I haven’t been to a doctor or anything, but I’m pretty sure it’s what I have. So now I’m just curious about folks that have it and what they’ve done about it.
I just want to read your personal accounts of it, surgery, almost surgery, alternative to surgery, anything.
So come on…please? 
I have tendonitis.
I was sure I had carpal tunnel.
The test the Doctor gave me:
Hands in upward prayer position.
Now, take the tops of your hands and bend them at the wrist so they are touching so it is like an inverted prayer position. ( unnerstand?) Kinda like two sevens (one the right way -one the wrong way.)
Leave it there for …well, I was about 15 minutes you can probably do it 2-3 minutes …if you have tingling or numbness, you probably have CT.
The test the Sports Medicine doctor guy did was little electrodes on the wrist and I got to watch my fingers move on their own. It was way cool in a creepy manner. Like being reanimated without being dead.
I wear a wrist splint at night as I tuck my right hand in a not-comfortable position.
Try switching your mouse hand. ( it is very hard.)
I’ve had RSI wrist problems on and off for about 10 years. A split keyboard and ergonomic mouse–a Logitech MouseMan or other type that has a button on the side that you can hit once with your thumb rather than have to double click with your index finger–have helped me very much; I have these both at work and home, and only have tingles now when I’m doing something that involves a lot of repetitive moments. For example, a lot of cutting and pasting (Control-C, Control-V, over and over…)
I also have typing gloves with braced wristbands, but only use those when I’m having problems.
WomanofScorn
What symptoms do you have?
I have had carpal tunnel, according to a medical doctor and chiropractor, for several years. Sometimes it flairs up when I use the computer mouse, when I drive (sometimes grasping the steering wheel and sometimes when shifting [manual transmission]), when I do push-ups and hold hand weights, when I brush my teeth, when I use a fork or spoon, when I wake up in the morning . . .
Trackballs and wrist-rests kill me. I go through phases when I will wear a wrist splint (but not when using the computer) and that seems to help a lot. I should wear it to sleep but I don’t. I am not considering surgery. I haven’t experienced any finger/hand weakness, thank goodness, just numbing and tingling of my fingers and partial palm.
One morning, about 2 years ago, I woke up with *severe * shooting forearm pain and went to the doctor. He put me on prednisone (only for 7 days). I have not had that pain since.
I have had massage therapy, which seemed to help, having loosened up my hand/wrist/arm and also upper back where I have an almost perpetual knot.
I have heard that vitamin B (B6) helps, but I don’t know if that is true.
When I feel the tingling I just try to modify my body position. Most of the time I can, but sometimes I can’t.
Shirley Ujest
What are your symptoms of tendonitis?
Well I fear I’m kinda advanced in the carpal tunnel. The tip of my thumb and first finger on my right hand stay numb all the time. I wear wrist braces at night which used to help, but don’t anymore. I wake up in the middle of the night having to sit up just to get sensation back in my hands.
They are weak, I find myself having a hard time opening bottles and even opening packages w/a ziploc type opening.
They go numb when I eat, brush my hair, just anything I do. I can’t even sit and do nothing unless they are in the right position.
I didn’t get it from typing, I mean I don’t have a job that I type at, I think I got it from crocheting. Oddly enough, typing doesn’t bother me. Just everything else in life does. This new job has made it worse as I use my hands for everything I do.
I’m actually kinda scared I’ve done permanent damage.
I suffered from carpal tunnel for about 8 years before it got so bad that I had to have surgery. I had a nerve conduction (induction?) test with the electrodes, and had the surgery in 1990. I got it the old-fashioned way, by being pregnant, but it never cleared up after the baby was born, and got worse with the next pregnancy.
I wore wrist splints on both wrists whenever it got really bad. Had to sleep with my hand propped up at night, and was constantly shaking my hand (as if it had fallen asleep) to try to get the feeling back. When it was finally too much to deal with I asked for surgery. The first question the doctor asked was, “How many dishes have you dropped or broken in the last month?” It was more dishes than I had broken in 10 years of marriage. That was one of his criteria for surgery, that you be losing strength and the ability to control.
Since my right hand was the worst, I only had surgery on that hand. Since then I have had very little problem. Only when I do a lot of sewing (by hand or machine) or knitting do I get any discomfort in my right hand, though the left has started to get wonky. My current doctor gave me a new brace and said we’d talk about surgery after I lose weight from the bariatric surgery I just had. I haven’t had to wear the brace for months, so I think it’s going to be fine.
The reason I was able to last 8 years before surgery is because I wasn’t doing any repetitive movements that I couldn’t stop. I was a stay-at-home-Mom and when my hand got bad while sewing or quilting I could just take a break. If I had been working on a computer or on machinery in a job and hadn’t had the luxury of resting whenever I wanted, it would have progressed to the need for surgery much, much faster.
It is so good to be free from that pain and weakness. Surgery was outpatient and a breeze…the worst part was having the stitches removed, and only because they were mostly in the palm of my hand. I had an unrelated giant-cell tumor in my palm that they removed at the same time, so my incision is a little different from others…it starts at the base of my hand above the wrist and goes up into the center of my palm, then zigzags off to the left for an inch to where the bump from the tumor thingy was. It’s almost invisible.
WomanofScorn I’m sorry for your distress. Are you going to look into options?
kittenblue, you seem to have had a good experience with surgery. I had heard a few horror stories (as with all surgeries) but that was several years ago. I think the surgery is better, more efficient, and easier now. You got carpal tunnel from being pregnant?
That’s what I wonder most about. If I were to have the surgery, would there be a change. Does that mean I could never crochet again. Or staying at this job would do the damage all over again.
Mind you I’m just wondering. I don’t have insurance, well not for two more months, but I don’t even know where to begin. If I need to go to my regular doc first and he refer me, or what. Bah. This all sucks.
Oh and how long did it take to heal after the surgery? you know like how long will I have to be off work?
Yes, it used to be the most common way to get carpal tunnel was from pregnancy. The increase in fluids in a pregnant woman’s body would put pressure on the nerve, and the symptoms for most would disappear after birth. My sister had both hands in braces during her pregnancies, but she had no lingering problems like I did.
I had my arm in a brace/sling for 10 days, if I remember right, during which time I cleaned closets, cooked, and even typed…though not easily or excessively. After the stitches came out, I did PT in the sink at home, and the surgeon okayed me to do some light typing at a library card catalog conversion project…said it was good therapy, as long as I took breaks frequently. I just recently took up knitting, and have been a quilter for all these years. As long as I don’t push things, I’m absolutely fine. I have no idea about recurrence. And my surgery was 14 years ago, right when carpal tunnel was first hitting the news as a big problem. I’m sure the newest techniques are better.
I didn’t have a whole lot of hand strength to begin with, so any residual permanent damage is not noticeable for me…I don’t consider it to be a problem in my life anymore. With the exception of a recent flare-up in the other hand (which the doc thinks weight loss will help) I’m happy with my results.
I have both carpal tunnel and tendonitis, brought on by a combination of computer work, artwork, fencing and weaving. I’ve worn a wrist splint, and I’ve switched to mousing left handed (it’s awkward at first, but not that hard). I also bought a Wacom tablet to use instead of a mouse, which helps some.
What helps the most is yoga or yoga-based exercises. I’ve been doing this for over six years and keeping things stretched out makes a big difference. It’s been clinically shown to relieve pain and improve your grip strength. If you can find classes with an Iyengar-certified teacher, it would benefit you more than just doing a few “localized” exercises. The whole-body alignment and relaxation that result contribute to the overall effectiveness, and Iyengar teachers are trained to offer appropriate props, alternatives and cautions for various ailments.
Good luck with it, however you approach your solutions, and may you find healing and relief.
I had carpal tunnel syndrome for about 15 years before it became disabling. I have worked in IT (systems engineer and manager) since before VDUs were introduced, so I have been pounding keyboards for a long time - no mystery where the problem came from.
The first time I complained to my GP (family doctor) he advised me to drop my hand and shake it to restore circulation (he was not very good at blood pressure either).
Later consultations (with different doctors) led to me wearing the wrist supports, using a variety of rests for typing and mousing, etc. etc. No benefit.
A couple of years ago I was tested again using a device which measured the diminution of nerve signals along the arm. The diagnosis was “right hand severe” and “left hand very severe”. I am right-handed and I have no idea why the left hand was more severely affected.
By this time I had suffered almost complete loss of sensation in my fingertips and was experiencing what I considered to be severe pain in both hands.
I was fast-tracked for surgery (carpal tunnel decompression) which involved a local anaesthetic and the opportunity to watch the surgeon relieving the pressure on the nerves running through the carpal tunnels in my wrists. (I did not watch, but I found the conversation between the junior doctor performing the operation and the consultant who supervised him most interesting. Something to do with golf.)
I was off the table in 15 minutes each time (two operations about three weeks apart) and suffered very little pain during the recovery period. The only medication provided was a compound of paracetamol and codeine, it was most successful.
I was able to use the hand normally within a week in both cases.
The pain I suffered from CTS was immediately eliminated, and I was lucky enough to regain almost all sensation in my fingers. This is not always the case, and I know one other in IT who still has painful episodes long after the operation (he still plays the guitar).
In short, the decision to go for surgery was (in my case) most definitely the right choice and the results of the procedure exceeded my best expectations. YMMV.
I’m having surgery in December.
I have a negative EMG - which the orthopedist says can catch bad carpal tunnel, but doesn’t have the discrenment for the not so severe. But my fingers are numb, I have trouble picking up small objects, my hand falls asleep while I drive and I drop things. So I have all the clinical symptoms, just not enough nerve damage (yet) for the EMG to pick it up. Since I’ve worn the brace on and off for ten years and am starting to drop things, have trouble sleeping with the pain, and would really like to feel my fingers again, I’ve elected for surgery even without a positive EMG.
I also have tendonitis (a class two impingement) in my right shoulder. So my right arm is becoming less and less usable each day. The impingement is supposed to be resolved with PT - which I start next week. I think the impingmenet is responsible for most of the pain, but I just want to have a working and painfree arm, from fingertip to shoulder.
The whole mess, then works its way up into my head for blinding headaches. Its been a very pleasant few months.
I have CTS and Tendonitis as well. It occasionally flares up if I grip heavy things for a long time. I was on vioxx, celebrex, and finally Nambutone. I did receive some cortisone/steroid injections. In conjunction with Nambutone, I used wrist splints when I sleep at night. I stretch my forearms and wrist several times a day. I also used a EMS machine to massage the tendons for several months. I still get a little tendon/wrist pain now, but its managable with some Ibruprofen. I used to be an avid weightlifter and have just recently gotten back into it slowly. It seems that the excersice of weights really accelerated the healing process. I’m almost back to what I was before the trouble all started.
Props for mentioning this!
I do stretches as well and if you can ever find someone to do a fascia ( sp?) massage on the forearm, it can hurt like hell I have a high threshold of pain, but the benefits are long lasting. YMMV, but I love it.
Symptons of Tendonitis for me are: aching forearm, the muscly area between thumb and forefinger ache and the propensity to curl my hand inward when I sleep and (now) just sitting there. I tend to sit on my hand to keep it from doing the infirmed/dying position. Wrist splints are wonderful too. I feel so bionic when I put it on at night.
I don’t wear one during the day except bowling day. So as to rest the bowling arm.
Hey, a gal has to think of the team.
A technic that a woman at bowling told me about that worked for her tendonitis is:
Take a can of pop & hold it in your hand. Move your wrist up and down 10-20 times. Then turn your wrist sideways and rotate it back and forth 10-20 times.
She keeps a can of crappy cola/pop so as not to drink it in a fit of the thirsties. in the car to do this when she drives into work and where ever she goes. Her physical therapist recommend the pop can method because it offers just a little weight and the grip is usually perfect for women’s smaller hands.
I haven’t tried this yet because I just forgot about it until now and thought it would be worth mentioning.
I have done yoga in the past and the orthopedist I talked to was really concerned. He thinks the stretching with arms over the head is probably making things worse (downward dog) instead of better. All the exercises I’ve been given so far keep my arms below my shoulders. This is for the tendonitis/brutitis/inpingement in the shoulder. We will see what the PT has to say about it.
I thought all the stretching above my head I was doing was good for it. Silly me.
Wow you guys have been very helpful. It really has eased my mind a lot.
johncole you said you had local anaesthetic, does that mean you weren’t asleep? Was that not weird? I don’t know if I could do that, though it sounds easier.
The yoga I linked to was carpal tunnel specific, and my own tendonitis, which responds well to downward dog, is in the elbow/forearm. Listen to your orthopedist, listen to your PT, discuss it with your yoga teacher (what kind of training does s/he have? A good teacher will know which poses are contrindicated for which conditions.), but most of all listen to your body.
Here is one yogi who agrees with your orthopedist about raising the arms.
It looks like we all forgot to answer this part. It depends on your insurance, of course, but the usual route with mine is to see your primary care doctor first, who then treats or refers as needed. Be sure to look into the specifics of restrictions on pre-existing conditions. Some insurances make you wait a period of time to be covered for treatment on a pre-existing condition, others don’t. If this condition has arisen as a direct result of this job, there may be different rules. A call to your benefits office would be in order. Not having insurance makes things expensive and difficult and scary…I’ve been there, with two young kids, so I feel for you. But I’m glad to hear you’ll be covered soon.
Yeah, I get ear infections every year, but never had insurance. On two occasions I had to go to the ER twice cuz they came on the weekends. Bleah, so this insurance will be much needed.
I can’t really say it was caused by the job. I felt it before, but it’s gotten much worse since I’ve been at my job (just over a month). Not even the braces help anymore.
But I have some hope in sight w/this surgery. I was reading up on it and it sounds really simple and fast. The recovery time also looks short, which are all good things 
I just can’t imagine my hands not hurting anymore! Hopefully by Feb I can do something about it.