hand surgery

[NERVOUS'83]

Hello! i too had hand surgery back in '05 for carpal tunnel. i tried to go back to work but couldn't do my job. tingling, numbness and pain shooting up and down my whole arm. wasn't going to pt until maybe a year later. once i started pt things got even worse. along with what was already going on i started having these terrible headaches, neck pain, shoulder pain. went back to doctor, he said that i had bilateral nerve entrapment in both elbows. the more pt that i did the more pain i was in. doctor stopped me from going to pt because it would aggravate my symptoms. also i was on 6-7 different medications. just recently i has an mri done. the results were more than i expected. at c5-c6 level, osteophtye complex and disc protrusion. as of today, i'm still on those meds and the pain is still here. doc says that surgery is the last thing that he wants to do. i'm not sure of how long i can go without surgery. what i thought was a mild case of carpal tunnel syndrome turned out to be messed up discs in my neck. he says thats where all the pain is coming from. inquire about an mri just to be on the safe side.

[sparkey]

I am having the same problems now with recurring carpal tunnel. I have alot of neuropathy in my right arm and the pain is so intense constantly!!! I have been like this since jan.07 of this year.It has traveled up to my neck/shoulder. I have been at OT/PT 4x's a week and having a xray of neck/shoulder next week. My work wants to send me back light duty, and i do not know how i can work light duty like this with my dominant hand when there has been absolutly no improvement. Hopefully this ortho doc orders a MRI and finds out what is really going on. I cannot live with this pain much longer, let alone go to work making this worse. I cannot do anything at home either.

[Bad Boy Bad Boy]

http://www.rsi-relief.com/books-cts.html

[bethsha211]

Thanks Bad boy,Looks like some good info in those books.
Bethsha211

[devildog1971]

you could also have a serious debilitating condition called (the name changes but the docs still know about it) causalgia, or reflex sympathetic dystrophy, typical symptoms pain disproportioate to injury, swelling , stiffness, hot feeling, now for the good news typically it gets worse if it ever gets better, the pain can be intense just from a gust of wind hitting it. The treatment for this disorder is controversial but I suggest you stay away from nerve blocks and any attemptto sever the nerve to the arm or hand, I suggest moderate physical therapy a good neuro surgeon and the will to stand up to the system good luck

[UndercovrAngel]

bethsha211 Wrote:I had surgery done for carpal tunnel and de quervain's tenosynovitus on July 2nd.It didn't seem that painful last week,but now where the doctor had to repair a nerve that was glued down from my first dequervain's operation the pain is getting greater than right after surgery.Around the incision ,part of my hand, and the thumb, I am so numb that it has a dead feeling to it. As the day progresses, I have pins and needles shooting in these areas and by evening it feels as if someone is putting a lit match to my hand,very strong burning feel that is extremely painful.It has been two weeks since my surgery and I get stitches out tomorrow.Has anyone had anything like this done and had this type of pain? I was numb before,but nothing like it is now.

Beth,
Although I didn't have carpal tunnel surgery, I had the De Quervains release as you did. Although mine was for stenosing tenosynovitis due to a traumatic crush injury. I also had to have a 2nd surgery to the same sight as scar tissue entrapped the surgical sight and was making my hand unuseable. Because of these 2 surgeries, my treating Dr explained that the nerves to my right hand are now at the surface and that I will continue to have problems, and that eventually, a 3rd surgery will be needed to immobilize my thumb and cut the nerve that runs along the inner part of my wrist.

I too, have constant problems with not only burning pains, but also the pins and needles that you talk about. I am post op now since April of '04 and not a day goes by that I don't experience this pain. I have found however, that when it is at it's worse, that a good brace at night. along with propping my hand on a 2nd pillow higher than my heart, helps to lessen the pain at night, so I can sleep more than one or two hours at a time.

Also, something that my PT taught me, is to fill your sink, one side with as hot water as your hand can tolerate, the other full of cool (not cold) water and if you can find a good squishy ball (if not a wadded up wash cloth will work)..squeeze the ball (or washrag)with your hand immersed under the hot water for 20 minutes, and then 5 minutes in the cool water. Repeat this process up to 5 times a day. It is a passive way of keeping the muscles and ligaments in your wrist and hand in motion, while keeping the stress off.

I don't know if your Dr, or if you had PT after the surgery, your therapist, explained that now that the sheath around the tendon and ligament to your hand has been cut, the lubrication is no longer there, so any movement of the hand will cause friction. That is where part of the pins and needles feeling is coming from, as well as the burning sensation. I have learned to live with mine, and work at a computer 8 hours a day to earn a living. It's not easy and my PCP now believes that it is causing me to have CTS in my right wrist. We are trying to hold off on that diagnosis till I have been on the job for a year, so that when it is diagnosed, I can collect STD (short term disability) through my employer during the time that I am off after the surgery rather than having to fight with WC again. My one year anniversary is on September 25, so by October, I will know more of what I am facing.

Hope this helps out a little.

Angel ^j^

[sparkey]

Thank you bad boy for the book link. Looks like a good book for info. I have had 2 emg's done and showed mild carpal tunnel recurrance. The doctor that preformed them said he thinks i have RSD also and the EMG would not show that, as it is a " C" fiber that needs to be tested for RSD patients, and all the signs are there for me with the hand swelling, color changes etc. When i went to the doc( pain management) last week again, i had a rash on my arm from the wrist to my elbow with swelling and red blotches i had taken that was pictures of 4 days before my appt. The rash and swelling etc had gone away of course before i saw him. He totally refuses to diagnose me with RSD and just said it was neuropathy. Anyways i see a ortho doc next week and go from there. PT/OT seem to think my shoulder may have a trapped nerve that is causing all this swelling in my hand and pain in my neck/shoulder. We will see. I can only hope that something show's up just so i know i am not losing it!!!! Best of luck to everyone suffering in pain daily. I know exactly how you feel : (