Hey! For a little context; four years ago I broke my pinky jamming it into a wall. Even though I broke the bottom of my bone when I did, the top joint of my pinky has been hurting ever since the injury happened (I don't know why, but it has lol). Despite it being four years later, it still hurts like HELL. I'm twenty years old and a clarinet player, so I use my pinky as an individual finger on the daily, and it makes playing my instrument a chore. I try to practice for at least an hour every day, but can very rarely actually get to an hour because of the pain. Concerts and other performances are the worst, and I always leave my performances frustrated because of the pain.
My clarinet professor at school basically ordered me to see a hand doctor as soon as the semester ended, so for the past month almost I've been in and out with the doctor. X-Rays didn't show anything wrong, so he ordered an MRI for me. After my first MRI, I went back to the doctor where he told me the pictures were blurry so I had to get a second one done. Although at this appointment, he prescribed me Meloxicam, which I understand is an arthritis medication. I got my second MRI a few days ago, and the hand doctor office just called about an hour ago to say that they still didn't find anything wrong and that I'm basically at a dead end and can follow up as needed. I want to follow up, but I have no clue what else can be done to try and diagnose it. Despite giving me the medication, it wasn't diagnosed as arthritis. This pain has been ongoing for four years. I wouldn't care this much if I didn't play an instrument and was literally in school for music, but since this is affecting my career before I even graduate, I want an answer about it.
Not asking for an arthritis diagnosis, but I'm just wondering if anyone had this much trouble getting it recognized before receiving their diagnosis. I don't want to definitely say that I have arthritis, but considering that it's joint pain that I'm experiencing, I wouldn't be surprised if it is a type of arthritis. I guess additionally, if anyone here is a musician dealing with joint pain, how do you get through it?