[nabs-l] Trying to read braille

[Lucy Sirianni]

For me, the pain comes and goes.  Since I've started icing 
regularly, it's definitely lessened overtime, though I still 
sometimes experience pain, especially if I've been reading and 
writing more than usual.

I hope yours gets better, too, and if you find anything that 
helps, I'd love to hear about it!

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 19:51:29 -0500
>Subject: Re: [nabs-l] Trying to read braille

>Well I am very sorry you had to deal with that, but I am very 
glad to hear about it, because I have asked around and I couldn't 
find anyone who had had this experience.
>I told my doctor that I read braille and that it could be part of 
the problem.  He just gave me the normal advice....  
Anti-inflammatory,ice, physical therapy, and wrist brace.  And 
then he said, The best treatment is to not use your hand.  But 
that is very unrealistic, for anyone.  So just try to not use it 
as much as possible, and when reading relax it as much as 
possible.
>So that is what I do, I need to do the exercises more often, now 
that I am reading more.  But yeah....  I dont know what to do.  
Did your pain go away?  Or do you still have it?
>Thanks!

>Anna E Givens

>On Aug 4, 2013, at 7:41 PM, Lucy Sirianni 
<lucysirianni at earthlink.net> wrote:

>> 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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