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
Bru caringbah
Posted
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Jackiemunson caringbah
Posted
I had my basal joint surgery about 3 weeks ago, on my right hand. The first night is the worst, and much like many others here, it is a rougher recovery than my other surgeries. I'm 51, have both RA and osteoarthritis, surgery seemed to be my last option, as my joints had degenerated so much that I am bone on bone in both hands. I put it off as long as possible, but the pain became too much. I'm due to have my left hand when this one heals, hopefully it will go as smoothly. I was told that it was really bad when they opened me up. The biggest adjustment is to have to keep my one hand dry, leaving me to do everything one handed, which is doable, but a pain. Good luck!
Willysman caringbah
Posted
Things are going pretty well as im out of the hard cast and now have to wear a plastic splint that i will be wearing the next 3 weeks.
I have an doc apointment on Jan 22nd and hope to get out of the splint at that time and stay on therapy for about a month. The only problem I had was that my hand and wrist are stiff after being in the cast and splint so long,other wise no pain and the incision looks great.
Sws Willysman
Posted
I am at 2 weeks and get my splint off tomorrow - replaced by a removable one. I cut it off after the first week because I got a terrible rash under the splint cast from the antibacterial soap they used for the surgery I could stand it. I think the cast is mostly keeping the pain minimal and the stitches intact. I don't know how long therapy will be - hopefully not long...
Is your entire hand splinted or are your other fingers free to move? My thumb was sort of immobilized but could move. The splint mostly kept the wrist immobile.
teri042458 caringbah
Posted
I had thumb basal reconstruction surgery with tendon as a bone replacement 1 yr ago on right hand. I regret it everyday. Thumb does not bend, I can not cut my food, zip my pants, tie my shoes etc.. I had a mini typrope put in to see if it would help. It did not.. don't have unless you have no other choice. I'm only 57 yrs old and permanently disabled now.
Jackiemunson teri042458
Posted
I'm sorry you're experiencing this problem. I'm not sure why ours would be so different, unless you factor in the skill of the Dr. I was told that my arthritis and deterioration was a lot worse when he cut me open. I saw online where a few people experienced your problem.
caringbah teri042458
Posted
I'm very, very sorry to hear of you situation Teri. It's why so many of us here are so extremely reluctant to have the surgery and are looking at alternatives. Currently as a layman I think that Stem Cells show the most promise as an alternative to surgery.
Sws teri042458
Posted
This sounds awful, teri. Did they remove the trapezium joint and do that thing with the tendon to fill in where the joint was? That was what they did with my left thumb 10+ years ago. I remember it taking awhile to strengthen and was more painful than the procedure they used this time - for the right thumb. (no tendon - they used a 'suture anchor'
It's almost been two weeks and I've taken off the splint twice to wash - I can't stand the bandages being on so long - and it's healing well. There's virtually no pain and I'm using all my fingers to type and the thumb is doing it's thing on the space bar. Playing the piano is still difficult with the splint on but I use the thumb and it's not painful... I suspect once the splint is off and I'm doing strengthening exercises, I might feel some pain but so far, it's better than the last time, which wasn't that bad and I have full strength with my left thumb. I'm so sorry that your surgery made it worse for you and that you've had so much pain/inability to do stuff. That must be so frustrating!
caringbah
Posted
In my seemingly eternal quest for a non surgical intervention for my arthritic thumbs, I have stumbled onto something quite promising.
Grass fed Beef Gelatin. This stuff is reportedly efficacious for a wide variety of ailments. I originally purchased a pack from my local health shop for improved gut health.
I researched it and was interested to see that it was supposed to be very helpful for arthritic joints especially hands. I took initially 1 tablespoon per day at bed time.
It took four days to kick in but on the fourth day my thumb pain was reduced by about 90%. I normally take at least 4 paracetamol/codeine pain killers per day but on day 4 I didn't need any. It's been five days now without pain killers so I think I'm onto something.
It has many reported benifts.
Gut health...nothing noticeable so far
Osteo pain....definitely helps
Sleep Aid....knocks me out in about 20 minutes.
Appetite supressant...definitely kills appetite.
And mamy others which you can research yourself.
Its cheap and worth a shot in my opinion. You need quality grass fed beef gelatin...not the supermarket stuff. It dissolves in hot water and has only a slight taste which can be masked by tea, coffee, cocoa etc.
It works for me and may work for you too.
caringbah
Posted
10 day report on Beef Gelatin.
This stuff is working...for me at least. I've now had 10 painkiller free days. Prior to that in the last few years I have only had about two or three painkiller free days. Now I've had ten in a row plus I've slept like a log.
I'll try to put a number to its effect with 10 being maximum pain.
Method. Pain
No painkillers. 10
Pain killers (6 pd) 2
Arthritis Cream ( no painkiller). 5
Arthriis cream ( 2 painkillers) 3
Beef Gelatin ...no painkillers. 2
Beef Gelatin + arthritis cream. 1
I'm not suggesting that is a cure but for me at least I think I have found a way to manage my pain levels while waiting for some better treatment method to turn up. Having said that, some reports say that the gelatin is able over time to help regenerate the growth of cartilage. What I'm especially pleased about is that I no longer have to rely on codeine based pain killers.
Lots of promising treatments in the pipeline including stem cells and improved surgical techniques with 3 month recovery time.
I will only have surgery when I exhausted all other options. Right now, I seemed to have found a viable, cheap, painkiller free coping mechanism for my thumb arthritis ( knees are showing some improvement as well )
Cheers
Peter
kathleen10572 caringbah
Posted
caringbah kathleen10572
Posted
Kathleen, it's worth a shot. I'm almost one month now without painkillers. I'd google stem cells as well. That was going to be my next shot but I found the gelatin first....so far so good.
Like all therapies it doesn't work for everyone, the only way to find out is to try.
Good luck.
caringbah
Posted
Ok, I'm now one month without painkillers. I was tempted to take some yesterday as I have been working on setting up a sprinkling system on a quarter acre allotment..lot of cutting pipe, twisting joints tight just using my hands. It was three days of work mainly using my hands and yes they were sore but ok now that I have stopped the heavy duty work.
Another benefit is that in the last month I have lost 6 kilos. The gelatin sharply reduces appetite and makes it much easier to stick to a calorie reduced diet.
Another benefit is that it puts me to sleep at bedtime.
This is not a cure but a good way to reduce your pain levels while considering other options or delaying surgery.
I'll be giving monthly updates from now on.
peter34761 caringbah
Posted
Well I am now 4 days into using the different Gelatin, must admit at this stage nothing happening, but I will definitely give it a go.
It is a very slow process recovering, 6 weeks now, all incisions have healed and now the rehab process. I must admit, the left thumb is getting worse as it is bearing lions share of the work at present. I knew this would most likely be the case, so I am looking forward to the time when my right thumb is back doing what it is supposed to do, thus resting the left one.
I am not taking painkillers as they really cause havoc to your liver etc, just work through it. Amazing what the human mind and body can do when tested.
I would like to think that I can get the relief that you are getting through the Beef Gelatin, only time and persistance will tell.
caringbah peter34761
Posted
I wish you success Peter....I built up to three tablespoons fairly quickly and I stopped taking painkillers after day 4. It worked quickly for me but everyone's different.
judith98909 peter34761
Posted
kathleen10572 caringbah
Posted
Been on the beef gelatin one week and don't notice any less pain but then I don't really expect results this soon. Figure that gelatin has to drift down to my thumbs and eve tho I'm a small person, it may take awhile! But one question. In following your comments, I see that you increased the gelatin from 1 Tbs. to 3. Over what period of time did you do the increase?
caringbah kathleen10572
Posted
Fairly quickly Katheen. I went from one to two in 2 days. On day four I bumped it up to three. I've seen where some people take up to six. I may experiment with four...see if it makes an improvement.
Ive always been an over doer. My motto is .....If a things worth doing it's worth doing to excess!! 🙂