[nabs-l] Trying to read braille

[Lucy Sirianni]

Hi Anna,

   I'm so sorry to hear that you're going through this! I've 
experienced severe wrist and hand pain, likely due to the amount 
of time I spend reading and using my BrailleNote.  (I'm an 
English Ph.D.  student, so I do a lot of reading and writing, and 
like you, I prefer Braille to other formats.) The thing that 
helped me most was soaking my hands in ice-water; I also 
purchased wraps that would allow me to use ice more continuously, 
though this was not as helpful as just plain ice-water.

   My case never got so bad that I needed to see a doctor or to 
consider taking a break from reading Braille, but I share your 
concern that reading in spite of the pain might cause your 
condition to worsen and ultimately make reading impossible (or at 
least very hard).  Have you spoken to your doctor about the 
potential risks of reading Braille?

   I'll be interested to see what other advice you get as this 
has been a recurring problem for me as well, and it's terribly 
frustrating, not to mention painful.

Very best of luck in dealing with this!

Lucy

>----- Original Message -----
>From: Anna Givens <annajee82 at gmail.com
>To: National Association of Blind Students mailing list 
<nabs-l at nfbnet.org
>Date sent: Sun, 4 Aug 2013 19:07:27 -0500
>Subject: [nabs-l] Trying to read braille

>Hey, so I have a problem, and I am not sure it can really be 
solved, and I know what to do but I just thought....  Well maybe 
someone else has been through this:
>I have tendonitis in my hand, so basically it hurts when I use 
it.  I am desperately trying to get my braille speed up so that I 
can use it in college.  Braille works a lot better than listening 
to speech, for me.  Since a few weeks ago I am reading 20 to 40 
pages a day of braille.  This is hours of reading.  The treatment 
for tendonitis in your hand is to not use your hand.  Obviously, 
I cannot do both.  I take anti-inflammatory meds, and do hand 
exercises to strengthen hand, as doctor suggested, also use ice, 
and when I am reading I really try to relax my hand (although 
that seems to be difficult for me to do.  The pain is getting 
worse and worse.  But I don't want to stop reading.  I am afraid 
that it is just going to get so bad I won't be able to do it.  
This is very frustrating!  I don't want to give up braille, but I 
don't want to be in pain.  It is my decision what to do, but has 
anyone ever been through anything like that?  And what did you 
do?

>Anna E Givens
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