Painful swollen fingers.

[flobadob]

A few months ago(can't believe it was May) I posted about my index finger on my right hand being swollen http://www.theanswerb...Question899634-2.html and got some good advice. Since then the same problem has spread to the third finger also. I've had an x-ray which showed nothing broken then a few weeks ago I went to an orthopedic specialist. He said it was to do with tendons and put me on tablets called Diclofenac Sodium. I've been taking these once a day since Saturday week, 11 days. The course is supposed to finish next Saturday, although I've got enough for another couple of weeks.

The thing is I find that these tablets have made absolutely no difference to my situation, the problem is exactly the same. So unless there is some sort of miracle over the next few days it looks like I'm back to square one.

Some of the previous advice was to take ibruprofen which I did but I stopped quickly enough as I didn't want to keep taking them when the pain is quite bearable. I suppose my question is does it sound like the specialist made the correct assessment, seeing as I'm feeling no progress has been made using the medication?

[Buenchico]

Here are the options which the specialist might want to consider:
http://www.nhs.uk/Con.../Pages/Treatment.aspx

Chris

[Sqad]

flobadob....the description you have given both of your hand and of the Orthopaedic surgeon is rather sparse, but it does sound as though you are developing a condition known as Dupuytron´s Contracture. It is no big deal, so Google it for more information. This is purely speculative based on your description.

Both Ibuprofen and Diclofenac are in the same group of painkillers and if you find that Ibuprofen relieves the pain better than Diclofenac, then I would switch until you see your Orthopaedic surgeon again.

[jno]

I was on diclofenac for quite a while for gout, until my doctor said it had recently been implicated in heart attacks and took me off it. Sqad will doubtless know more about this than I do.

[Sqad]

jno...sorry this is a question for either Lazygun or the prof, but until they pop in, this is my story in a nutshell.
BMJ, European Congress of Rheumatology, both had studies which indicated that the incidence of heart attacks was increased with the use of NSAID´s (Ibuprofen was the safest)

"No! no!" said the National Heart Foundation of Australia " the European studies are flawed and more research is needed"

"No! No! said Stanford University School of Medicine "yes, the Europeans may be flawed, but there is still a risk"

Pick the bones out of that!

Sqad´s assessment

1) There may well be a slight increase in heart attacks with long term use of NSAIDs, especially in the case of a past or family history of heart disease.
2) Short term use of NSAIDs...3-6 months.....no big deal.
3) If NSAIDs relieve chronic pain...then the slight risk of heart attack....is worth it.
4) Ibuprofen is the NSAID to use in either acute or chronic pain.

I will leave now for Lazygun or the prof to give you the full SP

[flobadob]

Basically sqad initially my index finger on my right hand started to get swollen and I could not bend it into a fist. At the start it would come and go but now it appears to be permanent. Also my third finger on the same hand has started doing the same thing. There is some pain but it is not anything that worries me. It is more the fact that I've lost a lot of dexterity.

I just feel that the tablets have done nothing. You say that diclofenac if for pain, but I thought that it was to stop the swelling and let me bend the finger again.