Hi, fellow sufferer's
Had my surgery 12/16/14 numbness, tingling still present in thumb forefinger and middle finger. The throbing which kept me from getting a decent sleep has diminished somewhat. I would be lying if i said that im not worried. My condition was severe, but my surgeon said no issues. Just wait and see. Pain medication is Norco 1 pill every 4 hours.
From what I've read it will take time to settle down. Surely it's a good sign that night time throbbing is less. Must be hard to stay positive. Be interested to hear how you progress. Is your other hand in need of surgery too?
Strangely no. My positive hand( right) is fine. Interesting that my surgeon said that many of his patients wake up from the operation with the numbness gone! Can't help that my procrastination on getting this thing taken care of may have dire results. I just hate dealing with medical issues, and i don't trust the industry. My bad. It's early but i do need to get back to work this weekend.
Hi John, I'm a month in front of you, surgery on 18th November. I was driving the next day and have not needed any pain killers at all BUT, I still have occasional tingling and the ends of my fingers are still numb during the day.
Initially, after surgery, I had bad electric type shocks down my middle fingers, this subsided after about 4 days and I used to get bad "tingles" when I tried to put my socks on or do my shoelaces up, open a door handle or try and turn my ignition key. Now the tingles are much less and don't actually stop me doing much... wiping after the toilet being the worst!
Due to my job I have had to take 6 weeks off, but I can see in most jobs I would be back to work now easily. Depends on the work.
I was classified as severe in my right hand, have tried a short ride on my bike (this caused most pins and needles previously) and had no problem, will go for a longer ride soon.
I do think the tingles are a normal consequence of the op. and they really do get better each week, it does seem that the average is 6 weeks to 90% back to normal and repaired, and quite a bit longer to be fully fit again. Some people are perfect immediately, but it is the few I'm afraid. You know it generally works because most go back to have the second hand done later! 50000 a year in USA.
Time is the great healer, but help it by doing lots of finger exercises. Stress balls are good....
Early days yet. We all expected immediate recovery but it takes time. This is the most frustrating thing about it. Lots of healing needs to take place and cut nerves need to relearn their role.
there will be good days and bad days before you are fully recovered.
i am almost at the 9 month stage and think I have reached full recovery but still get funny little pains under the scar that take me by surprise.
good luck
Elaine
Nine months here too. Today one of the worst days, pain my thumb plus other symptoms. Yes, there are absolutely ups and downs. The trouble though is that when I have the downs it's sometimes even worse than before surgery. When it's good I feel totally recovered 100%, last time 1 whole hour last week. Still total sensation loss in the palm around the scar - is that normal?
But I also have constant tinglings, pain of different sort and/or numbness in both hands, arms, legs and feet plus cheek now. Plus severe temperature dips that no way only can be addressed to carpal tunnel syndrome. Freezing to pieces. No fever or other symptoms, but I can't sit on my exercise bike to keep a normal body temperature 24 h a day. The surgeon already in March 2014 thought I might have another disease going on simultaneously. What could it be? Lack of some vitamins or minerals? I'm gluten intolerant.
John! Keep in mind the rule: recovery might at least take the time you've had the carpal tunnel syndrome. And often these things can gradually and slowly appear. Therefore it's not always easy to tell a certain date when it all began.
Thanks for the letter Mark,
I look forward to someday buttoning my shirt without cussing!
You know i have lived with this issue for a couple of years now. But since mid Oct it really flared up. Very little sleep all through Nov up untill mid Dec. Some nights i would just pass out in a chair. No sympathy from the Orthopedic end they were booked solid. Looking forward to feeling postive signs of recovery. I'll keep my fingers crossed! at least on 1 hand!
I'm 4.5 weeks with one hand and 1.5 weeks with the other. As I've mentioned before, with the 2nd surgery, I kept taking the pain meds thru the 3rd day and made it a point to use the hand as much as I could-especially making a tight fist often(do it slowly). As long as you take your time to adjust to the pressure, try brushing your teeth, holding things, etc. The difference is incredible! I have almost full grip strength with the 2nd hand while I still can't make a closed fist with the first. I think they need to give you more direction than to just "keep moving your fingers". I took that to mean I should keep wiggling them. Then after wearing the brace for a week with the 1st hand, I think it makes your muscles atrophy. The second hand feels almost normal already while I'm having lots of difficulty using the first one, and the 2nd hand was done less than 2 weeks ago.
Cut nerves? i was told that the ligament pressing down on the nerve would be cut to relieve pressure. Seems reasonable that after the pressure is gone the bloodflow would be increased to the fingers and thumb. Why is the recovery so slow?
Ken, has your doctor done any thyroid tests? Thyroid desease can often mimicking carpal tunnel.
I was talking about the nerve endings in the skin that have been cut to get in. They are incredibly sensitive .
Regards Elaine
I think we can safely assume that EVERYONE reacts differently to this operation and that is why there is a huge amount of difference in advice given by the surgeons and doctors.
In the UK for me it was local anaesthetic only, bandages off after 48 hours, dressing removed after 4 days, stitches out at two weeks. Use paracetamol if you have any pain and a brace or splint was never mentioned.
This is completely different to advice that others were given even in the UK. What I can say is time is the great healer, it takes a few days from not being able to brush your teeth with the hand, to brushing again as normal; turning your car ignition on, flicking a light switch, tieing your shoelaces, buttoning your shirt....one day it's very hard/impossible but two days later you realise you are doing it pain free again.
Some nerves must be cut, but they all come good again later, isn't the body wonderful. Further problems do need to be shown to your medical team as our bodies are slowly deteriating and it may be nothing to do with the surgery performed.
Not totally cut nerve/s hopefully (even though it can be the result of severe compression (extremely rare)), since then you wouldn't be able even to move the body part corresponding to it. A cut nerve will almost never ever be 100% recovered, even if neuroms are growing out again. A cut nerve should be under micro neuro surgery within a couple of hours for best possible result. However, tiny fibers of the nerve can be cut and healed again and learn a new role, under the best circumstances. Think of the nerve as an electric coaxial cable. Some fibers can be compressed, cut or missing and it still works, the sound in the speakers are great. But if the cable is cut off, nothing works.
Around the scar. I see. Nerve endings. Tell me about it, mine are really cut, no feeling there. How about you now? Can you feel a ping pong ball if you put it there? Or if you press with a finger in the palm?
My ordinary doctor ordered a thyroid blood test on me in Sep 2013, before the carpal tunnel surgery in March 2014. But I had a strange value. My folic acid value was explosively toxic (not even measureable on two different techniques) and kept being that. They still have no idea why it is so high. My surgeon told me in February 2014 they must do a follow up on that, but they don't. Perhaps I have to move?
Wearing the brace for too long could be just what you wrote, bad for the muscles. I keep this to a minimum, only for the first nights during a setbeck. I always becomes clumpsy the next day after wearing a bracelet during the night! Simultaneoulsy, I have a bad habit or bending my wrists during the night. Tricky one!
Because the nerve have been compressed and the nerve have been reliable on the blood vessels. Nerves are very slow learners and recoverers - slowest cell types in the body. So it takes time for the nerve to understand that the blood flow has returned. And in the early days they didn't think nerve cells could recover. Recent science have proved they were wrong!
In my case I had newborn blood vessels growing around the place since the existing ones weren't enough for the nerve in that particular situation. Did your surgeon say anythong about new blood vessels growing in your hand to you, John? They devoted most of the time to destroy the newborn blood vessels during the operation on me.
I've read (and heard) that if you've had cts for six months it's a good thing to have a surgery on the hand/wrist. But simultaneously, there are cases that should undergo surgery within hours to be really successful (most of them incurred by accidents). And still we have cases when people have had cts for many years and then after surgery are 100% back to normal. The "worst" case they've heard of was a man in US that had numbness for 21 years, and he was recovered fine!
Some years ago I squatted for ten minutes while helping my mother to connects all the cables on her new tv. Result? I got nerve compression in my right foot and numbness. Severe one, I couldn't feel the ground for 8 months! Went to see the physio therapis and very carefully did some gliding exercises and after 2 years my foot was normal again. However, nerve gliding exercises should never be performed if a doctor or the like have told you to do them. The nerve can be further damaged if the nerve stops somewhere on it´s way.
It helps to massage the ping pong ball quite firmly. Any cream will do. It will eventually go away.
Regards Elaine
I pop my hand under the pillow and put my head on it to try and keep it straight in the night!
Regards Elaine