Carpal Tunnel Syndrome

[Cindy Hamlin]

Hello Board,
I went to my hairdresser, so she could put back my natural blonde highlights (;) ) and she was telling me she was going to have surgery for carpal tunnel syndrome.

I wondered if any Optiboarders had this and if they could shed some light on it for me. What are the symptoms? How does it inhibit your use of your hand?

I am not a raging hypochondriac, I swear, I just want a little more information!

Thanks!

[chip anderson]

There is a tunnel through the wrist that the nerve to the hand passes through the carpel bones. If it becomes restricted or inflamed it hurts when you twist your wrist. Mine hurts most when using a mouse. It affects 20% of the population whether or not they have ever seen a computer or not (but computer geeks can get workmen's comp for it.) .

First you try pain killers and an over the conter wrist brace (on specificly for carpel tunnel) worn especially at night during sleep when it seems to hurt the most, then if this doen't make it go away, you have surgery.

Chip

[Jackie L]

Hey Cindy...coincidentally, I just went to the doctors to see if I had it. Thank goodness I do not. I do, however, have severe tendonitis in my wrist where the thumb meets the crotch of the palm on the inside. I use a roll ball mouse by Logitech and the thumb action is what caused it, aggrevated by our daily optical practice.

Motrin (800 mg) will help reduce inflamation and Tylenol (with codeine) will increase our pain tollerance. Wearing an arm and wrist cast to give the wrist a rest is a must. Warm, wet wraps feel really good after a long day.

Ways to assure it will not get worse is to take a good look at our puter stations. Our arms should be nuetral or parallel to the keyboard and the mouse pushed away a bit. Using a wrist rest is ergonomically correct as well. Just make sure your chair is not too high as this causes our wrists to bend.

Hope this is helpful.

[hcjilson]

Cindy,
I have 2 suggestions, in order of their importance.

1. Lay off computer games!

2. See if you can get some samples of Celebrex from your primary care physician.Both work well in conjunction with the wrist device which basically imobilizes your hand.

Don't shoot the messenger, I am only repeating what my physician advised for me.I followed his advice and have had no reoccurence since last Febuary....I am dying to try Tetris but I know that will bring it back so I'm letting the computer have that final victory!

Painfree today from the cape, I'm harry j.

[Clive Noble]

Hey Cindy, I've got it! I've had it for about 5 years without knowing what was the problem, and it's getting worse....unfortunately in both hands.

Everyone tells me it's a simple op' You're discharged from the outpatients dep't within hours, but you can't really work for a week to 10 days.

One of the ways of testing is quite primitive and more suited to getting information from defecting Talibanis. I went through this 'test' a couple of years ago.

Electrodes are attached to the upper arm of the patient and a small amount of electricity is passed through the arm and measured at the fingertips.

The start of this procedure is not unpleasant, it tickles a little, but as they keep on adding more volts it becomes really scary. I don't know how many volts / amps /ohms they reached, but after a bad 'jump' I unattached the wires with a hefty pull.

"Hey, you can't do that Mr Noble" said the nurse who was applying the torture.

"I've already done it!" I replied.

"We won't be able to get a good assessment of the level of your carpel problem, and we won't know how to proceed" she said.

"Then I'll live with it 'till it gets really bad" I said.

And, Cindy, that's the situation today, it's pretty bad.

My hand locks up especially when I'm trying to get a small screw into a lens barrel or when I've held a lens too long and trying it for size in a frame.
I can release the lock-up and associated pain by thrusting my arm behind me totally straight and turning the hand back and forth.

Patients have been known to ask my wife quietly
("erh, is Clive alright? he seems to be acting a little strange!" )

The other problem is when driving, every few minutes or so I have to take a hand off the steering wheel and drop it as low as possible
(it's easier than thrusting it behind you, you don't want traffic cops to think you've got a problem)

All I have to do now is convince a nice doctor to do the operation without this test.

I did read recently that it can now be done by laser during your lunch hour, but that takes all the fun out of '10 days off' and people feeling sorry for you and visiting you with goodies.. doesn't it?

[Cindy Hamlin]

Thanks for all the info guys! It was really helpful! At least now I know what to look out for and the problems she has been having.

Clive, I am sorry to hear about your problems. Hope they can correct it without shooting you full of wattage!