A person with fibromyalgia takes longer to heal from a muscle strain injury. This explains a few things for me. If you’ve been reading my other blog then you know I’ve been out doing a ton of physical activity lately.
A few weeks ago I noticed that my wrist hurts when I bend it a certain direction. No big deal I figured I pulled something when I was out hiking or diving. I have given it about 3-4 weeks to heal now and it’s still there. So the question becomes when to call the doctor.
The answer to that depends on your pain level and loss of function. For example if the injury causes pain every time you move then you would need to call the doctor right away because it’s effecting your day-to-day living. Unfortunately, it isn’t that cut and dried for me. I have had the injury for about 3-4 weeks and it only bothers me when I put weight on that arm. For example when I sit on the ground and recline back on my arms or when I am climbing something. To complicate matters further I don’t have any loss of strength and the discomfort seems to be a minor annoyance.
However, I’m also educated enough to know that a person can have more than one problem. So I could have a real injury and maybe it’s not just part of the fibromyalgia. So, today after much debate I’ve decided to make an appointment to see my doctor. He’s a osteopath and very good at getting an idea of what is going on through physical exam techniques and then confirming his suspicions with diagnostics. Unfortunately his next available appointment is 2 weeks away. So I have to call again in the AM for a same day appointment.
There aren’t any real hard and fast rules when dealing with muscle strain and fibro. We just tend to take longer to bounce back from things. The only sensible thing to do it follow you’re gut. If the injury is severely painful see your doctor right away. If you have loss of function see your doctor right away. If the pain causes numbness, burning or tingling see your doctor right away. If it feels like the muscle has been bruised and it hurts just a little when you move then you may be better off waiting a little bit, as I did. But, as always, this blog is just a chronicle of my experiences and what I have learned. It’s not a substitute for medical advice. So if you have a muscle strain please seek medical attention before it turns into something larger. You never know you could have a broken bone or something more severe.
It’s crazy how long it sometimes takes our fibro-afflicted bodies to heal from minor strains. That’s why I’m not sure I buy into fibro being entirely a central nervous system processing problem. The CNS is definitely out of whack, but there seems to be something going on in the muscles and connective tissue too. I hope you get in and get some answers for your wrist. I’ve been dealing with elbow pain for over a month so I know how annoying something like that can be!