Carpal Tunnel

Anyone have carpal tunnel?

What were your symptoms like?

What did you do for relief?

I think I'm developing it

Re: Carpal Tunnel

My mom had surgery in both of her wrist many years ago. She's so happy that she had the surgery.

Re: Carpal Tunnel

I had it many years ago when I was in the private sector and sat at a computer all day.

Get the wrist brace that straightens your arm at the wrist and loops around your thumb and wear it whenever feasible. I did that for a couple of weeks and felt better.

I'm a teacher now so I don't know what the super long term effects are but I know if it's bad surgery could also be necessary.

GL!

Re: Carpal Tunnel

the sooner you get help, the lesser the long-term effects will be.

i started to develop symptoms when i was sitting at a computer all day and then knitting all evening. yeah, i was asking for it.

the symptoms i had were pain in my thumbs that would radiate to my wrists, i would get numbness in the thumb area and/or around my pinkies. sometimes, it also felt like tennis elbow plus a bit of ache in the shoulders.

my doctor gave me a note to take to work... to take a break from my desk for five minutes every hour.

i got a Rx for the wrist braces. i would wear them every time i could. i even slept in them. i also had PT and learned stretches to do.

my symptoms are almost all gone now. if i start knitting too much, i will immediately feel it. i take breaks, do my stretches, take my anti inflammatory pills, and wear my brace to bed.

i will say that i have lost a bit of strength in my hands. little things like opening jars is difficult; not impossible, but difficult.

my cousin had the surgery and she's very happy about it.

good luck.

Re: Carpal Tunnel

I ended up having surgery on both hands about 7 & 8 years ago; it was a huge help

Symptoms were numbness and tingling in 4 fingers (not pinky).
The best help was to get arm braces to sleep in. There are also some stretches that can help give you relief stretches

Some other things that I was told when my workstation was evaluated is to remove arm rests from your desk chair and keep your feet flat while typing.

Carpal Tunnel

my husband had surgery last year for one wrist. he was using the brace at night to sleep but after a while, it didn't help much.

if you feel symptoms (tingling, numbness, loss of dexterity - dropping things), start with the brace at night. if it doesn't help, i recommend seeing an orthopedist. they can do a simple test to determine if it's carpel tunnel and the severity (interestingly, severity of carpel tunnel and severity of the symptoms do not always go hand in hand). from there, they can give you recommendations.

my husband's symptoms were severe, but his carpel tunnel was not. he had a quick, out patient procedure. the recovery was not great (he is into sports and we had a baby at home) but he is pretty much symptom free now so to him it was worth it.

Re: Carpal Tunnel

Re: Carpal Tunnel

Thanks all, this has been helpful

Re: Carpal Tunnel

I had it after each pregnancy, after the second, it was excruciating. I found an awesome surgeon who started with the right wrist, recovery was so simple, incision teeny tiny. Luckily, fixing the right somehow fixed the left and I never needed the second surgery, I read that it's kind of common for that to happen. Best thing I ever did.

Re: Carpal Tunnel

Sorry to bump up an old thread - can anyone tell me the recovery time from the surgery?

I have just been diagnosed with carpal tunnel and trying to get an idea of the downtime involved. Of course, I forgot to ask the dr this last night - and she doesn't have office hours today.

Just trying to figure out some scheduling.....