I had a fall about 3.5 weeks ago in the garden and landed hard and awkwardly on my hand. It swelled up and my thumb and palm was very painful and bruised pretty much straight away. I had it x-rayed and no fractures apparently. I couldn't use that hand so work was a non-starter (my job is 100% typing and I couldn't get comfortable at a desk) so on the doctor's advice I self-certified for a week as he said "well, no, you definitely can't work". The following week the bruising had gone down a lot but I was in the same amount of pain in my thumb so the doctor signed me off for another week. Over the course of that week the bruising went completely and it felt like it was healing. The third week I was then on annual leave and hoped I'd be lots better by the following week. I've returned to work this week but am struggling. I thought it was getting better and I'd be ok (though it's in a split still) but the more I use it the more it feels like someone is drilling into the muscle in my thumb. By the end of the day it feels like my hand is going to fall off. My hand gets so stiff in the splint but if I take it off my thumb is then not protected/supported and it's even more painful! Any advice? Anyone had anything similar before?! In terms of what I can do/can't do: I can't type with my fingers but it's awkward, I have trouble gripping anything with that hand, doing up buttons, opening jars, chopping veg etc, driving is a challenge as I can't grip the gear stick or handbrake very well (so I'm not driving!).
I don't know what to do about work as I feel like it's not REALLY bad, e.g. not broken, but at the same time it's not helping either! I feel like a bit of a fraud as there's nothing to see but at the same time the pain is horrendous!