Carpal Tunnel Syndrome

[Bobtheduck]

Yeah... A trip to the doctor comfirmed what I was affraid of... Well, sorta... He thinks the problem in my wrists may be CTS as well. He told me to wear a wrist brace and take advil.

The advil hasn't done anything yet and I don't notice much from the other treatments... It's not bad enough that I feel pain all the time. I just feel it when I do things like right now, when I'm typing or using my mouse especially, or when I play my PS2. I am thinking of switching to Asprin when I'm done taking my antibiotics (which end tomorrow) and see if that does any better (and may help with a couple other problems I've been having too)

I really hope I can get rid of this soon... I desperately want to work on my book, and even things like reading stiff books can be painfull (I have to force the book to stay open.) so I am very limited in what I can do... This will be a major problem in Chico... I may not even be able to perform my duties on staff if this problem doesn't go away.

I have tried all but one of the home treatments on webmd... I am going to try the hot and cold soaks tomorrow, and get a new kind of brace... Hopefully something gets rid of this... I can't live like this...

[Otaku10]

Well I hope you get better soon and I think I might be developing CTS (too much PC gaming). Hopefully I am wrong.

[Mithrandir]

I know how that goes. (4 years of it, for me). The reason the advil is proscribed is that it's ibuprofen, which is an anti-inflamitory. This is important, because CTS is a result of swelling. Asprin might fight the pain, but it also might mask the symptoms. Make sure you pay attention to this now, and don't just ignore it until later. Did you doctor give you excercises? Make sure you do them, if he did.

[Slater]

I'll pray for j00... but why the heck are you typing? that's one of the things that causes CTS d00d!

[Yojimbo]

Oh man ouch. My mom has been living with CTS for about seven years and has had two surgeries on her right hand. I hope ya don't have to do that. Hope ya feel better.

[Saint Kevin]

I hope we don't see more and more kids getting CTS at an early age, like Bob apparently has. I'll keep praying for you bro; I know God's will is in this somewhere, so stay strong.

[Bobtheduck]

I got a new wrist brace. it is darn near impossible to type in this thing... I have to hunt and peck with my left hand, but my left hand isn't too far behind my right. I don't think the doctor gave me exercises, but I am doing the rotate and spread thing (that is what "range of motion" is, right?) and have been using ice. Web MD talked about a soak in cold and hot water, alternating. I am going to try that. I saw this thing you wear at night that is made to spread your "carpal tunnel" out over the course of 4 months. I wanna see if it is legit and then see if my insurance will cover it It likely won't, stupid HMOs, but 80 bucks is worth getting this problem fixed.

I know I shouldn't even be on the computer, but the computer really is my life right now... With no games, no computer, limits on my book choices (only thin paged books that will stay open by themselves during the times when my pain flares up) and the current problems of lack of RL friends (except for past midnight or on wednesday night) I feel likely to die of boredom...

[Debitt]

I'll keep you in my prayers, Bob! I know how it is, I'm afraid I've got it too. o_o;

[Rev. Doc]

I'll be praying for you. I used the braces and ibuprofen for a number of years until the pain got to be too much. Found out that the longer you put off the surgery the more damage can be done to the nerves in your arms. I finally had surgery done on both of my wrists, however, I still have occasional problems with my arms (grating cheese, shoveling etc.) Sounds like you may need to check about the surgery before too long.

[Heart of Sword]

Get a speech-to-text translator. Say something and your computer will type it. You can always post like that and they usually aren't that expensive.

I'll pray for you.

[Golden_Griff]

I can't pretend to know what your experiecing right now but I know I would be miserable if I couldn't spend time with my computer or any other hobby that requires extensive use of my hands. I'll pray as well.

[Rogie]

I'll pray for you, Bob.

[Bobtheduck]

It has really died down and I was able to play my PS2 for a while, but I can't pin down what did it... The Brace actually hurts my hand, but I don't wear it that long and I do exercises after I take it off(though, I admit, I don't know if I'm doing them right) and I take 2 advils at a time... The pain is minimal now... Well, not now(I wrote this message last night, and my hands started to hurt while I was writing, so I didn't finish until now)... Using the mouse really did something to my arm again... I'm seeing my doctor again next wednesday, so I'll ask him more about it (including the right way to do the exercises, hehe)

WebMD said to use the brace while you sleep... I can't sleep with that thing on... I'll try it again, but oh well.

Still haven't tried the hot soak thing... I don't know if maybe I am getting ahead of myself getting excited about the fact that the pain had diminished...

I know that there are certain things you are supposed to do to keep it under controll... Work techniques and such... I'll be buying one of those ergonomic keyboards, and I'm going to try to do everything in proper posture...

Are these the exercises I am supposed to be doing, or is this a bad idea when I allready have CTS? WebMD lists 5 exercises. The rotate and spread thing I've been doing, a prayer stance thing I just started, a reverse prayer stance which is particularly painfull, and 2 wrist stretches (extensor somethingrather) Are these exercises usefull for people who are allready having symptoms, or could they even be making things worse. This is a lot of change.

I was gonna go on Vitamin B6, but then I read that too much can actually damage your nerves... In any case, I'll stay on the ibuprofin and try to do things the right way...

Web MD said surgery should be held off until you have tried other treatments for a while, but I'll check into it anyhow...