Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Clare on July 30, 2012 at 3:44am

I experienced trigger finger issues before CTS and had 5 or 6 surgeries to fix it. I think that surgery was more difficult than the CTS surgery, but it was also a different hand surgeon, so technique may have played in to it as well. I had it in all my fingers but not in my thumb.

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Permalink Reply by Baby Peanut on July 30, 2012 at 7:53pm

interesting, i got trigger thumbs when i was around 30, had 1 surgery & go as easy on my hands as possible when those tendons get sore. i have cts but never needed surgery, wearing an elastic bandage on my mouse hand seems to do the trick for that. one thing i wanted to ask, i'm sure this is a stupid question, but, the mentions of 'numbness' & 'tingling' sound awfully like neuropathy, please correct me if that's an incorrect observation? best to all.

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Permalink Reply by breaddrink on July 30, 2012 at 9:31pm

Well before diagnosis, I'd presumed my pains to be exactly that (neuropathy), but they manifest in very specific and different ways.

For instance, CTS will have one half or the other of your hand/fingers go numb, not the whole thing. It can also be triggered by applying pressure to specific parts of the forearm. I was told that it's also possible to have not only the carpal tunnel cause this fun, but other areas in your arm too, all the way up to the shoulder :D
This means that even though the half and half tingling/numbness are a symptom, you can also have full hand inflamation and numbness and still have it be in part CTS.

You can also shake the numbness away to a degree.
Symptoms build and progress until inflammation sets in, and furthers the whole strangulation issues of the tendon. It just gets worse and worse until you are very unhappy.
I can remember being a stay at home dad at the time and being almost unable to hold up my youngest sons feeding bottle. I had to continuously switch hands. I couldn't sleep with my hands behind my head, etc. While the kink in my hand seemed to trigger it, the only way I was able to sleep was to form my hands into a kind of cup shape over my stomach. The buzzing would die down this way but I'd be woken all night by completely numb halves of both hands (for me it was my pinky and third finger half).
I couldn't sit still and hold a video game controller. A buzzing sensation would build and build until deafening (in a sensation way) and I would have to stop and shake out my hands.

I have to admit to feeling somewhat skeptical of how much it would help, but the surgery removed it completely and instantly. Put to sleep in agony and woke up with stitches and no pain whatsoever (other than the insicion).

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Permalink Reply by Jonah on July 30, 2012 at 9:39pm

CTS is typically in one side of the hand, but the doctor is actually suggesting I have tarsal and carpal tunnel together which would be why it's my whole hand.

I'm not entirely convinced I have it.

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Permalink Reply by breaddrink on July 30, 2012 at 11:43pm

Have you had an electrical conduction test?

In so far as other medical problems are so vague and hard to diagnose, this is a pretty secure way of verifying.

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Permalink Reply by Jonah on July 31, 2012 at 8:31pm

No. Doc said it wouldn't be meaningful for another couple of weeks- that if there is acute onset neuropathy it doesn't show up in an EMG for 2-3 weeks.

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Permalink Reply by Jonah on July 30, 2012 at 9:38pm

CTS is a type of neuropathy.

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Permalink Reply by Baby Peanut on July 31, 2012 at 7:41am

thank you jonah, i didn't know that. i've had varying areas of neuropathy since i was around 8 or 9, i was dx'd a couple of months before i turned 3. my legs were really bad in my 30's but i just dealt with it & they got better. a couple of years ago, my hands(full hands, both)got extremely painful & feel swollen, i take neurontin & alpha lipoic acid which keeps it manageable.

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Permalink Reply by Jonah on July 31, 2012 at 8:32pm

Before you turned 3 or 30?

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Permalink Reply by Baby Peanut on August 1, 2012 at 7:22am

dx'd at 2, during my 30's my legs were very painful & swollen due to years of not trying to take care of myself.

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