[Schlep]

A friend of mine has trigger finger in his thumb and it is quite painful. The doctor said a cortisone shot and surgery.

I was wondering if anyone has had any success with anything else for the problem.

[Mich]

My trigger thumb keeps turning up every other year or so like a bad penny. (No offense to our GOOD Penny.)

I was told the same thing re cortisone and surgery. I hate cortisone shots unless they are unavoidable...high blood glucose...so I invented my own regimen and it works for me.

For pain and inflammation: ibuprofen every six hours 3-4 times a day for a week or so. Ice & heat locally if you want to do more. Don't bend it if it hurts. Sometimes it takes a little longer than a week. I usually notice a difference in about 4 days.

Works for me. Easy to give it a try.

[notme]

I had trigger thumb that was very painful. My thumb would not straighten without popping and even then it would not straighten out all the way. I went to a hand surgeon and it was repaired in about thirty minutes. The surgery was easy and painless. I was not put to sleep, but more like a twighlight sleep. It has been two years now and so far it has not returned. There is no scar.

[Jan B]

My triggering and pain started in one thumb, then ended up affecting all my fingers, but never all at the same time. I think the way you approach this has a lot to do with the doctor's opinions and knowledge about the problem.

I never had anything done, just used hot wax treatments, naproxen, specially formulated compound w/hot pepper, soaking in hot water, and learned how to hold the thumb or finger in the right way so it wasn't excruciating when I popped it back out.

I suffered a lot, but coped because I wasn't offered any help from my doctor, and now I have sore hands in general, but not much triggering. I also have my blood sugar under really good control, and I think that probably helps some. Now I rarely take anything except I use Dr. Franks Joint & pain spray and it does help. I didn't know how much it helped until I skipped a day using it.

For many years I popped my fingers on purpose to relieve tension (or so I thought), and I don't think that helped a lot! I cringe just thinking about popping a finger on purpose, and hate listening to others do it - it "hurts" me just listening to them.