How to get your hand not to agree with you

My whole life, or since I can remember, I’ve been invaded by Ganglion cysts in my wrists. Those are small liquid balls that appear in your wrists for no apparent reason but to disturb your life. They usually come and go, but some of them like to stick around causing pain. I’ve already got them surgically removed twice, leaving “good looking” scars.

The thought about scars is that they always leave space for good stories, like the one on my right wrist that led this weird guy in a club approach and tell me that He used to do that but not anymore… it took me time to realize that he thought it was some sort drug mark or maybe suicide attempt (which would be dumb since veins are on the other side of the wrist), and when I told him No dude is not what you think, he told me something like Yeah I used to deny it too… anyway…

Image source: www.canstockphoto.com

The problem now is that the “thing” as I call it, won’t go until my hand stops making “efforts”, the good doctor has advised me to use the wrist the least possible, type the least, which me having a full time job as a Technical Writer and having the long-time dream of becoming a Fiction writer, maybe be outputting… but I guess life is not always easy…

Luckily, there are always ways, and I’m happy that I found them. I’ve reduced my manuscript edition workload to the use of pen and paper, right hand is the good one this time (lucky me!), and I’ll see if I can find somebody later who can do all the computer typing. Also, typing at work has improved thanks to a recently acquired Ergonomic keyboard which is magnificent! And since I had to be careful with the type of exercise I chose (one where I don’t use hands), I bought myself an AirClimber (my first Teleshopping – equivalent to QVC – purchase ever!) and I love it!.

And although my hand may not agree with my writing duties and lifestyle, I still have found ways to overcome this situation. And you, have you ever found yourself in a similar situation? (it doesn’t have to involve ganglion cysts)

Responses

cindyhiday

March 16, 2015

I had a cyst on my right wrist treated with acupuncture (several years ago) and it hasn’t returned. Good info on the keyboards though!

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1. Carla Doria
  
  March 16, 2015
  
  That’s a good idea, although I’m always been scared of acupuncture, buy I may try it though…
  Thanks for stopping by! 🙂
  
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Glynis Jolly

March 14, 2015

I have to type, write, and most everything else with one hand, my left hand. Fortunately, I was born a lefty. All of this is due to a stroke I had over 40 years ago so I’m quite use to the way my life is now. Still, I want to write. I’m happiest when my mouth is closed, no one is around, and I’m either typing away or writing longhand feverishly. I learned how to type one-handed in college but I just use that as a guide. I look at my keyboard as I type so that the mistakes are at the minimum. Such is life. sigh!

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1. Carla Doria
  
  March 16, 2015
  
  But life is so good when we write, the power of the words that come out compensates everything else. I’m happy to know you were able to overcome your situation 🙂 thanks for stopping by my blog and reading this post!
  
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Jefferson Smith (novelist)

March 11, 2015

Oops. That should read “dozens of ergonomic keyboards”, not “economic.” 🙂

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1. Carla Doria
  
  March 11, 2015
  
  Hi Jefferson. Thanks for your reply and advice. I’ve actually noticed my ganglion starting to diminish since I bought my current keyboard; but it’s good to know that there are better alternatives. Do you happen to have the link to the keyboard you currently use? Thanks!
  
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Jefferson Smith (novelist)

March 11, 2015

Hi Carla. I too was plagued by ganglions for years. And as a writer, I thought I’d have them forever. But then something changed in my working life and they went away. Overnight. What changed? Simple. I bought a new keyboard. I had tried dozens of economic keyboards in the past to no avail. But when I rebuilt my home workstation two years ago, I decided to buy a heavier keyboard because I was tired of having it slide around my polished desk. The heaviest keyboard I could find was one called a mechanical keyboard. 99% of all keyboards on the market use a little rubber dimple internally to hold the key up and resist the downward motion, but a mechanical keyboard uses a much older style, more physically robust spring mechanism. They are really easy to trigger, but they’re weighty and you get positive tactile feel of each key press.

Two days after I bought mine, I was shocked to see that my ganglions were gone. Not just smaller. Gone. They had come and gone in the past, seemingly at random, so I assumed it was just a coincidence.

About a week later, I realized there was a backlighting feature available for these keyboards, so I took mine back to upgrade it while I was still inside the exchange period. Unfortunately, they didn’t have the backlit model in stock, so I simply returned it and ordered online instead. While waiting for delivery, I naturally went back to my old keyboard.

Bam! The ganglions came back with a vengeance. And when the new mechanical arrived, the magic was repeated. The very next day, the ganglions were smaller, and the day agree that they were gone. That was almost two years ago and they haven’t been back since.

So now, whenever I hear about somebody who uses computers regularly and suffers from ganglions, I tell them my story and the simple finding: The angle of your wrist is not the problem. It’s the quality of the key stroke motion that matters. And so far, I have heard back from four of them that this solution has worked for them as well.

Here’s hoping you’ll be number five.

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