Carpal Tunnel Syndrome

[hzl eyed grl]

Yesterday I went to see my knee doctor. I've been going to him since I was 15 and he's already done one surgery on my knee. I'd been having some problems with my arms and hands. For a long time now when I'm typing for a while, driving for a long period of time, or using my hands a lot....they get very, very cold and sometimes numb. Well, he had me wear wrist braces for a while and that helped my arms and hands from going numb while I was sleeping. I saw him yesterday and he asked what I thought about carpal tunnel surgery. My reply: "Ugh, I HATE surgery." lol (I've had about 6 in the last 7 years.) He said that he was going to do a test on my nerves first to see what was really wrong and I could think about surgery and go from there.

My questions are: Have any of you had the surgery? If you had it, did it work or did something go wrong? If you didn't have the surgery but know someone that did, what was their outcome?

Thanks.

 

[pyonir]

My sister had carpal surgery. It worked out great for her. She doesn't have the constant pain anymore and it never seems to bother her. The rehab the surgery sucked, but it didn't take that long to heal. I'd say go for it. The few weeks of surgery pain is worth the lifetime of being pain free.

 

[The Stigenator]

I dont have carpal tunnel though I do get the pain sometiems.. I adjusted my seating position in front of the computer and that helped. Sitting properly on the computer helped for me. I did suffer from carpal tunnel syndrome type pain while riding the motorcycle and then slowly the pain went away as I adjusted my riding position. The GS handlebars arent exactly to my "preference" though its quite comfy I still have to stretch to get to it.


My dad had carpal tunnel syndrome pain and swelling we adjusted his seat and computer (put a bigger 19" monitor that helped a lot cause now he didnt have to go in close to the screen to read the stuff on the 15" montior). He is a lot better these days no pain..

 

[hzl eyed grl]

Originally posted by: pyonir
My sister had carpal surgery. It worked out great for her. She doesn't have the constant pain anymore and it never seems to bother her. The rehab the surgery sucked, but it didn't take that long to heal. I'd say go for it. The few weeks of surgery pain is worth the lifetime of being pain free.

Well, I don't always have pain in my arms or wrists. Just sometimes I do. Mostly, my arms and hands get cold and numb. I'll wake up in the middle of the night to a completely dead arm or hand. If I use my hands a lot, though, they do hurt pretty bad...it's just not a constant pain.

T_g_g - I'll be getting a bigger monitor as soon as Xerox Man gets a new one. He's giving me his old one. I have a 15" (13.8" viewable) right now and he's giving me a 17".

Also, would a "natural" keyboard be better than a regular one?

 

[StageLeft]

Originally posted by: The_good_guy
I dont have carpal tunnel though I do get the pain sometiems.. I adjusted my seating position in front of the computer and that helped. Sitting properly on the computer helped for me. I did suffer from carpal tunnel syndrome type pain while riding the motorcycle and then slowly the pain went away as I adjusted my riding position. The GS handlebars arent exactly to my "preference" though its quite comfy I still have to stretch to get to it.


My dad had carpal tunnel syndrome pain and swelling we adjusted his seat and computer (put a bigger 19" monitor that helped a lot cause now he didnt have to go in close to the screen to read the stuff on the 15" montior). He is a lot better these days no pain..

I'm guessing hzl has already thought of all that stuff but what the heck I'll throw my two cents in as well.

A couple years back I started getting carpal as well - or at least it was building towards it. I was on a computer at school and at home for probably a dozen hours every day. What really helped me was just the wrist rests under my mouse and keyboard. For a while I was getting really high ones (like putting a book underneath the wrist rest) just so that my wrists would be perfectly flat. In time the pain has gone away. Although my wrists are not 100% now they are 95% at least. I have no pain from day to day and only feel anything peculiar when lifting weights. I use the rests but if I jacked them up to make my wrists perfectly flat I'm sure I'd be good to go.

Also what I've done is I always have my keyboard flat and in the past I've actually had it tilt away from me - that helps a lot. I cannot stand keyboards angled towards me now - BAD.

 

[Mill]

Quite ironic. I was just to post about my Aunt who just had surgery for Carpal Tunnel Syndrome. It went really well for her. It took a few days that she couldn't pic up anything heavier than a glass with the wrist they operated on. The pain wasn't too bad and her employer(Bellsouth) gave her two weeks off(I think either one or two) and she hasn't had any problems. If insurance will cover it and another doctor agrees you need the surgery then why not? It can really relieve pain.

 

[The Stigenator]

hzl it sounds liek your not getting blood circulation in your arms .. that is why your getting the pain and feeling cold.

I had one night and woke up in cramp type pains.. turn out I was sleeping on my right arm and cut of blood circulation to that part of the arm.. since then I dont sleep on my "side" I cant sleep on my side.. so I normally sleep on my back or on my stomach.

 

[hzl eyed grl]

skoorb, I've seen the wrist rests before. I'll have to get one since you said they work. lol Thanks.

EDIT:

Quite ironic. I was just to post about my Aunt who just had surgery for Carpal Tunnel Syndrome. It went really well for her. It took a few days that she couldn't pic up anything heavier than a glass with the wrist they operated on. The pain wasn't too bad and her employer(Bellsouth) gave her two weeks off(I think either one or two) and she hasn't had any problems. If insurance will cover it and another doctor agrees you need the surgery then why not? It can really relieve pain.

I'm glad to hear that her surgery went well. I hate to hear horror stories of when they go bad. Contragulations and good luck to your aunt.

 

[Fraggle]

I got the Natural style, split keyboard after having some wrist pain during typing; It worked for me. It took a little getting used to & my typing seems to be permanently slowed down, but only very slightly. But using other people's normal keyboards is not a problem; the conversion seems to be "downward" compatible I wish they made those MS Office keyboard in the Natural style, as I've had my eye on those Good luck.

 

[ehaught]

As an occupational health nurse in a manufacturing environment, I've seen a fair amount of employees with repetitive motion injuries such as carpal tunnel syndrome. Surgery for CTS is very successful and every person I've ever known to have had the surgery has never had any problems later. My mom (who is also a nurse - - CTS is common among nurses) and my ex-wife both had surgery and were/are quite pleased with the results. They can do the surgery in such a way that the scar is very minimal and often disguised in a skin fold on the wrist.

BTW, nothing above should be construed as medical advice. You should seek the guidance of a physician for medical advice.

 

[Jzero]

I use the rests but if I jacked them up to make my wrists perfectly flat I'm sure I'd be good to go.

I agree with this. Keep those wrists up. I actually tell people not to use those cheap gel-foam wrist rests b/c I think they promote lazy wrists and keeping them laying on the desk. You should type as though you are playing the piano. My mother has been a secretary for 35 years now and she has spend all that time type-type-typing away and doesn't have a lick of CTS. I've been keyboarding literally my entire life, same thing. I think it has a lot to do with keeping your wrists up.

Not that I'm a medical professional, though hehehehe

 

[hzl eyed grl]

Crap. I went to Wal-Mart today and it's next to Office Max. Did I think to look for wrist thing-a-ma-jiggers? Of course not. That would have been too bright.

I'll have to make a not and do it tomorrow. lol

I saw XXX though, and it was great.

 

[Sluggo]

The surgery should be a last alternative for CTS, there are lots of remedies that work well for the majority of people.

Wrist braces while you sleep
A regimen of Advil, it is an excellent anti-inflammatory and pain killer, yet is virtually non addictive, and not really bad for you.
Environment changes also help quite a bit with CTS

 

[Legendary]

I agree, keeping your wrists up really helps. When I learned to play piano I learned how to keep them up and now I do it out of habit and my hands, wrists and otherwise never hurt..

 

[Nefrodite]

mushy gel filled wrist thingies are kewl the fabric covered ones that is. u can still wash em so no prob. they cost a little more, but they last a long time my mouse has one too.

and yea, funny how people cheap out on some stuff. most important parts are the ones you touch and see so no cheapie monitor/mouse/keyboard/table/chair carpal tunnel isn't fun i bet. i used to have lan parties at friends houses. needless to say there aren't like a ton of computer desks in a house so we improvise. after long gaming sprees i swore i was getting carpal tunnel hehe