Testing sensation with an unbent paperclip

[BramblyHedge]

Am I being precious? Suspected carpel tunnel. Nurse practitioner is testing my sensation in hand and wrist (does it feel sharp or dull if he pokes me in different places?). After he has stopped I see indentations in my skin (they do go quickly) and see he has been doing it with an unbent paperclip. I feel a bit annoyed that he has been poking me with a paperclip. Is this normal?

At least it wasn’t a staple gun I guess

I'd prefer it to a finger nail to be honest.

Would you rather it was his nail??

Yes.
Why are you annoyed about something so trivial? Any blunt needle like thing will do.
Neurotips (specific blunt needles) exist but i haven't seen them for years.

I think it is normal. I lost sensation in one side of my face due to a tumour pressing on the nerves. Thankfully all fine now - but I had to have this 'poking' done routinely to check if there were any changes in the nerve compression that hadn't been seen on my scans.

Can’t see what the problem is

Ok - that is what I needed 😀. It is trivial but that doesn't mean I can't ask. I'm not really upset - just a bit put out so thought I'd ask if this was normal - which seems it is.

I used to use neurotips, but they are expensive for the NHS to buy, and a paper clip will do just as well. As long as it doesn’t pierce your skin, it doesn’t matter.
YABU.

I wouldn't be worried by it. I can't think of anything better to do it with really.

My GP tested for carpal tunnel by pulling my fingers. I guess she gathered by my not-so-stifled scream that it hurt A LOT doing that. And she didn't express any regret for causing me pain either, the caaaaah.

Would much rather have had a straightened paperclip, to be honest.

I was taught to snap a cotton bud in half and use the splintery pointy bit to poke people with. I felt that was a bit much, a paperclip seems much more reasonable!

I have loss of sensation due to nerve damage, and I've only had the ultra specialist consultants use the neurotips - everyone else, inc hand surgeons use the paperclip to check sensation.

I was more perturbed when they took the wires out of my arm using a very non medical pair of pliers, but that was probably the whole situation! And I guess a pair of rubber handled pliers from B&Q had a better grip!

What a thing to get upset about?!

I'm a neuro physio, as pps have said anything sharp/blunt will do as long as you don't break the skin. I have a specific pen lid thats roundy one end and pointy the other I currently use...no one has objected/noticed so far..

My DH got poked with a pen lid, so I'd say it's all normal

I know what it's like not knowing if something is normal or not, I recently had my wisdom teeth pulled and the surgeon and stitched my cheek to my gum. I googled and apparently it's normal

Doesnt hurt to ask :)

Unbent paperclip or a broken tongue depressor are the standard.

What’s wrong with that?

Would you rather NHS money (which is in short supply in case you didn’t know) was spent on an expensive neurotip which does exactly the same job?