Cat, I hope your fingers and hands feel better so you can play your music. I know you can find your way to make it more comfortable and lots more satisfying to be able to play your dulcimers.
Keep strumming those sweet strings, even if it is just for a little while it sure brings peace for me.....
You all are my angels. You have given me so much hope to what felt like an impossible situation.. Thank you and bless each of you.
I sang in 2 semi-professional choirs for 10 years each until a vocal cord was nicked and I could no longer sing. I couldn't
play my clarinet or flute. I loved my dulcimers and then the finger problem. Now I have hope and music again.
Cat, I hope you find some relief from your finger pain. Splints really help me to play, and I am creative in that I don't grip tightly the pick or noter, my spoon noter cups in the palm of my hand and my thumb rests on top. With my hand splint, the splint itself holds my bamboo noter, works well.
You can get used to the splints, anything to play I say!! 
I live everyday with pain in my fingers and hands. Due some to arthritis and a lot to injuries suffered in two motorcycle accidents. Like sliding down the highway.
Steroids and prescription pain medicine helps a lot. I still play dulcimer and ukulele most every day, This is the problem.
I took my doctor's advice and Strumelia's advice, and cut my practice time I half. This helps more than anything. To fill this time , I practice harmonica.
I hope that you are able to get some relief for your trigger finger. The trigger finger on both my hands gives me the most pain.
In my opinion, the trigger finger and thumb on the left hand are your two most used fingers while playing dulcimer.
A great big GOOD LUCK to you. Some relief would be a wonderful Christmas present to you.
lol I will the splint...lol...who knows it might work!
I will get my pc to give me a referral to an ortho...Thanks
Cat, I know that trigger finger can be treated. Have you seen an ortho? I'm still playing but I am using a 1.5 inch padded splint and taping it to my finger. It only affects the one joint and my finger is still free to press down a string. I can tell a big difference. I hope you are able to find something that works for you.
Oh gosh, I have trigger finger on the ring finger of my left hand. I splint it at night but can't play with it splinted. Perhaps I could tape it' I don't know. Any ideas?
Work on letting go of the death grip you have on the noter. Relax your fingers, shake them out after every tune. Change your grip from top to side to bottom.
To repeat -- larger diameter noters; and/or wrap most of the noter in a bit of foam rubber -- what Liza calls a Noter Dog.
~great question~ Sorry for you pain and hope you find relief!
I also love the chopstick idea for my little Wren~THANK YOU, LEXIE!
Lexie -- try using much larger diameter noters -- ones as big around as your index finger -- say 1/2" or 3/4" in diameter. The larger diameter will take pressure off of trying to squeeze down on a 1/4" diameter chopstick or the handle of a spoon. I always recommend using a noter that's 4" - 6" long as it presses against the palm of the hand, again easing some pressure issues.
I am sorry about your joint pain in your finger, I know it is painful and distracts from playing our sweet strings.
I have Rhematoid Arthritis and so I don't play for too long, I am happy when I get to practice my MD for a hour. Hand splints have helped me play, but I always use a noter because my finger joints won't handle the pressure of chording.
My noter I slip into my hand splint (a bambo chopstick) or when I am not using a hand splint I use a hard wood spoon for a noter. This allows my hand to loosely hold the spoon with the palm of my hand and takes tension off the small joints in my fingers.
I think what has helped me is shorten my playing times or rest in between, but also I use foods or supplements in my diet to help joint health and inflammation.
I eat lots of dark berries; raspberries, blueberries, blackberries, also fresh ginger, tumeric.
Some suppliments that help me are flaxseed oil, glucosamine and fishoil.
I wish you well in finding your way with this painful distraction and continue to enjoy playing your sweet strings. 
I'm wondering if anyone else has issues with a finger joint that gets irritated from overuse. On my chord hand, I have one joint that is needing to be taped or splinted. How have yall handled this pain-in-the-finger?
I just got a cortisone shot yesterday and they gave me a super duper metal splint that keep the tip of my finger exposed. Any advice on how to manage this irritation?
