Carpal Tunnel Syndrome Sufferers Unite!

[Chez Daja]

Actually, it's not as jolly as the title suggests... Still.

It's not 100% confirmed yet, but my mother has had this illness twice and she thinks it's been passed onto me via genetics. I have all the symptoms and will be inquiring next time I go to the doctors.

Soo. Anybody else had this problem? The only way to fully cure it is surgery, which my mother has had in both her wrists twice. I'm only infected in my left hand, which sucks, because I use my left hand for most of my hobbies... Uh, I sew and make cards... paint and write. You get it.

Anyway, here's a wiki quote to tell you the basis of what it is. It's accurate enough.

Carpal tunnel syndrome (CTS) or median neuropathy at the wrist is a medical condition in which the median nerve is compressed at the wrist, leading to pain, paresthesias, and muscle weakness in the forearm and hand.[1] A form of compressive neuropathy, CTS is more common in women than it is in men and has a peak incidence around age 42, though it can occur at any age.[2] The lifetime risk for CTS is around 10% of the adult population.[3].

That pretty much means that it causes a great deal of pain in the wrist and bottom of the hand and causes a pins and needles type of sensation in the index and two middle fingers. It hurts like a bitch if you bend your hand and wrist too much.

Anybody else had this? Who's been in for surgery for this?

I'm not worried about surgery, I'd just rather not have to take anymore types of painkillers. I'm hoping if I have it, my doctor will tell me the ones I already take are enough to stave off the pain of the operated area. It's the stitches that annoy me. Can't help but pick at those types of things just because it's uncomfortable. I've heard casts are availble for people like that, though.



Oh, here are some pictures of whereabouts Carpal Tunnel is and where they may need to treat it in some people... Uh, I wouldn't click some of these if you're squeamish, as some of these are the process of the actual surgery.

http://www.pdftutorials.com/articles...s/image003.jpg
http://www.wheelessonline.com/images/i1/ects9.jpg
http://www.wheelessonline.com/image6/cts2.jpg
http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1278/...7e40319b_o.jpg
http://www.carpal-tunnel-symptoms.co...urgeryscar.jpg
http://www.personal.usyd.edu.au/~zie...cs/antcar1.jpg

[Neo Necron]

This is Repetitive Strain Injury right? Your first shot would be to not make posts as long as that one, as endless typing is one of the causes, I believe

Back when I made literally 30 posts a day for a while, a long, lonely summer ago (I'm not ashamed to admit it, because I'm not a sad hermit anymore and have totally changed), I'm sure I felt something similar come on. My wrists would hurt pretty bad. I just laid off the typing for a while and was fine... eventually.

I don't know if it is the same thing... but I think it is. Either way, I dunno how much typing you do, but you should try typing less, because typing will cause repetitive strain on your hands/wrists.

[Mr Spike]

This is Repetitive Strain Injury right?

......

Moving on.

I have had a problem with this in the past - i play 3 racket sports so my wrists hurt a fair bit. I find that an elastic support did wonders for stopping this kind of thing from happening - before, sometimes i could barely move my hand for a good few hours, whereas now it just twinges every now and then. Not so sure about typing, although i do alot of this for programming and such (yes, i do program...) i haven't really found that it hurts that much.

Luckily i didn't have it as severe as some cases mentioned above.....

[LocoColt04]

I used to have issues with pain in my wrists -- that's why my posts aren't half a mile long any more. I don't believe I've ever had any direct issues with Carpal Tunnel, but I know for sure I've had the strain issues Neo mentioned above.

I do know a handful of people who've got CTS pretty badly. One of my employees has to wear braces on both wrists any time she's on the computer, or comes into work, or reads a book, or pretty much does anything that has anything else to do with her hands. It's bad.

[Chez Daja]

Aye. It is affected by repetitive typing, but in all honesty, I doubt I'll stop using a computer. My mother has wrist supports that she lets me use, so I'll not be as achy as I was.

I'll worry if I have two bouts of surgery like she did. Thankfully, it's only one wrist for me. I hope it doesn't progress onto the other one. It's a bitch really. I mean, it aches so it feels like you need to shake it all the time.

[Rocky]

So I think what Lococolt and Neo Necron are trying to say is that from now on, you should make crappy spammy posts like all of the forum noob kids instead of your usual stuff. I've never had it or know much about it, but I'm guessing it is largely based on genetics; quite frankly, I'm suprised neither of my grandparents have it, since both of my grandmas love to sew/stitch/type and so on, but thats just the way things go sometimes. To reduce the strain, I'd say go with moderation on using the wrists, and try not to overcompensate your healthy one for the bad wrist, because it sounds to me thats how it might spread through straining your other "good" wrist.

[Chez Daja]

So I think what Lococolt and Neo Necron are trying to say is that from now on, you should make crappy spammy posts like all of the forum noob kids instead of your usual stuff. I've never had it or know much about it, but I'm guessing it is largely based on genetics; quite frankly, I'm suprised neither of my grandparents have it, since both of my grandmas love to sew/stitch/type and so on, but thats just the way things go sometimes. To reduce the strain, I'd say go with moderation on using the wrists, and try not to overcompensate your healthy one for the bad wrist, because it sounds to me thats how it might spread through straining your other "good" wrist.

Aye, very good advise.

And I will spam more, promise!

My father seemed to think I was faking the pain because I'm only 19. Uhm. What? I have too many medical problems.

I also have pictures of myself splint'd up.
I took them because I wanted people to know it's not as easy to wear as it looks.

http://i8.photobucket.com/albums/a29...aja/020702.jpg
http://i8.photobucket.com/albums/a29...aja/020737.jpg
http://i8.photobucket.com/albums/a29...aja/020722.jpg

That's obviously the top side and those straps are to keep it pressed in place. You can see I have a bandage on underneath because the material of the splint decided to hurt me. It's a little rough but it doesn't effect the usage. On the underneath of the "hand straight-jacket" as I've lovingly named it, is the splint, which holds my wrist compeltely straight with only two cm's of space to move my hand up and down.
I'm wearing it now and becoming more and more used to wearing it.

It was my mothers, but she's lending it to me since she doesn't have Carpal Tunnel badly since her operations.

[ChloChloAriadne]

It's horrid ;_;

My mother gets it in one wrist, my friend gets it in both, and I'm apparently at extremely high risk.

Mother seems to get it worse than anybody I know.. She's in absolute agony a lot of the time because of it. Ends up binding up her wrist and apparently even that doesn't help.

I'm certainly not looking forward to it.

[Chez Daja]

My mother gets it in one wrist, my friend gets it in both, and I'm apparently at extremely high risk.

Mother seems to get it worse than anybody I know.. She's in absolute agony a lot of the time because of it. Ends up binding up her wrist and apparently even that doesn't help.

I'm certainly not looking forward to it.

Being at a high risk doesn't mean you're going to get it. My half sister and my two full blooded siblings are at the same level of risk as me, yet none of them have ever experienced it. If you have siblings, it may effect one of them, not you, or both, or all.

That said, it can effect people at any age, although I've heard it's more likely in women and people over 24. I'm nineteen. Yay, i r speeshell.

So far, I've been through some of the regular stages a Carpal Tunnel sufferer seems to go through. First, I wondered what it was. Then I looked up on the Internet. Then I wanted to hack my hand and wrist off. And now I'm learning to use my hand with the splint. My wrist and hand are going to be uber skinny after this shit. Especially if Summer time is a sweaty one.

I feel sorry for your mother. My mother had one of the most severe cases. Like I mentioned, she's has two operations twice now because it just doesn't seem to stay in the right place. Has your mother had surgery? Maybe you should suggest it. It usually does fix the problem, the only downfall being that you can use your hand proficiantly for two - three weeks.
And yeah, the splints don't work as much as surgery could, but if it's used on the right place, it helps ease it a little and seems to stop the pins and needles and the intense aching somewhat.