Oxford
ArboristSite Operative
Evening,
I've had both wrists done after a lifetime of occupations, avocations, and serious hobbies that pretty much read like the Who's Who of Things That Will Result in Carpal Tunnel: meatcutting, mechanicking, production welding, shearing sheep, you name a bad thing to do to your wrists and I've done it. I was symptomatic for many years, did all of the DIY treatments described in this thread and some that haven't been, and one day my daughter, who had an internship with an ortho surgeon, came home and told me that she knew I was ignoring the symptoms but that I should immediately take it seriously if I started dropping things, because that was a sign of permanent nerve and therefore muscle damage. About a month later, I dropped my first thing. Darn kids. I went to her guy, who sent me for a test called an EMG, short for electromyelogram, which was definitive for severe bilateral CTS (means both hands.)
I had one surgery immediately and the other the next fall, about ten months later. I am a service pipefitter, and I missed a week's work with the first one and three days with the second. Yes, you're one-handed for a while- in my case most of a month before it wasn't a sore SOB by the end of the day and about six months until the residual tenderness and occasional twinge went away. I did not baby either hand, though. The PA told me that she didn't want to know what I was doing with my hands post-op, but whatever it was she wished everyone could have as good results. I remember waking up the night of the surgery and realizing that the operated on hand, although sore, was not asleep. The other one was. The only regret I have about that surgery is that I didn't do it sooner, like about five years.
Go see your physician and get the test done. If you live near a large city, the arthroscopic method has become fairly popular and offers less incision and trauma. In my case, with my doc, we decided to go with the open method and aside from scars that make me look like a suicide survivor, there are no lasting effects.
Go to the doctor, then decide if you want to try curing yourself. If you really have CT, my experience says there is only one solution.
I've had both wrists done after a lifetime of occupations, avocations, and serious hobbies that pretty much read like the Who's Who of Things That Will Result in Carpal Tunnel: meatcutting, mechanicking, production welding, shearing sheep, you name a bad thing to do to your wrists and I've done it. I was symptomatic for many years, did all of the DIY treatments described in this thread and some that haven't been, and one day my daughter, who had an internship with an ortho surgeon, came home and told me that she knew I was ignoring the symptoms but that I should immediately take it seriously if I started dropping things, because that was a sign of permanent nerve and therefore muscle damage. About a month later, I dropped my first thing. Darn kids. I went to her guy, who sent me for a test called an EMG, short for electromyelogram, which was definitive for severe bilateral CTS (means both hands.)
I had one surgery immediately and the other the next fall, about ten months later. I am a service pipefitter, and I missed a week's work with the first one and three days with the second. Yes, you're one-handed for a while- in my case most of a month before it wasn't a sore SOB by the end of the day and about six months until the residual tenderness and occasional twinge went away. I did not baby either hand, though. The PA told me that she didn't want to know what I was doing with my hands post-op, but whatever it was she wished everyone could have as good results. I remember waking up the night of the surgery and realizing that the operated on hand, although sore, was not asleep. The other one was. The only regret I have about that surgery is that I didn't do it sooner, like about five years.
Go see your physician and get the test done. If you live near a large city, the arthroscopic method has become fairly popular and offers less incision and trauma. In my case, with my doc, we decided to go with the open method and aside from scars that make me look like a suicide survivor, there are no lasting effects.
Go to the doctor, then decide if you want to try curing yourself. If you really have CT, my experience says there is only one solution.
