Tendonitis or Carpal Tunnel?? Anyone??

[Larry_OHF]

I am going in today to set an appointment to be tested for whichever of these two terms relates. I am told that the needle-related exam is extremely painful. But I need to know now if there is a problem, to prevent furthe damage...right?

Symptoms that make me think I have trouble.

Left Hand: Cannot grip a pen well, but can do better with larger, fatter pens. Handwriting is horrid, and gets worse as I continue to write for an extended time. Hand cramping occurs after about fifteen minutes.

Right Hand: Used to be an occasional surge of pain in the outer edge of hand or in the middle of the wrist for years, but has recently added that frequent everyday motions such as placing my keys in my pocket, turing my hands over to wash them, or opening a door with that hand sends a jolt of electrical-feeling tingling from the wrist to the elbow. Sometimes, for no real provocation, my right arm feels as though it might "to to sleep", you know...the feeling you get after losing circulation to a leg or something while sitting on it too long?

Can anyone talk to me about this? Like I said, I have an appointment today at 3:30pm to talk to a campus doctor, who specializes in Sports Medicine, but his credentials include tendonitits study.

[Chris of the Dale]

Sounds like carpul tunnel to me. My mom has is fairly bad but the military won't let her get surgery on it (pay for it that is) till it gets worst.

[Larry_OHF]

Originally posted by Chris of the Dale: Sounds like carpul tunnel to me. My mom has is fairly bad but the military won't let her get surgery on it (pay for it that is) till it gets worst.

That is crap, man! I hear from some that once you have it, the damage is done...but others argue that one can save themselves from permanent nerve damage by treating it as early as possible! That is why I am going ahead with the tests...because it will be worse as time goes on, and more severe consequences.

I am sorry for your mom.

[Stormymystic]

a quick question. when holding things, does your hand seem to spasam really bad? or jerk, my mom has carple tunnel and that is what hers does and she has had to have surgery on hers. mine is not so bad, but it does sound like it could be that.
if it turns out to be that, let me explain something about the surgery. it causes more problems in the long run that it will fix. my mom can no longer use her hands the way she could before the surgeries. and as time goes on, the scar tissue gets worse aroung the nerves. my advice is if you do have it, wait until you can not wait any longer to have the surgery.

[Attalus]

Originally posted by Larry_OHF: Can anyone talk to me about this? Like I said, I have an appointment today at 3:30pm to talk to a campus doctor, who specializes in Sports Medicine, but his credentials include tendonitits study.

Larry, no tendonitis that I know of, and I have treated plenty, causes what you describe and what we call paresthesias. They are all, as you describe them, within the distribution of the Median Nerve, which is bascally the palmar side of the thumb, the fore- and long fingers, and the outer, lateral surface of the ring finger. Carpal tunnel syndrome compresses the Median Nerve, causing some weakness, and feelings of numbness, burning, or sharp pain. Tendonitis usually involves tenderness around the area of the tendon sheath, sometimes involving the overlying skin but usually not, and sharp pain on using the muscle involved. A quick and dirty test is to hyperextend the wrist, as if you were carrying a heavy tray, and to rap sharply, with a reflex hammer if you have access to one, or with a stiff finger if you don't, and see if it reproduces the pain. Good luck.

[Luvian]

I think I'm getting this or something like this on my right wrist too, sometimes it start to hurt, especially after gaming sessions or if I lift heavy objects and it put strain on my wrist.

[Mack_Attack]

Sorry to hear that larry. I hope everything works out for you. So what causes this allement. Does it have something to do with doing the same action over and over?

[Stormymystic]

Carpel tunnel is mostly caused by repeated stress to the wrist area, I found out a few years ago that girls who do things like cartwheels, hand sprints, or anything of that nature or more likely to get carpel tunnel syndrome than women who have never done it. also typing on your keyboard alot can cause this alignment. there are really so many ways you can get it waiters/waitresses are also prone to it.

[Lady Sedai]

I will say that I am one of the "lucky" ones at this point in this regard.

While working at my last "long-term" job, I ended up with a condition in my right wrist (there is fluid build-up in the tendon sheath) that is a result of loooonnnnnggg hours typing at that job.

My doctor told me I had two options - he could drain the fluid or I could have surgery. I opted for neither. The fluid, he said, would probably build up again after draining anyway and I was NOT about to have surgery on the nerve in my wrist! The fluid builds up to such a point sometimes that, without flexing my wrist at ALL, you see this huge lump straight back from my right index finger at my wrist joint.

Well...due to some mild "arthritis" in several joints, I started taking glucosamine/condroitin.

Whadda ya know? It clears up the fluid build-up in my wrist! If I go a few weeks without taking the g/c, it starts to come back, so I keep taking this wonderful product. [img]smile.gif[/img]

My left wrist started showing signs of carpal tunnel while working at Blockbuster and opening/closing movie cases all day long. I would do "wrist strengthening exercises" which helped while I worked there, but it didn't start really "going away" until I had been gone from that job for several months...AND continued taking the g/c.

I said all that to basically say this: if you catch it early enough, you very well MAY be able to reverse the damage. And it probably wouldn't hurt to take glucosamine/condroitin either. I believe it's derived from the shells of some sea critter (shrimp, I believe), though, so make sure you don't have seafood allergies before taking it.

I hope you find out definitely what the problem is and that it's something you can work around and possibly resolve withOUT surgery.

[Felix The Assassin]

Larry, I use a trackball, and do not experience your ailments. Yeah, I remember what the reaction was the last time I mentioned that, but hey, it works for me.

I play raquetball, and "HARD" once a week, and that evening I do have the issues you describe, but they subside the following day. Like you, if they ever lasted more than a day I would surley seek testing.

I hope you can treat now and recover.