Carpal Tunnel – 2018 Edition

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  • VectorMasked

    Guise... Experiences, Advises... anything can help.

    I went to the emergency room after losing patience waiting for my upcoming family doc appointment I have in 10 days. After a brief checkup by the doc at the emergency room... she said that it does look like I might have this sneaky evil in right hand.

    For about 2 weeks I have been experiencing some mild numbness, tingling in 3 fingers, and some limited movement and this thing some call "trigger finger" with the middle finger. Doc said I will get a call soon to go back for an EMG test but for now, It'd be a good idea to wear a brace at night. Weird thing is that she said I can keep doing the things I always do... work, commute by bike as I always do...

    As mentioned I have my family doc appointment in 10 days and will push him for another EMG, for him to send me to a specialist and see if I can get sent to physiotherapy to stop any possible damage and get educated on how to deal with this. This will be my second opinion. Do not want to waste time. I'd fucking go to surgery tomorrow morning if I had EMG results with a formal diagnosis.

    Now... this fucking sucks for anyone. As a working designer who is going back to school in the fall to study industrial design and relies on computers, pens, markers, drawing and all that shit... this fucking possibility has me depressed to the point that I am now thinking it is fucking useless to go back to school.

    So far I have bought a brace to wear at night, bought Vitamin B, glucosamine and chondroitin, will buy a nice pair of biking gloves designed for this evil but for a while I won't be biking just to be safe.

    What experiences with this carpal tunnel evil do you guys have?
    What advise can you give me and other fellow QBN carpal tunnel sufferers?

  • scruffics0

    I am terrified at the thought I might get this one day. Good luck. Keep us posted about how it goes.

  • gonzalle0

    Got a 60% loss of nervous connection between the elbow and the hand. As it seems that now the coating of the nerves is damaged, surgery will not help that much. I let it spread for years, because I'm afraid of surgery.
    Now I have to live with it, a permanent pain from the fingers up to the shoulder.
    My advice : go to surgery ASAP.

  • Hayzilla0

    Sorry to hear that bro. Good luck!

  • Bennn0

    I currently have a Thumb tendinitis, also called De Quervain's tendinosis.

    I got this since approx 6-8 weeks. Its getting worse since a few days.

    I dont know how I got it, i'm not texting with my thumbs at all, maybe it's the computer mouse... i dont know. I also read it could be a trauma from martial arts practicing.

    it really hurt.

    • I have this in my left hand. it is the worst. crippling at times over the slightest movement.capn_ron
    • i hope it will go away quicklyBennn
  • flyingnowhere0

    This was really helpful for me years ago. I haven't really had issues since!

  • sea_sea0

    Here's a link to a thread I started a few years back when I was having severe symptoms. Got lots of good feedback then as well.
    I have to say what worked best for me were the hand exercises, do them, they really do help.

    Best of luck VM hope you feel better.

    http://www.qbn.com/topics/695529…

    • thanks. Looked at that thread before posting my rant.VectorMasked
    • Any particular exercises you feel worked best for you?VectorMasked
    • How bad was your case? you even mention pain. In my case there is no pain. It's mostly numbness, tingling, sloppiness, weakness and 10% reduction of flexibilityVectorMasked
    • I am trying to figure out how careful I should be with my hands. Doc from my sunday visit said I can keep doing the same things... even biking.VectorMasked
    • I gave her my WTF face... and asked how would not resting my hand instead not benefit me? but she had no good answer.VectorMasked
    • ha... just saw your vids down below. thx.VectorMasked
  • sea_sea0

    These tendon gliding exercises are what continue to do. They really do help.

    And these are the videos I followed and helped me to this day.
    Also, Magnesium and a B-complex like B12 also helped.
    This guy explains it well.

    • Aside from pain, did you have limited flexibility, or numbness and stuff like that?
      The numbness and muscle stiffness are driving me insane.
      VectorMasked
    • yes, i randomly woke up one day and i couldn't use my hand. numb and painful. just didn't make sense.sea_sea
  • mathinc0

    I've had four trigger finger surgeries (middle and pointer fingers on both hands), and just had a carpal tunnel release on my left hand. I think a lot of it stems from being a type 1 diabetic – poor circulation and then inflammation.

    I would get the surgery if I were you. The recovery isn't really that bad. Trigger finger release heals up quickly and it barely impaired me. I think I was working (at the keyboard) the next day, just not using the repaired finger. I even loaded boxes and shit since we moved a week after the first one I had (both middle fingers, I do not recommend doing both middle fingers.. it seriously looked like I gave someone the double bird treatment and they broke both my fingers). The CT surgery was a little worse, but still not bad. I think it's finally back to 100% and I had the surgery late last year. I had some trouble working out with the CT surgery, it still gets a little sore/tight in a tendon by my thumb.

    Getting old blows.

    • Also, for some reason trigger finger recovery was 2x worse for my pointer fingers than my middle ones.mathinc
  • VectorMasked0

    great news guys.

    or not...

    today I woke up with with a tiny bit numbness now on my left hand. motherfucker!
    It's so minor, but still what the fuck! numbness went away like half an hour after waking up once I started to move the hand. I immediately went to the emergency room because I want answers and I wanted to give them more info in case it helped them figure out the actual issue.

    This doc that saw me today barely gave a shit. I asked about diabetes since diabetes can cause similar issues with both hands. She immediately discarded that option and just said better check with your family doc and start wearing brace on your left hand. So now I gotta go to bed with 2 braces and sleep like a mummy.

    Almost feels like my life hasn't started yet and it's now over. Feel like I won't be able to be a designer and much less go back to school in the fall for a degree in Industrial design. Feel this way because I hear both good and bad stories and coz docs don't give a shit.

    I am starting to think about going on disability and focus on rehabilitation and physiotherapy to stop this shit right fucking now and learn how to stay healthy.

    • tingling and numbness is usually nerves that lost flexibility from computer position. Try nerve glides (stretching)-do it very slow and careful many times a dayrobotron3k
    • Nerve tightness causes numbness will be in 2.5 fingers, pinkie, index and 1/2 the middle finger. And you right, docs don't care, you need diy.robotron3k
    • Chill with the fatalism VM. I've had lots of hand surgeries and I can do everything I used to. You'll be fine. Go to a hand ortho specialist.mathinc
    • ER docs don't give a shit because what you have is a long term chronic thing, not an open wound or broken leg.mathinc
    • did you sleep with your wrist bended for all night?Bennn
    • do the exercises!sea_sea
  • VectorMasked0

    I started doing this exercises three days ago.

  • detritus0

    Holy shit, I think I have/had this.

    Fuuuck.

    On and off, I've had those symptoms (light background numbness, occasionally slightly pathetic thumb) over the past couple of years and have wondered what the fuck it was all about. it's never been for any long amount of time, so I've forgotten and moved on each time.

    I'm a bit of a fidgety fuck, perhaps I'm inadvertantly self-treating.

    Thanks, VectorMasked, thanks a lot. *grumble*

  • uan2

    ...crossed this infographic after reading qbn
    serendipity

  • shapesalad0

    Got closer to carpal tunnel symptoms. Woke up middle of night, couldn't open hand.

    Had been using standard mouse.

    Switched to wacom. But over the years found wrist ok, now fingers feel fatigue from being in same position all day.

    Got a cheap £9 vertical mouse off Amazon. What a difference. Amazing. No fatigue. Used daily + when using computer in evenings / weekends.

    Have found index finger can get fatigued, so now switch between wacom / vertical mouse during day. And trackpad. Seems to be going ok.

    Also stretch and use exercise bands.

  • raf1

    Ever since I bought a Wacom and threw my mouse away my wrist pains are gone.

    My computer is being serviced and I'm using the missus' mac with a magic mouse this week. I can already feel something's weird in the wrist.

    So there: get a Wacom. All of you.

  • VectorMasked0

    Update:

    This morning I had an EMG done at the hospital and turns out I do have Carpal tunnel syndrome on both hands. Based on symptoms, my family doctor was unsure whether this was carpal tunnel syndrome, diabetes or an issue related to the bike accident I had back in February when I ended up in the emergency room with broken ribs.

    Will be seeing my doc in about an hour and see what suggestions he has for me to say goodbye to this problem.

    First things I will be doing on my end... get some good cycling gloves that can keep the median nerves relaxed at all times, say goodbye to the magic mouse and get an ergonomic one, look into getting drop bars for my bike or one of those bar ends to add one or 2 more positions for the hands, and of course keep doing all the exercises.

    • Ditch that magic mouse! The ergonomics are like medieval torture. I've been using my logitech M705 for years. Can't work without it.nocomply
    • Also, if your handlebars only had 1 grip position, then yeah, time to fix that. My hands/wrists get tired on regular old flat bars in under an hour.nocomply
    • https://www.amazon.c…Bennn