So I’m off the bike again…..
Been having pain in my thumb for a few weeks and just thought I’d tweeked it.
Last week it started clicking and over the weekend started to lock up.
Went to minor injuries yesterday as can’t get a Dr’s appointment for 4 weeks…..
Apparently I have Trigger Thumb and need to go see the specialist.

Anyone else had this?
What’s the treatment and recovery like?

It’s in my dominant hand so making life a little awkward at the moment.

Why are new topics invisible??

Yes
But mildly, lots of clicking with the occasional lock up that can be sorted via manipulation
Result of injury to thumb twice

This is why I get annoyed at my patients who moab about access etc at my practice!

You’d get a phone call with me TODAY… I’d diagnose trigger thumb over the phone.. bring you in early next week and inject it, and you’d be fixed a week later…..

Anyway… certainly sounds like trigger thumb… can your gp inject joints and tendons?

DrP

My daughter had it but it last year but the cause for her was juvenile arthritis. It went from one hand to both. If you notice it changing i.e. moving to other joints, wrists, etc, I would seek further help, but this would be rare. A quick look online says restricting movement is good, maybe an overnight splint. Maybe try topically applied anti-inflammatories like ibuprofen gel. This way they target the area without stressing your stomach. Regardless of the initial cause of the inflammation, the stiffness and pain will be the result of inflamation, so you should try to reduce that for now.

Like what DrP says. You don’t need a specialist you need a gp that injects stuff. Trigger thumbs and fingers respond well to a little bit of cortisone. At my practice if you can get through on the phone you’d have an appointment with me to sort it within a few days.
Whilst we are on the subject of access to GPs please be aware that we are still working under the covid standard operating procedure from a year ago, so while schools pubs etc are almost “back to normal” we still have to telephone triage every single appointment which means we often need 2 contacts for one problem. One of the few exceptions to this is repeat joint injections for arthritic knees etc. I do loads of these, 2 or 3 a day, and most decent sized practices should have someone who does the same.

@DrP and @docrobster thanks for the info – greatly appreciated.
My Dr’s can’t even take a phone call so I don’t think I’d trust them to inject me…….

I appreciate the COVID restrictions but this is taking the proverbial – I resorted to MI as I’ve gotten fed up with trying to see the GP.

MI gave me a brace so at least I have something in the interim (however long that might be…)

I called the GP again today to be told “that’s not an emergency, we don’t have the file note from MI so we can book you a telephone consult in 3 weeks” – at which point I really lost my $**t with the receptionist….

I’m going to A&E later and insisting on seeing a Dr as this is getting beyond a joke.

I had this, I’m left handed but had in my right hand so didn’t do the exercises given to me by the physio. I stopped playing PUBG mobile and it went some time after.

There are exercises you can do, but you have to do them 😏.

This might help:

https://www.ouh.nhs.uk/patient-guide/leaflets/files/11303Pdequervains.pdf

I appreciate the COVID restrictions but this is taking the proverbial – I resorted to MI as I’ve gotten fed up with trying to see the GP.

I understand your frustration, but in my practice, I’ve a nurse and two receptionists at the local vaccine centre, tomorrow a nurse, HCA and a GP and we still have a on line enquiries and telephones to get through, all while keeping everyone safe, and triaging everyone.

I’ve had a dodgy right thumb for years, sometimes locks and has to be clicked through and aches, old bike injury I think

Worse is my scaphoid in both wrists, both been broken, pain taking longer to clear after rides. That test in icic’s link with the thumb in a fist and moving hand test is interesting as it gives instant sharp pain in both scaphoids. Will try some of the exercises in it, see if it helps at all

I’ve been a full time nhs gp for 23 years. At no point during that time have we ever been able to meet demand.
A free at the point of use service is always going to be saturated with demand, especially as every single piece of advice ends with “if in doubt speak to your gp”
The rest of the nhs just has longer waiting lists, or is simply not available. I’m not allowed to refer trigger thumb or finger to secondary care unless it’s persisted for 6 months and has not responded to conservative measures ie injection- the a&e doc saying you need a specialist will have no idea about referral pathways and the like- they just know they can’t deal with it so assume it’s another speciality in the hospital. This is common hospital doctor thinking. It’s wrong as so many problems are dealt with entirely in primary care but they just don’t see this.
I had a conversation with a 78 year old lady yesterday who was listed for knee replacement surgery 6 months ago. Can barely walk. She rang and after the usual “get a letter from your gp” advice from the orthopaedic secretary (note- this is a tactic to get her off the phone, makes no difference, just adds to my admin pile) she has been told she is number 95 in the queue. So she’s going to spend her daughter’s inheritance on it instead. Lucky her that she has the means.
Boris is making all sorts of promises about funding the recovery of the nhs post covid but he can’t magic up staff.
Don’t go back to a&e. That is waste of their time too. Get your gp appointment booked. Answer the phone when they ring and take it from there.
And don’t lose your shit at reception staff. It’s not their fault. It’s the fault of politicians and the voting public who let them get away with it.
Gmc number 4012034 apologies fir the rant. I need to ride my bike.

Well said, and thank you. No need for apologies. This sort of stuff needs the be much, much more widely known.

I know the wait time is bad, but at least get on the list with your GP to be seen. Before C19 when I was waiting for a knee replacement my GP could give me a steroid injection right there and then. You’ve waited so long before trying to see someone as you would to hope it gets better), atleast when you do it should be sorted there and then.

I understand your frustration though. I’ve been waiting since before the first lock down for my regular wrist steroid injections (needs a live xray injection so i also need to travel to Aberdeen) due to OA. I was supposed to be getting them just when everything stopped for C19, and waiting since December for MRI results consultation due to clinics stopping. Not the GP or consultants fault.

Sometimes I can hardly manipulate anything and it’s pretty painful.

I just have to occasionally ring the secretary and apologetically ask if there’s any progress… Which reminds me…

@docrobster – fully appreciate your frustration at the politicians.
You guys do an amazing job, and I am grateful that we do not have the same ‘healthcare for the rich’ like other countries.

My frustration and ‘$**t loss’ was more aimed at the receptionist who is the most off-handed, least patient focussed one there.

As a family we very rarely bother the GP – only usually once or twice a year and mostly that’s if my wife has a kidney or UTI.

I called back not too long ago and spoke with a different (read more helpful) receptionist who listened and has booked me a face to face with the practice nurse on Saturday morning.

Trigger thumb, no. Trigger finger in the the 3rd and 4th finger on each hand since May last year, yes.

2 days of using a pneumatic wrench in a factory and I’ve had the trigger finger and carpel tunnel ever since.

The pain & numbness combo makes life interesting. Affects me most first thing in the morning and some days is agony trying open my hands fully.

I finally got a docs appointment 2 weeks ago after having a telephone consult a couple of days prior. He was concerned that it came on so quickly and hasn’t gone away. Referring me to a hand specialist but warned that they’ve not really being doing steroid injections since Covid came about, so I have no idea what the plan is. He warned that waiting times are long but given that nearly a year has passed it should bump me up the queue a bit.

They did text me yesterday saying that it’s time for me to call them to get my 1st Covid vaccine next Wednesday. I can expect that is taking up a massive chunk of their time and resources still

Sounds more like a HAVS injury to me.

If it fares up when riding do you have stiff cables? If I start getting pain in my thumb I know it’s time to change the gear cable 😎

This if of interest to me… Would one of the resident GPs be able to offer advice on whether I should have my daughter’s trigger thumb looked at?

She’s a couple of months shy of 7 years old and has now had this for about 6-8 months. It started off by just catching and clicking when bending every so often, and we assumed it was just one of those things that would clear up on its own. NHS site and various others suggested it might.

But for the last 3-4 months it has been pretty much ever present. It doesn’t really cause her any pain and is not something she complains about, so hadn’t really felt it was something to bother our GP with. But I wonder whether it is something we should now get looked at? There’s been no injury or repetitive movements that might account for it. Thanks in advance.

Both my thumbs click (near the top (fingernail end!) joint) when I bend them, almost every time. Have done for a few years now. Sometimes they ache a bit, but it doesn’t get actually painful. I just assumed it was an old age thing (I’m 45 so expecting everything to decline!).

@deltacharlie72

It would be worth getting a review and probable referral for further care.
As a GP, I wouldn’t really be happy injecting a child with that issue – I’d probably want a paeds/ortho reivew and input.

HTH

DrP

Yep, had it a couple of years ago.

While in the system waiting on a GP, I did a few days work requiring use of a big Hilti hammer drill, battering away at limestone…and the trigger thumb stopped, never to return…

Ah, mine works the opposite way to that, kind of locks straight, not bent. Hmm.

Many thanks, @DrP Will get an appointment booked with our GP.

Just thought I’d post an update on this.
I visited the Nurse on the Saturday and she booked me in to the GP’s injection clinic last Wednesday.
I’ve had cortisone injections in my shoulder several times so thought I’d be prepared for what was to come…..
After a few minutes poking, prodding & pulling at my thumb the Dr decided where he was going to inject.
First off I had anaesthetic – that was pretty uncomfortable with where it went, anyway my hand went numb pretty quickly.
Then he went in with the cortisone – OMG! I have never felt pain like it (and I’ve had kidney stones lol) considering my hand didn’t feel connected to me! It took me a good few minutes to get my composure back.
So I’m now a few days on and I’d say that most of the pain has gone, still get a twinge in the tendon and my thumb is locking less and not as painful when it does.
Now only seems to lock first thing in the morning when I wake up and if my hand is in one position for too ling (driving mainly).
Went kayaking at the weekend which I wouldn’t have been able to do the previous weekend due to how painful and restricted my hand was. Writing is pretty much back to normal and so is grip and dexterity.

Hoping it keep on improving, might go for a ride this week and see how it copes with that.

Thanks again for all the advice!