Endoscotic Surgery For Left Hand Carpal Tunnel Syndrome 8/24/11

by Ann
(Hyde Park, Ut. USA)

I've had carpal tunnel syndrome for 2 years. I worked in a fast paced school lunch kitchen continually moving my wrists by serving and also washing dishes, and a lot of other food preparation and cleanup.

I just had the CTS surgery done for the left hand. My brother-in-law had his done this way and he told me that he was awake and they just numbed his hand and arm and he did not watch what they did. So I was expecting the same.

I ended up having to get dressed for surgery and they said they were going to sedate me - well ended up with propofol which I have never had before.

I could feel myself going to sleep kind of slowly and at the same time felt a hot feeling in the hand being worked on and then an awful cold feeling.

They wrapped my arm like I was a mummy and I did not know what they were doing. When I came too I actually had euphoria which I have never had before and then the next day was followed by depression. Wow - you would have thought I had found some whacko street drug - which of course I have never taken - but just heard they did things like that.

Well that was my left hand and that happened 4 weeks ago and now I've heard from a couple of people that now is the time to do the right hand! Forget it. I can't do anything without my wrist swelling up red and lumpy and I feel the awful biting feeling in there which I know is the pinched carpal tunnel nerve. (I've felt it before).

Already been in to see the doc and he says it is healing just fine, but honestly I am hoping he is right because the last 4 weeks is a real bummer - I'm usually such a busy person and I'm not used to being idle, and today all I did was read because I can't do much else.

Sometimes I can type and sometimes that annoys the wrist as well. Why do they need to cut the whole ligament - why not take a V shape piece over where the pinched nerve is??? I can tell that the rest of the ligament is healed but apparently not so good over the nerve!

People are still giving me home remedies to try and I had thought I had found all the remedies over the past 2 years! I have scores of wraps, braces, magnetic devices, supplements, alternative medicine stuff, everything I could find in books and online and ideas from everyone I could ask.

Oh yes I've even tried stretching ligament devices which killed the hand with pain even worse!

Actually I think the best solution would be a hand and wrist transplant! Anyone willing to donate? I am B+ blood type! Actually I don't think I could get one anyway. I've heard of one hand transplant but that was because the man had blown his hand off many years ago with fireworks or something like that!

I talked to a nurse from the surgery center today and told her a lot of what happened was a complete surprise for me (even the pre-op) where the doctor just put on a video of himself trying to explain what he was going to do and I did not have a paper and pencil to take notes even to ask him questions!

If I try to ask if there are any alternatives to surgery, they just tell me that surgery is the only answer! Oh the mummy wrap - that was them squeezing the blood out of the hand and arm to fill it with the anesthetic - I found out that from the nurse today and when the docs office told me to take papers to the surgery center, I had no idea I'd be there for over a hour filling out forms and getting blood taken and getting a lecture from a stone-faced nurse!

Doctors and nurses have no time for people any more. Seems like you are a sheep being herded into the shearing shed or the dinner table. I think that I'm just an income instead of a real person who has feelings!!

Well at least the numbness has disappeared so far --- but the rest of the story will probably evolve over time!



----




Joshua Answers:

Hi Ann.

Thanks for sharing your Carpal Tunnel Syndrome surgery story and description of the 'mummy' method for surgery. That hasn't shown up here on the site before.

Overall, compared to others, it sounds like it's working out well enough.

Personally, I would learn How To Reduce Inflammation.

I would also focus on relaxing the muscle and connective tissue structures that are to blame for the tendon being tight in the first place. Surgery doesn't do anything to reverse the CAUSE of CTS.

Also, it wouldn't hurt to supplement with B6. Inflammation Causes Vitamin B6 Deficiency, and you have a huge Process of Inflammation in place.

Who knows, maybe B6 deficiency was the cause of your Carpal Tunnel Symptoms in the first place....

Did you end up getting surgery on the other hand?




----------------------
Please reply using the comment link below. Do not submit a new submission to answer/reply, it's too hard for me to find where it's supposed to go.

And, comments have a 3,000 character limit so you may have to comment twice.
-----------------------



Joshua Tucker, B.A., C.M.T.
The Tendonitis Expert
www.TendonitisExpert.com