...and the left wrist too

[Junkie]

Thursday afternoon, on the way home from school, I was involved in an accident. I don't remember a damn thing - I was leaving school and then I was in the hospital.

Damage that matters consists of a few breaks in my left wrist/forearm. Styloid process of the radius, shaft of the radius a little farther up (with some real displacement), end of the ulna.

There was also a concussion - or at least loss of a non trivial amount of memory - but I don't notice anything from that at this point. Also a little rash where the jacket rode up - both on torso and arms. Remember, fit matters.

Kaiser Oakland plated the break on Sunday morning, put me in a splint, and let me go. They gave me a fair number of 10/325 Percocet for pain, some Zofran for nausea, and some stool softeners - and I need all 3 to some extent.

I'm trying to taper off the real pain meds as quickly as reasonable, as obviously I don't want to have to break an oxy habit. On the other hand, I don't want the pain to be excessive. I'm taking some Ibuprofen as well, which helps with pain and swelling a little.


Anyone have any tips? I'll be back to Kaiser this Friday, and seeing what they say, but hearing from people with personal experience is helpful as well.

 

[budman]

The only tip I have is swim to rehab. I did my wrist good MXING and hit the pool quickly. Non invasive way to gain strength and mobility. Stretching it will be a pain, but really important for future use.

Hang in and good luck.

 

[Ozymandias]

In my case, doing all of the exercises I was given really helped my recovery. Start stretching and moving as many of the areas you can as quickly as possible. Atrophy is a bitch! No seriously... atrophy is a bitch! :laughing

As far as the opiates. I was on them for about 4 months. After that I can honestly say I can see how someone can get addicted. I probably could have stopped taking my meds before I actually did but I was afraid I would hurt so I didn't want to let myself feel it.

When I stopped I literally had withdrawls and some of the strangest feelings ever for 2 days. Things like being hot and cold at the same time and a hungry stomach feeling that wouldn't go away no matter what I ate. Nothing extreme by any means. All the while I knew that if I put a patch on that the feelings would go away. The thing that got me through it was "if I do that, I'm just going to make it worse going through this later". I later had to take them for a reconstructive surgery but only needed them for 3 days before I stopped and I just stopped them with no adverse affects.

That being said, if you're not feeling actual pain, stop taking them. When I did the reconstructive surgery my Doc urged me to go ahead and take them for a minimum of 2 days as scheduled but after that I could try extending out when I take the meds to find out where my pain level was.

 

[carries an axe]

I don't want to have to break an oxy habit. On the other hand, I don't want the pain to be excessive. I'm taking some Ibuprofen as well, which helps with pain and swelling a little.

Good for you! Try to keep the painkillers only for when the pain is realy bad. If you can scrape by with over the counter stuff your recovery time will be shorter. Opiates have an interesting way of sucking away your energy and productivity. Which is crucial for rehab.

 

[Nemo Brinker]

I got hooked on Vicodin after a relatively mild moto wreck...only took my body a month or so to get dependent. I had a bit of the temperature perception stuff Ozy mentioned, and lots and lots of cognition stuff (forgetting things at work, bad news) as well as pretty wild mood swings. Yuck.
I got desperate and tried going to an acupuncturist recommended by a friend, and while it is a slow and sometimes subtle remedy, it helped the pain while allowing me to get off the nasty-ass Vicodin.
That and lots of PT helped me get back on track. I need lots of stretching--my body likes to lock up tight after injuries.
Good luck, Daniel.

 

[Junkie]

they gave me hard copies and I don't have a scanner so I just held them up and took pics :dunno

Kaiser doesn't have xrays available online so I'll have to wait until I get back up there to see the xrays with the hardware in

 

[ndirienzo]

Hey Junkie... I'm just coming off a metacarpal fracture. Hit pavement at 75mph and shattered my #5 into 4 pieces with major displacement, and wound up with 4 pins holding it together. I took some heavy doses of vicoden for about 4-5 days, and quit cold turkey after that. I'm the same way and don't really like pain meds and didn't want to pick up a habit. The pain wasn't bad after a week, and never once took the IB800 they gave me.

I was in a hard cast for about 5.5 weeks. The pins came out after that. I had about 20 degrees of wrist movement in my wrist, and very little in my wring and little fingers. Within a day of that I was up to 50% and back on the bike. By the time I officially started PT a week later I had 90-95% of my range of motion back. Now, two weeks later, I'm damn near 100%. I've hit the pool every day for the past week, and then went and did some light lifting earlier today. Doing PT on yourself is painful, but if you suffer through it you get your motion back quick.

Sorry about your injuries, but you're young and will heal quick. Hit the gym a bit while you're recovering and at least sit on a stationary bike for an hour or set a treadmill at a steep incline and go. That did wonders for me just keeping my spirits up and not feeling super lazy.

My hand post-op

 

[Junkie]

well, they pulled off my splint. remember kids: down the road, not across the street.

and put on a cast :/ but only for a couple weeks

 

[Junkie]

I'm now out of the cast, starting PT soon. Don't have much motion in the wrist yet, hopefully it'll come back. At least there isn't much pain.

 

[ndirienzo]

I'm now out of the cast, starting PT soon. Don't have much motion in the wrist yet, hopefully it'll come back. At least there isn't much pain.

It'll come back... just gotta stretch the shit out of it!

 

[Junkie]

not right now. will be again soon, though.

 

[limey]

Ouch!

That bone heals relatively quick though, and since it is plated you should not be too long in the cast!

Healing thoughts sent your way! Welcome to the one handed club (for now). At least you can move your thumb in that cast!