Carpal Tunnel Syndrome

[PeaceBlondie]

I checked this out in wikipedia, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carpal_tunnel_syndrome I also looked in the Health Forum here and did not find much.

I've had a bad angle on my wrist for years. I had two shoulder surgeries in the last three years, and one stroke (lacunar infarction) last year, all in my right side. Last month I was still having trouble with my pinky finger on the keyboard, and now it's really hard to tyope on mty right side, as you can see, I;'ve been a speec tyopist for almnost all of my life/

I will buy a voice recognition software orogram this week, to reduce my use of the right hand. Maybe I will wear a thick glove when IK sleeop. If I go back and correct all my mistak;es, it woul;d take me forever;

any suggestions>?

[egg]

I checked this out in wikipedia, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carpal_tunnel_syndrome I also looked in the Health Forum here and did not find much.

I've had a bad angle on my wrist for years. I had two shoulder surgeries in the last two years, and one stroke (lacunar infarction) last year, all in my right side. Last month I was still having trouble with my pinky finger on the keyboard, and now it's really hard to tyope on mty right side, as you can see, I;'ve been a speec tyopist for almnost all of my life/

I will buy a voice recognition software orogram this week, to reduce my use of the right hand. Maybe I will wear a thick glove when IK sleeop. If I go back and correct all my mistak;es, it woul;d take me forever;

any suggestions>?

Hi PeaceBlondie ,,, sorry to hear about your problems ,,,if you have carpal tunnel ,, you will feel pins and needles in your fingers and a sort of tightning in the wrist ,, this you will feel when your wrist is in a particular position ,, there are tests that can be done ,,, not sure where over here though ,, hope this helps a little

cheers

egg

[sbk]

I had carpal when I was young-- I wore a wrist brace, that helped quite a bit. I also stopped doing a lot of typing (I was doing data entry work and studying mandarin chinese at the time- chinese requires alot of repetitive writing in order to learn the characters). Eventually, the pain did go away. But, that hand is weak and I have difficulty writing a letter by hand. Typing is ok, but must take breaks.

NSAIDS like ibuprofen and naproxen help but must be taken with food as repeated use can cause ulcers if not careful.

[PeaceBlondie]

I take 300 mg daily of aspent/aspirin already. Any more than that might make me bleed like a stuck pig!

[bangkokrick]

I checked this out in wikipedia, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carpal_tunnel_syndrome I also looked in the Health Forum here and did not find much.

I've had a bad angle on my wrist for years. I had two shoulder surgeries in the last three years, and one stroke (lacunar infarction) last year, all in my right side. Last month I was still having trouble with my pinky finger on the keyboard, and now it's really hard to tyope on mty right side, as you can see, I;'ve been a speec tyopist for almnost all of my life/

I will buy a voice recognition software orogram this week, to reduce my use of the right hand. Maybe I will wear a thick glove when IK sleeop. If I go back and correct all my mistak;es, it woul;d take me forever;

any suggestions>?

Hi peaceblondie,

i am sorry to hear about your condition and i hope that you find a solution to your problems. In the mean time windows XP and Vista have inbuilt speech recognition programs that are quite easy to use. Location: Start, all programs ,accessories, ease of access, speech recognition. I hope that this helps.

Cheers, Rick

[khunlungphudhu]

Hi PeaceBlondie, had this myself a few years back, in the UK should add, pinkie becoming useless and whole hand weak and wasting.

Doctor insisted on surgery otherwise faced the possible loss of the whole hand.

Was a simple op., done under local anaesthetic, involved moving the nerve at the elbow. I believe other joints may cause the problem, but am told it is just as simple to rectify.

The worst part was the electric shocks they applied to my arm to find which point was causing the problem.

Have been as right as rain since!

I do not know if this would be available to you, but worth looking into as anything is better than constant pain killers that will only become less effective over time.

[PeaceBlondie]

Thanks, but as usual, I canniot find it. I did find something to make a few things easier, but not voice recognition.

[Sheryl]

Blondie,

If your problem is specifically the pinkie finger and the other fingers are OK it is probably not carpal tunnel but could easily be a different nerve compression.

At Boots and other such places you can buy wrist splints, get them & wear them at night. There is a tendency to clench ones fingers into a fist when deeply asleep and bearing the brace helps prevent that. This plus rest (take breaks between any activities that involve repetitive motion) and antinflammatories (which you already take) are the first line of treatment for both carpal tunnel and other nerve compressions of the hand.

HOWEVER, I'm not totally sure this is what you have. From your typing difficulty it seems to me that there must be more wrong than just your pinkie. Given your history I think I'd head back to your neurologist first to make sure it is not another small infarct or other neuro problem. If it is not, try the conservative measures mentioned above and if they don't work, I can recommend you to the best hand specialist in Thailand, altho it will require a trip to Bangkok.

[PeaceBlondie]

Thanks, as always, Sheryl, but it's got to be more than the p;inkie finger. The right hand including wrist has had almost constant numb spots for almost a week now. I know my fingers, and I'm dropping things more often. But it can be a combination. The neurosurgeon flatly said it wasn't another infarction, before and after seeing the new CAT scan. I will get a wrist spolitnt. See what I mean?

[Sheryl]

Yep. Good that you have seen the neurosurgeon and ruled that out. Go ahead with the wrist splint, avoid repetitive movement (or take frequent breaks if unavoidable). Hot soaks or (if you can find it) applications of paraffin wax also very helpful.

Even with all of this I recommend that as soon as you can conveniently get to Bangkok you consult Dr. Panupan who is the country's (and on of the world's) leading hand specialists. He is a professor at Sirirak where he heads the microsurgery team (reattchment of fingers & limbs etc) but has private practice twice a week as follows:

Sunday mornings (9-11 AM I think) at Phayathai 2 Hospital

Thursday evenings 6-7 PM at Chaophya Hospital (Pinklao Area).

He is US trained and excellent. Treated me for carpal tunnel and treated a friend for both carpal tunnel and trigger finger. Despite being a hand surgeon he is definitely not scalpel-happy, very conservative in his approach. Also a lovely man, and spends a great deal of time explaining things to the patient.

Be sure to call to ascertain his availability as he goes abroad to conferences etc from time to time.

As you can gather he can be hard to get a hold of but is well worth the wait. Should you miss him do NOT see the other hand specialist at Phayathai. No comparison.

Good luck.

[PeaceBlondie]

Thanks once again, Sheryl. We found an email with attachment, sent by a friend of mine by chance five weeks ago, which helped me rearrange my desk top, get a straighter angle, etc. Sometimes, straight is good!

My humerus was removed, and my remaining ligaments tied differently, so I do not have normal upper arm support. Always a chance of pinched nerves elsewhere also. I will consider Dr. Panupan after trying my luck up here. Come to think of it, the surgery should be covered by my insurance.

[patrickq]

If you're looking to try and resolve this without drugs or surgery it could be worth giving EFT a go. I won't go into the full background about EFT, but briefly it works on balancing energy disruptions in the body, which are often the cause of physical as well as emotional problems. If you're open to alternatives it is worth looking at, there is no invasive aspect to it, just requires a (usually) short amount of time with practitioner, even possible to do over the phone!

Anyway, I've checked for articles and if you go to Using EFT for Carpal Tunnel Syndrome there are 4 links on page a few paragraphs down.

There seem to be 3 practitioners in Thailand (sorry, haven't time to check links/numbers):

Paul Emery 032-536-536 at Chiva Som/Hua Hin

Alister Bredee 0847-814-718 at Health Oasis/Koh Samui

Jaz Goven 0841-862-714 at Sukhumvit Soi 49/Bangkok

However, as I said, you can do over phone quite often, so you can search for practitioners almost anywhere at EFT Practitioner Search.

The cost should be fairly reasonable, I seem to recall paying around £25 for an hour in the UK, about 3 years ago.

Be interesting to hear how you get on if you follow this avenue and best of luck in sorting out, whatever you choose to do.

[PeaceBlondie]

I'll pass on that cure. Most folks say I;m too religious already. Thanks anyway.

[oldoldgit!!]

Check with Seoni maybe she could help, I have tingling little finger on left hand and muscle between thumb and first finger has wasted away hospital tells me it is a trapped nerve at the elbow could be you have the same. get well soon PB.

[quiksilva]

Just curious on how you got on PB I have also developed recurring pain in my left wrist.

I strongly suspect poor ergonomics at work and home. At home I designed my desk and have a well positioned keyboard tray but was using a chair without elbow/forearm support, but that's been addressed now.

The biggest problem I suspect is at work, where the keyboard sits on the actual desktop, (there is no tray) so my hands must be elevated above the elbows to type. I have asked them to change the desk.

In the meantime though I am curious to hear if there are any home treatments, as I prefer not to visit the quacks unless its absolutely necessary. At the moment I am using mostly using my right hand to type and am taking frequent breaks. Any other advice on suggested potions or lotions that can be applied?

[PeaceBlondie]

quiksilva, thanks for asking. It seems better now. I am more mindful of my posture. I wear a hand brace overnight. My right pinky still has no coordination, so keystrokes like p [ ] )_./ almost all have to be hit differently, slowly. I tried the voice recognition software Dragon Naturally Speaking 9.5, but have not mastered it. The apostrophe is another key that I avoid. I showed my fingers to my neurologist at the last appointment, and he had no recommendation.