Members FFStratophile Posted September 3, 2007 Members Share Posted September 3, 2007 Well, seems like I have carpal tunnel syndrome. Going to the doctor next Tuesday. Meanwhile, any advice on treating it? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members telecaster911 Posted September 3, 2007 Members Share Posted September 3, 2007 Chiropractic:thu: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members RaVenCAD Posted September 3, 2007 Members Share Posted September 3, 2007 yeah, pace yourself. I've had it for years, and it's the reason I can't play for a long time. I get maybe an hour before it becomes too much to take. To head it off, I take a couple Aleve about an hour ahead of time. Seems to help. Make sure you stretch your hand and warm up slowly. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members FFStratophile Posted September 3, 2007 Author Members Share Posted September 3, 2007 yeah, pace yourself. I've had it for years, and it's the reason I can't play for a long time. I get maybe an hour before it becomes too much to take. To head it off, I take a couple Aleve about an hour ahead of time. Seems to help. Make sure you stretch your hand and warm up slowly. Years? It doesn't go away? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Pascal Posted September 3, 2007 Members Share Posted September 3, 2007 Do what Derek Bailey did: make a record out of it, like a diary...http://www.amazon.com/Carpal-Tunnel-Derek-Bailey/dp/B0009VBTS2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Jackknife Posted September 3, 2007 Members Share Posted September 3, 2007 Well, i kno my mom has it, and all she really needed to do at first was wear a goofy looking wrist brace.My advice'd be to lay off playing (Madness, i kno ) for a bit, if anythingIF it gets progressively worse, then they'll prolly just go in and take out the tendon that the others are rubbing up against.Oh!And you can also take Vitamin B for it as well, it does wonders from what i've heard. Hope it gets better soon Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members RaVenCAD Posted September 3, 2007 Members Share Posted September 3, 2007 Years? It doesn't go away? lol, no.. It goes from bad to worse. Once it hits the point where you have to stop playing, wet-heat helps bring the inflamation down. I wrap a scalding hot, wet towel around my forearm and hand, and it helps it calm down pretty well. A few days later, I play again. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members 59humbucker Posted September 3, 2007 Members Share Posted September 3, 2007 Don't try too many home brew remedies, you may make things worse by soothing the symtoms while the damage progresses. Your Dr will be able to advise and possibly refer you to a specialist, it may be that you don't have carple tunnel and have instead strained your tendons (this would be preferable) If you do have CT, the only effective long term treatment is to have surgery, the condition is otherwise degenerative. Good luck man Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Farmer Geddon Posted September 3, 2007 Members Share Posted September 3, 2007 Surgery all the way. Numb thumb and 1st-3rd fingers when driving, cycling, waking me up at night etc etc. Had both mine done at the same sitting under local anaesthetic in June this year. Played a gig 2 weeks later - absolutely fantastic, completely cured. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members DaleH Posted September 3, 2007 Members Share Posted September 3, 2007 Had surgery on my left arm about 3 years ago.. It's the least of my problems now. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members walt0915 Posted September 3, 2007 Members Share Posted September 3, 2007 Best advice I can give is listen carefully to your doc - get more than on opinion. If you're lucky and it isn't very advanced you can treat it various ways (NSAIDs, physical treatments, etc.) By the time I got mine diagnosed I was starting to get nerve damage. No, it doesn't just go away. I got the surgery and it is in good shape now - only minor lingering effects but at least now it isn't getting worse, and I can play. Obviously surgery is to be avoided. On the other hand the disease involves the buildup of scar tissue in the carpal tunnel that does not go away. If you aren't to that point yet, then keeping inflamation down and preventing further injury is the way to go. If you ARE to that point, then you want to get the pressure off those nerves, and the surgery is pretty simple. Good luck! Walt Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members axegrinder Posted September 3, 2007 Members Share Posted September 3, 2007 A lady at my work took off a month for surgery and recovery time. That was over six weeks ago. She came in the office on Thursday and her hand was was all shiney and swollen, and she couldn't close it at all. The muscles in her forearm have all gone soft. Surprise, surprise, her doctor is quite surpised by the result, and doesn't have an answer. She said if she had it to do over again she wouldn't. I'm not saying the surgery is a bad choice, but get yourself a second or third or fourth, etc. opinion until you feel confident in your choice. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members RaVenCAD Posted September 3, 2007 Members Share Posted September 3, 2007 axe, my aunt had similar results. 6 years and several additional surgeries later, she's on disability because of a "simple" procedure gone bad, and her doctor has an otherwise excellent success rate. No thanks! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Roy Posted September 3, 2007 Members Share Posted September 3, 2007 Man, this comes up every now and then and so do the amateur MDs, me included. Just ice it for now. CT is simply swelling of the Carpal (sometimes Cubital...other side) Tunnel caused by the tendon rubbing inside it too much. The way to treat it is simply to reduce the swelling and stop the rubbing. Not using your arm is a bitch so the success here depends on how well you can accomplish this task. I draw for a living so it's impossible, however my tennis and drumming days are over. Try pretending it's broken and throw it in a sling for a week or two if you can. Reducing swelling is accomplished by ice packs, 15 minutes only, no more...no less (although I've heard a hot shower then cold works better) and modern chemistry. If you have a healthy liver and diet, don't rule out Cox2 inhibitors (the ones that'll kill ya if you listen to the media). They work Great! Barring that, your left with something like Ibuprofen which is an anti-inflamatory also. Anything that doesn't address the swelling is probably bull. In the long term, after you get somewhat better, start doing range-of-motion stretches...arm out straight and hand doing circles...that sort of thing. As always, listen to your doctor over us idiots. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members moogerfooger Posted September 3, 2007 Members Share Posted September 3, 2007 by all means -- have the surgery -- I had symptoms in both arms -- the dr said the symptons in the righ arm would go away after the left arm was done, and he was right -- that was 15 years ago -- and i'm still good to go Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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