Carpal tunnel syndrome surgery

[Mags126]

I have been diagnosed with carpal tunnel syndrome and my rheumatologist has referred me for surgery to treat this.

Has anyone had this surgery and if so can you relay your experience - good or bad!

Many thanks,

Mags x

[nomoreheels]

Hiya Mags. Sorry you have the need to have carpal tunnel release. It's not brill on top to of RD is it?

I had CTR on my left hand in Jan 2013 & for me it worked very successfully. It wasn't done in the UK but suppose it's more or less the same as here. I attended the appointments for xrays & the anaesthetist a couple weeks beforehand. It was done as a day patient & before going to theatre a cannula was inserted into my right wrist & a sedative was administered. The op was done in theatre under 3 local anaesthetic injections & it took about 20 mins, maybe half an hour. The surgeon cut approx 1" vertically into my life line just above the horizontal crease along my wrist & really have to look hard for the scar as it's virtually disappeared into the life line. The relief (after the locals & sedative wore off) was immediate & took very little time to heal amazingly as I'm not generally a good healer nowadays. I was bandaged half way up my forearm & very well padded around the incision. My dressing only had to be changed once & then checked each week at my GP's till the nurse was satisfied it had healed enough after the stitches were taken out. When I had the nerve conduction test to confirm CT my right hand was also showing signs & when necessary wouldn't hesitate in having it done again.

Hope this helps & your op goes as well as mine did.

[Mags126 in reply to nomoreheels]

Thank you for this info and very glad all went well for you. Hope I get as good results too!

[earthwitch]

I'd just make sure that it really is carpal tunnel syndrome first. Have you been diagnosed by nerve conduction studies? I got told years ago by two different doctors that I had carpal tunnel, but the nerve conductions they finally did were negative, and it turned out to be coming from my neck (caused by my ankylosing spondylitis). The same nerve can also get trapped at the elbow or at the shoulder.

If it definitely is entrapment at the carpal tunnel, then yes, I have had a friend have this surgery and it went OK, though I think it took her a while to heal.

[Mags126]

Hi Earthwitch, thank you for your cautionary tale. I have had a nerve conduction test and Carpal tunnel has been confirmed.

I'm very lucky that I have a great GP who is really on the ball and is very quick to consult with my rheumatologist for the best course of treatment.

[Hidden]

Mags, I have had the carpal tunnel release done on both wrists, over 20nyears ago, done 12 months apart and under GA, this was done overseas. Have not had a problem since.

[tishey]

Hi Mags, i had CTR done on my right wrist about 5yrs ago, i had mine done at small op's clinic at dr's surgery, i had local anaesthetic injection into wrist first, it was a very quick procedure, area just covered with a dressing, stitches removed 5days later, have had no problems since.

[victoriablue]

Hi Mags I had the surgery about 15 years ago and to me it did not make 1 bit of difference was booked to have the other hand and cancelled it.

Don't let me put you of might be the best thing for you. Rose

[Hidden]

Hi Mags, I had carpal tunnel surgery about 9 yrs ago. It brought immediate relief to me, and healed very quickly with no problems. The only thing I would say is take time to recover before strenuous use of you hand/wrist. I did as I was told, did not drive for six weeks, went for occ. therapy afterwards etc. and all was well, but my sister who also had the same surgery went at things like bull in china shop, overusing muscles before they had healed, and she had to have surgery again 12 months later. If you are a walking stick user, again like me, remember you can't use stick using hand you have been operated on until fully healed.

I had a very good surgeon, had my surgery in day unit and very glad I had procedure done after suffering years of pins and needles and having to hang my arm out of bed because of this. Lynda x

[Hidden]

Hi ... good advice Jockety....

Ive had the right done and my left is yet to be done. But mine are being fixed at the same time as they operate on my shoulders. So when they did it, I had a plaster on the wrist for about 2 weeks and of course because of the shoulders, I was in a sling for 6 weeks. I didnt think the carpel opn hurt very much considering the pain it caused beforehand however, I did have a lot of fluid accumulate there after the surgery so had to wear a compression glove for about 6 weeks after the plaster was taken off. Its important to do the exercises too.

Now, except for some numbness at the ends of my fingers (which could be due to either diabetic peripheral neuropathy or residual damage from compression in my neck), the right hand is really good so in my eyes it did work and I think it was worth having done. Other than making sure its not your neck like earthwitch said, it should be straightforward and you should have relief from the day of the operation.