Just had a question for those of you that were unfortunate enough to suffer from this. I developed a mild case of this about 3 months ago. But the darn thing jsut doesn’t want to seem to go away despite medication and reduced workload. I am considering taking steriod shots to help heal them.
Anyone here been through this? What treatments worked best for you? I see my doctor again on the 21st and I want to be able to go in more informed as to what my options are. He’s a workmans comp doctor, so his basic answer is to just keep taking the meds.
It’s in my genes…my gran has her hands virtually disabled by it, and my dad is shortly to receive surgery.
I wasn’t even aware that medication options were available - although I would nonetheless be very wary of steroids, for the obvious reasons :S
For me it was an industrial injury - working with screens and keyboards for thirty years. Almost complete loss of sensation in the fingertips and severe pain in the rest of the hand/wrist.
Diagnosed by my GP, it was confirmed by a consultant who measured the loss of nerve impulses down the length of the arm to the palm of the hand, and rated my right hand as “severe” and my left as “very severe”.
They tried a number of treatments, including steroid injections, but nothing provided any significant or long-lasting relief. They recommended a carpal tunnel decompression.
The surgery was quick and painless. Only a local was used and I was “on the table” for 15-20 minutes for each hand. Full recovery within a week and now (2 years later) I am still pain-free and fully functional. (The “trigger finger” is another problem.)
The surgery worked for me, YMMV.
Howdy, I am currently recovering from a repetitive stress injury that resulted from typing. Mine manifested as epicondylitis (tennis elbow) – a form of tendonitis – in both arms.
I began treatment with an icing regime (3x day) and ergonomic adjustments to my workstation. I am rather short – they had to order me a different chair that would adjust lower, remove the right arm from that chair, etc. Luckily my office employs a Occupational therapist who addresses these issues at no cost to me.
Under my regular insurance I began a course of occupational therapy (basically physical therapy directed at my hands, in my case). When icing, stretching, massage, ultrasound and ergonomic improvements failed to improve my arms significantly, I started a course of steroids. It was not delivered through injection, but rather a process called iontophoresis.
They put some of the steroid liquid (dexamethasone, a cortico-steroid) on a pad and place it on the place that hurts. Then they run a very mild electric current (9V battery) through the pad and your arm which drives the steroid in. Uncomfortably tingly but not truly painful. I had 7 of these treatments in my right arm and 4 in my left. and noticed a dramatic reduction in pain. Finally, I began strength training program in both hands. That’s where I am today.
My insurance covers my PT/OT fairly well (I pay 10% of each visit) but plans vary wildly in how they cover PT/OT.
If you are financially able I would strongly urge you to seek a hand-therapy specialist such as an occupational therapist who will have a bigger “bag of tricks.” For example, have they talked to you about how your sleep position may be negatively affecting your arms?
Haven’t discussed any of this with my doctor. He never brought it up. It was just, “Oh, your wrists hurt, well, take this”. And that was it. The second time I saw him, it was basically the same thing. I keep telling him that I think I need alternative therapies. His reply was that it takes time to heal. Well, its been 3 months now and I think he’s full of it. Will definitely ask about the hand therapy though. Thanks for all the info!
I hope I’m not the only one who sees the irony in this thread: A repetitive use injury message board thread, perfect.
The steroid that they would probably use would be from the class of Corticosteroids, not anything to be terribly afraid of (as a pose to androgenic steroids used for ‘performance enhancement’). Typically, the treatment consists of a 3 shot regime, each shot about 2-3 weeks apart. All these treatments are designed to reduce the inflammation and swelling, which form from repeatedly straining the flexor tendons that run through the ‘carpal tunnel’ in the wrist, which also houses a median nerve. When these become inflamed, they swell due to the accumulation of leukocytes, fluid and other materials in the immediate area. To suppress this inflammation response, steroids are used. If the inflammation can be reduced sufficiently, cellular repair of the tendons can occur, usually subsiding the condition. Surgeries will be performed if this is do to the internal geometry of the wrist. The root cause of your cases will determine the extent and type of treatment.
IANADoPT (I am Not a Doctor or Physical Therapist) but based on the research I have done on my own injury I find it outrageous that you have not received wrist braces for use either during the day or while sleeping. I am quite sure that they (as well as stretching & strengthening) are considered the “standard” conservative treatment. Not “alternative” in anyway aside from an alternative to complete ignorance.
In this site from the National Institute of Health, splinting (bracing the wrist) is described as the primary treatment:
http://www.ninds.nih.gov/health_and_medical/pubs/carpal_tunnel.htm#treatment
with anti-inflammatories following as the second line of attack.
I’ve should of been more thorough. My first visit, I wasn’t diagnosed as having Carpel tunnel syndrome. It was initially thought that I had Tendonitis. It wasn’t until my second visit that a different doctor diagnosed CTS. Thats when i got the stronger Anit-Flammatory pills. At the time of my second visit, I already had gone ahead and worn wrist braces to the visit. Hence it was never brought up. I truely hate this clinic, but I am definitely not paying for this out of my own pocket. It was work related after all.
It sounds to me like you need to see another different doctor. There are a wide range of treatments and options out there, and they should have been discussed with you.
I had very very mild CTS for years, coming from a computer household (we got our first home computer when I was three, and by the time I was 8 everyone in the house had their own computer except my dad). It would only cause a little bit of tingling in certain situations, like playing Tetris with the number pad for a couple of hours.
Then I got a job at Starbucks, in a store with the old school manual espresso machine, and things went sideways. I got CTS in my right wrist so bad it hurt to pick up an empty soda can. I was out for a couple months on disability, since there was no way I could do my job without aggravating it. When I went back to work, I was taking Aleve like it was candy (it was easier on my stomach than the prescription-size variety).
These days, having quit my job to focus on school, my CTS isn’t too bad anymore. Sometimes I’ll sleep on it wrong and it’ll bother me, but a couple of Aleve makes it happy again.
I don’t know if this would help you, but my CTS used to be so bad that I needed help to do the buttons on my clothes in the morning. My biggest cause was that the bones were loose in the joints and thus moved to press on the tendons. I went to a neuromuscular therapist. It hurt like hell when he was working on it, but it helped immensely.
You know, I believe that my CTS was caused by some injuries. I vaguely remember pulling myself into the bed of a pickup truck with my left hand and twisting my wrist. I stung at the time and I didn’t really think much of it. About 2 weeks later is when I started having tingling and numbness in my left hand. A week after that, I slammed the door of the same truck on my right wrist. From there it went down hill to the point where I was in your shoes. I had trouble zipping up my coat.
I still have intermitten pain in my growth plates as well as my forearms. Will suggest it to my doctor this wednesday. Hopefully, I can get this all cleared up.