Doctors are recommending I have carpal tunnel surgery on both arms, two weeks apart. I’m very reluctant to do so, and would very much appreciate any opinions or experiences from those who have been through it. Was it worth it? Would you do it again? Is there a viable alternative?
Basic facts…I’m a 55 year old woman in reasonably good health, with Kaiser insurance. I have been seen by a neurologist, two orthopaedic surgeons and my general practitioner. All believe I should have this surgery. I have minorly high blood pressure, controlled with a beta blocker, and a tendency to heal slowly especially in my extremities. My work, which I would unfortunately have to return to, involves a great deal of detailed computer mouse work.
Has anyone had experience with waiting, then wishing they had done it sooner? This is what they have suggested I face if I postpone doing it. Muscle strenght loss that can not be regained?
Any info or opinions you can share will be very much appreciated.
-jean
My wife had both hands done (as separate operations) in the early years of our marriage; she had to wait for a a couple of years while they tried all sorts of other solutions such as steroid injections and splints. Her hands were often numb and lacked grip before the operation; afterwards, they were just completely normal, but she was in her mid thirties when this was done.
My mother had the surgery and the results were great. I also have CTS, but have no insurance so I can’t afford the surgery. I have moderate-severe nerve damage in my hand, which the doctor has told me may not be reversable.
I appreciate the responses from both of you. This is encouraging.
Hopefully there will be more to come, if not, at least I’ve heard of a few that were successful!
Regards,
-Jean
Medical sites say that CTS surgury is quite sucessful, as in about 70% or so depending on the site. http://www.uaw.org/hs/03/01/hs02.cfm is a good example.
However, use search on the forums here, and you will see that it wasn’t as great of a sucess. I frequent another messageboard and the stories they tell are very different. There, it seems like surgery wasn’t much effective at all.
My husband had the surgery on his non-dominant hand a couple of years ago. He was 58 at the time, has high blood pressure and diabetes. He healed quickly and was back at work (truck driving) within a couple of months without any extended therapy. He’s happy with the results, says it’s nice to have normal feeling in all his fingers.
He was told that his surgeon was one of the best in the state. I think that makes a difference. You’ll want the best you can get, so if you have a choice of surgeons, it’s worth the time to ask around, even casually. It’s surprising what nurses and medical office staff will tell you, off the record.
A really good friend of mine, 50ish woman in great health, just had both hands done2 weeks ago.
We were all prepared for her to be very needy for at least 2 weeks. She is actually doing very good. Better than she had anticipated. After one week the bruising and bandages were gone and she was up and about after 5 days. We had to open doors for her and stuff.
She was thrilled with the results and the pain vs. result tradeoff was well worth it she says. She recommends doing them both at once. She said it wasn’t so bad and if they are putting you under, might as well get 'em both done.
Mr.stretch had surgery on both hands, six weeks apart, three years ago at the age of 42. It was the best thing he could do.
He had numbness in his hands, shooting pains up his arms, no grip, etc. prior to the surgery. The day after the surgery, he could feel his fingertips for the first time in years.
His was work related so he got workers comp; he was off work for two weeks after each surgery. The thing to worry about is building up scar tissue at the surgery site; the longer you wait to massage the area and break up the scar tissue, the worse it will be.
Not medical advice or anything, but I got great results from sleeping in a wrist brace and using anti-inflammatories for several weeks. I read a study (sorry, don’t have time to find it) that found similar effectiveness rates with brace/NSAIDS as surgery, so I tried it. My hand was going numb every time I moused, used a fork, anything. It seems fine now.
I do factory work for a living and know lots of folks that have had, or opted out of having the surgery.
A minority report no measurable lasting improvement but most folks say it relieved 90% of the symptoms. I think it was best described by an older guy I knew, he went from being miserable from the pain and cramping and disturbed sleep, to almost zero symptoms. He was in his early fifties when he had it, almost 15 years ago so he’s got the ‘old’ gruesome scars, and while it eventually started bothering him again he felt the intervening period where it didn’t was totally worth it.
So my very uneducated anecdote driven opinion is go for it, it’ll probably help quite a bit even though the recovery and PT will suck.
I had my right done in 1990, and it was the best decision I made. The improvement was wonderful, and even while I was still in the sling I was using my hand (I remember cleaning a closet!) and was typing right after the stitches were out…the doctor said light typing was good therapy, in addition to the other therapy I did at home. In fact, getting the stitches out was the worst part of the whole deal because my scar is in the palm of my hand and up to the wrist…they took out a giant cell tumor at the same time, so I have an atypical scar.
I wish I had had the left done also, because it has gotten worse over the years, but it’s still not anywhere near bad enough. Only bothers me when I do a lot of sewing, or if I knit in the wrong position. And the right has been fine, except in cases of extreme abuse (like quilting or sewing for hours) But then I never had a repetitve-type job. I could always rest when I needed to…that’s why it took nine years between diagnosis and surgery. I got it the old-fashioned way…by getting pregnant.
The only concern I would have had with having both done at once is the bathroom/wiping part, and even that I could do after a fashion, and the stitches were out in a week. So two weeks apart should be just fine.
I was living in almost constant pain for years but resisted surgery. I even switched my mouse to my left hand because my right wrist was bothering me so bad. That helped, but then my left wrist started hurting.
Then I had an ergonomic consultant come in (working at a huge company does have its benefits) and she advised switching from a regular mouse to one of those ergonomic joystick-type mouses and an ergonomic keyboard (they tilt down and are split down the middle).
Within two *days * after receiving the new equipment, the pain subsided. I have been pain free for months now.
Expect to be teased about the mouse, though. It’s raised a lot of eyebrows.
Recovery was a lot tougher than I expected, four months before I regained range of motion, I still don’t have the strength (no push ups for me).
But the pain and tingly fingers and dropping things is gone. None of this was bad for me, so I’m not sure it was a good trade, though the timing was pretty good for having it done - I think it needed to be done sooner or later.
To expand upon my earlier post (I was on my way out)…
Mr.stretch was originally diagnosed with CT in 1992, after years of working in plywood mills. At the time, he was dropping everything, had numbness, had shooting pains up to his elbows, and was being woken up in the night from the pain. They tried splints and various meds that didn’t work for him.
He refused surgery and opted for retraining–to a clerk typist* position with the state. His sypmtoms were somewhat alleviated by the change in jobs. Over a course of ten years, he worked in various desk jockey jobs, all of which required some keyboard work. He had ergonomic consultants review his work station and changed to a wave keyboard and a trackball mouse; he used those for a few years (still does). And his CT got worse.
I finally convinced him to go back to workers’ comp and investigate surgery. As I said, he had both hands done. Because they cut the ligament across the palm of the hand, he wears padded bike gloves whenever he uses hand tools or mows the lawn (the vibration is too much to handle). His hands are not as strong as they were, pre-CT; I still have to open most of the bad jars in the house because his grip is still a little weak and I have bigger hands. Periodically, he’ll hit the palm of his hand just right and it’ll hurt a lot.
But he can mow the law again, he can use a cordless drill, he can feel things with his fingertips again, he isn’t woken up by shooting pains up his arms, the list goes on and on.
For him, it was the best thing ever. A couple of his co-workers went through the surgery after he did and they are pretty happy, too.
*yeah, we think it was a strange choice to retrain some with CT into a typing position, too, but it was workers’ comp and he didn’t stay a “typist” for long.
I had my right side done about 10 weeks ago. I went from not being able to sleep because of pain to NO pain as soon as the anesthesia wore off…except for minor pain from the incisions. I have now regained my touch sensory, which had been minimal before surgery.
I asked the Dr to do the other hand as quickly as possible, and have had the same results. Best medical procedure, hands down!