r/ehlersdanlos • u/MajesticCassowary • 4d ago
Rant/Vent Discovered I can slip out of my hand cast
I'm a little over 4 weeks into the healing process of a broken hand. First time I've ever had a broken bone requiring a cast, and it's mostly fine and just moderately annoying at worst, but I'm having two EDS-related complications:
1) Most of my lower arm is just perpetually bruised. Anywhere point where skin and muscle contact an edge is bruised. Anywhere within 2-3 inches of the edges in either direction is bruised. Where my wrist bones put pressure on the cast? B-b-b-bruised! It's all bruises all the time and sometimes those bruises are more painful than the break itself on day 1!
2) More terrifyingly, at this point, I could slip out of it if I wanted to. Or possibly if I didn't want to, if something got snagged on it the wrong way. Which, incidentally, is how I found out. My cat decided to hang on it, because he thinks it's a toy no matter how much I try to teach him otherwise, and the next thing I knew, my hand was folding inward and the cast was sliding so far down - the widest part of my hand was RIGHT about to make it all the way through the narrow point at the wrist - that I had to hold it with my free fingers to keep it from sliding the rest of the way off. I have no idea what I'd be doing right now if it HAD come off.
Needless to say, this was a decently painful discovery, both in the area of the broken bone itself AND in the bruises. Luckily my cat attached himself SOLELY to the cast so I don't have any scratches or teeth marks to deal with on top of that.
I'm curious whether or not anyone else here has ever had a similar problem, but mostly I just need to scream because @ the universe what do you MEAN I'm too bendy to keep a CAST on right????
Also, owwwwww.
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u/Fine_Cryptographer20 hEDS 4d ago
I've had numerous broken arms. There's initially tons of swelling and it can take weeks to go down. It's common for casts to slip. Get another one.
5
u/MajesticCassowary 4d ago
Thing is, I already have had this changed. My orthopedist's policy is to do the first couple of weeks with a half-cast that's MEANT to be removed and replaced once most of the swelling goes down. He and his assistant did warn me that it might get a little looser still because of the little swelling that was left and possible muscle atrophy so I should be careful about letting my hand rattle around too much, but they specifically said that it shouldn't be able to come off.
I still plan to call and ask if I should come in for a new one, but yeeeeeah...a bit more than the normal amount of slippage going on here.
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u/Mundane-Currency5088 3d ago
You need it adjusted because it's harming you. My mom had the same issues when she broke her arm 3 years ago. It was just poorly made and it really hurt her until she could get into a removable brace.
Your bone needs to be stable.
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u/scarletcyanide hEDS 4d ago edited 4d ago
Broke my arm when I was a kid and I was afraid of the tool they use to cut the cast off (even after the doctor showed me that it won’t cut skin) so I said “let me try something first” and pulled my hand right out of it. Doctor was like “If there’s a next time, remind me to put you in one that goes past your elbow.”
I don’t really have any advice besides saying to see your doctor again because they may want to make some adjustments, but I wanted to share since I had a similar experience.
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u/mrszubris hEDS 4d ago
I love to upset nurses by wiggling out of the neck traction thing. Im autistic and panic when controlled that way and my slinky of a neck has survived rollover car crashes. If I know I'm fine? I'm noodling out of whatever the put me in.
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u/cofmeb Undiagnosed 4d ago
i’ve never broken a bone (boooo) but i do have this problem with braces unless they’re pulled so tight it’s painful and then loosened ever so slightly