I fell over back in March and landed weirdly on one hand. My wrist/base of thumb was sore but I assumed it was sprained so didn’t do anything about it. Then lockdown happened so I just got on with it.
Lately it’s gotten worse. A few weeks ago I visited minor injuries who had a look and said that they thought it was a sprain and to keep an eye on it. I was so worried about taking up their time that I think I was with the nurse for less than 5 minutes. Since then it’s gotten worse still and is painful most of the time. My thumb clunks and gripping things is painful and almost impossible at times. The aching has kept me awake a few nights ago. It’s a dull ache deep in where my thumb meets my wrist. Every now and then I’ll have a sharp pain if I move awkwardly or grip something too hard or in a particular way. I’m a bit worried about a scaphoid injury or a tendon injury as it’s getting worse.
I emailed my doctors (they do an online form thing) and they replied giving me some exercises to do and said if it doesn’t get better to go for physio.
I didn’t mention in my email that I was thinking it could be a scaphoid injury as I didn’t want to seem like one of those people who self-diagnose from google (although maybe I am one of them after all)! This will sound silly but I get quite anxious about going to the doctors and convince myself that they’ll think I’m a hypochondriac so I’ll minimise everything when I get in there. That’s totally what I did in the minor injuries unit a few weeks ago. Yes, I know it’s weird. I used to have anxiety and I think this doctor anxiety started then.
Should I go for physio? I really think that more than a simple sprain as it’s getting worse daily over the last few weeks. Today I struggled to fold laundry and shell some peas. What would you do? I hate making a fuss and feel super awkward about being persistent about stuff like this.