praying for you.
Peter
cynthia58296 caringbah
Posted
thank you. I wish I had done more thorough research, but for the moment would be over the moon for the swelling to abate! Thank you again
sheri09554 caringbah
Posted
I had osteo arthritis of both thumb joints. I am only 53 years old when I had my left CMC joint done. The procedure was where they go in and take the bone out and replace the gap with a rolled tendon. The surgery went well and I am now 55 and still able to use my left thumb with little or no pain. Now, let me tell you about my right thumb. I had it operated on in January of 2020, this year and now I can't write, paint, draw, open lids, lift anything heavier then a 1 litter water bottle. I even have to ask my husband to help me get dressed and undressed (which I can't disclose). The real problem is they implanted a STABLYX CMC Athroplasty Stytem into the CMC joint in my right thumb. I thought since I was right handed it would be a bettter comfort for using but now I am a lot of pain. I have to get shots ejected into my neck every other week for the pain and I also am taking Norco prescription. I am still in pain. The pain mangement Doctor calls the diagnosis as Chronic Regional Pain Syndrome. This diagnosis is something you can get after surgery. I'm really not sure why I am in so much pain the Osteo Dr. who did the implant says everything looks good but I am in so much pain. I really do not recommend this implant to anyone because now that I have it I am not stronger then before the surgery because I can't do anything. I would have rather gotten the bone removed and a rolled up tendon instead of this pain. It is a living nightmare. I can't get the implant removed and no matter how much medicine I take or shots in the neck, I still do not have a working right thumb to do anything with. I am filing for disability because I can not work and it is taking me forever to type out this message on my keyboard. So, anyone out there please stay away from receiving an implant to reduce the pain because I think the osteo arthritis was better then the pain I am enduring. Please do your research before you get any procedures done especially to your hand you use the most. I can recommend the procedure they used on my other thumb because it has no pain compared to the pain I feel now in my right thumb. Good luck to anyone that decides to get the STABLYX CMC Arthroplasy Stystem impant put into their CMC bone joint. I recommend not getting this procedure done. It is a living nightmare!!!
lisa474 caringbah
Posted
I was bone on bone on both thumbs and suffered for many years and it just got worse and worse and I decided that I was not getting cortisone shots that just prolonged what needed to be done, I was hesitant about getting the surgery because of the lenghty recovery but I had my surgery March 24th of this year surgery went very well my recovery was good, i was in a sling when i returned after surgery but within a week or so went back to the dr's and got my stitches out and did have to go for some therapy but once I went for therapy I did them at home, but overall it's really not a bad surgery, I'm 5 months post op and I can now open doors, turn on lights and everything I could not do before I can now, i'm so pleased that i decided to get this surgery despite what I read I'm getting my left hand done after the holidays... So worth it. Do it you won't be dissapointed.