Carpal Tunnel Syndrome

[Bcol]

Hi all, change in topic for me. I'm pretty certain that I have had CTS for a fair while and it has definitely got worse as I have reduced my Pred (down to 5mg now).It is now at the point when it is becoming a real pain (in all senses of the word). I don't want to put the Pred back up for this unless I have to and will speak to Doc first. It may take a while to speak to Doc so quick question to other sufferers, does wearing your wrist brace during the day as well as at night a) help and b) does it do any harm to wear it for a longer period of time, other than I guess possible muscle loss?

[jinasc]

As far as I know, Carpal Tunnel Syndrome does not respond to Pred.

The pain can be lessened by a Steroid injection and sometimes a wrist brace can be prescribed by your GP. You need to talk to your GP - if s/he is contactable 🤔

Read up by following this link.

nhs.uk/conditions/carpal-tu...

[Bcol in reply to jinasc]

Thanks Jinasc will try and get hold of Doc tomorrow.

[PMRpro Ambassador]

Um - CTS can be part of PMR and it (re)appears as the pred dose gets too low to manage the swelling in the carpal tunnel.

But wrist braces can help -but I wouldn't recommend using them more than overnight.

[Bcol in reply to PMRpro]

Thanks pro, that is what I thought, but wanted some other opinions. The messages on Mr/Mrs Google are very mixed. I do wear them at night but the daytime is becoming a pain. I'll try and get hold of Doc tomorrow and see what she has to say.

[PMRpro Ambassador in reply to Bcol]

Good!

[Bcol in reply to PMRpro]

First surprise of the day, rang doctors this morning and got a telephone appointment this afternoon - result 🙂🙂

[PMRpro Ambassador in reply to Bcol]

Must be bored!!!!! Or everyone is staycationing ...

[borednow in reply to Bcol]

Good Grief ..............

[Bcol in reply to borednow]

I have to say I was a tad surprised!!! Actually many tads (if that's possible).

[PMRpro Ambassador in reply to Bcol]

Megatad perhaps ....

[Hidden in reply to Bcol]

On two occasions now I have spoken to the doctor within the hour of my phone call and saw her on the same day, also got an x-ray the same day, no appointment needed! Perhaps we are too critical.

[Bcol in reply to Hidden]

Maybe, may also depend on what post code you are in. Have generally found my practise very good in the past, but was still surprised it was so quick. Listening to the doc on the TV this morning he said they were happy that they had got 'phone appointment waiting times down to eight days.

[piglette]

I got carpal tunnel before I actually got diagnosed with PMR. It then just went away. This is what the NHS sats about it. nhs.uk/conditions/carpal-tu...

[Bcol in reply to piglette]

Sadly mines rapidly going in the other direction, will try and get through to Doc tomorrow.

[piglette in reply to Bcol]

Mine was so bad I could not turn pages on a book. It was like that for about nine months. Good idea to talk to your doctor though.

[Retallack]

Hi, I have had CTS on and off for years and it hasn't really bothered me until I got down to 6mg of Pred. I upped it to 10mg for a few weeks until it settled down and then tapered really slowly with no problems. Saw an orthopaedic surgeon privately when i got to 5.5mg and had nerve conduction studies which confirmed right worse than the left. Put on his NHS waiting list and hey presto 6 months later I have had the surgery on my right and it is healing nicely. I bought a brace from the USA on Amazon UK which is filled with tiny beads which was much more comfortable than the NHS ones and can be worn on either wrist. I only wore it at night.The brace was called Futuro by 3M but I see it is currently unavailable on Amazon.

[Bcol in reply to Retallack]

Forgot to add he's given me some Amitriptyline as well, but don't think I'll be using it.

[Pixix]

Hi...I was diagnosed 6 months ago with carpal tunnel (& told this can happen when you get PMR). I then was diagnosed with inflammatory arthritis & I e seen a specialist a couple of times. I was told to wear the brace at night only for carpal tunnel. I have a different one to wear during the day, but that’s purely for my arthritic thumbs!

[Bcol]

Evening all, makes a change to morning all, anyway, spoken with doc and I'm going back up to 10mg for a few weeks to see if it knocks it on the head and then I'll taper down, as usual and see what happens. Can wear supports during day if needed, but better if don't. Surgery on the table but last resort.

[CosmicD]

I have been prescribed Gabapentin for my CTS. It was unbearable at night. Sleeping was impossible. I wear a brace whenever I feel my wrist position is compromised. Hope you get relief quickly. It can be miserable. I feel I can live with this now, as long as I prevent it from getting worse.

[Call_Me_Wally]

My CTS symptoms started in early December last year. It was full on, with unbearable pain (would wake me up 3 or 4 times every night). Went to Neurologist and had the EMG tests. Was told I have severe CTS in both hands. Had surgery this year in March (right hand), and April (left hand). 2 week prior to March surgery, both hands just went to numbness instead of the tingling severe pain. I could barley make a fist with either hand, and my wrists felt like they were broken (almost zero flexibility). Both hands felt like they were swollen, but they weren't. I was having a hard time lifting anything more than a couple of kilos.During this time I also started having shoulder pain on both sides. When I had the surgery, I asked the Hand Surgeon if the release surgery would help with the pain in my shoulders. He told me he doubt it, but to let him know if it did. It didn't, and the pain in the shoulders was actually getting worse.

A couple of weeks after the first surgery, I started having pain in my hips and thighs. It was difficult getting in and out of my car. Then my neck got so stiff, that I could only move it about an inch in either direction. I was having a hard time bending over as well. My strength was deteriorating, I couldn't lift the cover when laying in bed, and couldn't turn over anymore.

My wife had to pull me by the ankles to get me out of bed, and help dress me (couldn't raise my arms).

I was limited to the couch while trying to recover from CTS surgery (and unknown at the time PMR), and must have done thousands of hand exercises to help my hands recover from the surgery. Problem was, it didn't really help, it always felt like I had gloves on. My left hand was so bad, I stopped doing the exercises as they didn't help in any way.

I had enough, and basically found this site and everything I was going though suggested PMR. I made a GP appointment and he basically made me wait 6 weeks until both hands had recovered enough to not give false inflammatory markers from the surgeries (I totally got where he was coming from and didn't take issue with this). After 6 weeks, I had my blood work done, and it was confirmed I had PMR/CTS simultaneously.

It wasn't until I started taking Prednisone that my hands started to feel like I would assume they should feel after CTS surgery. Only problem is, I have permanent numbness in middle and ring finger in both hands still (not painful). I ask the GP about this and he said it might go away, but could take some time in doing so.

When I started Prednisone, I was on the rapid schedule of 15mg (2 wks), 10mg (2 wks), 5mg (2 wks). Once I got to 5mg, I could feel my hands going back to what they were (right hand felt swollen, and difficult to make a fist, left hand felt like the knuckles were going to break if I made a fist, as well as trigger fingers in index, ring, and pinky). All signs of PMR were coming back, and my blood work also showed high elevations of ESR/CRP again.

Now I'm back on 10mg, and both hands are much better again (but still recovering from CTS surgery because of some discomfort at the incisions). Now I'm going down by 1mg /month, and hoping it helps with long term recovery of both hands.

Bcol, do yourself a favor and get you hands fixed if you have CTS.

[Bcol]

Morning CMW. You have had a rough ride with CTS and I hope that things continue to head in the right direction for you both with PMR and CTS. If you begin to struggle again you may find coming down in point 5 increments better than 1mg and then staying on the lower dose for an extra couple of weeks and then start the next taper. My journey though started the other way with being diagnosed with PMR some 15 months ago and starting on 30mg of Pred, down to 20mg in three weeks then I've been slow tapering down to present 5mg, back up to 10mg today. My CTS is something that does occur to some of us with PMR and hopefully increasing my Pred dose will help to control the inflammation that causes the swelling within the Carpal Tunnel and the pressure on the Median nerve. Providing the Pred keeps the CTS under control there is no rush for me with either PMR of CTS and it will take as long as it takes for the inflammation to burn itself out and if that means I'm on Pred for the next year or three then so be it. Long term if the PMR goes into remission but the CTS remains then the surgery option is on the table.