Dear all, I am currently suffering with what I think is carpel tunnel. I had this back in 2012 and now again. I don’t have sharp pain this time but do have numbness, tingling, crushing feelings in my fingers and thumbs and sometimes feelings in my arms. It wakes me at night a lot. I am on 125/150 mg (alternate) of Levo every day. Recently had my dose upped from 125 mg every day and about to do a blood test for tsh, iron, vit d and b12 through my GP. Now is there anything anyone has found that reduces this problem ie avoiding certain foods, exercise? I don’t eat gluten or dairy. Am on a mostly vegan diet. Take loads of supplements. Don’t have a chance to exercise that much and drink 1-2 cups of fresh coffee per day. My GP wants to look into a possible conversion problem as my TSH is viewed as being normal (it was around 2 the last time they checked). I asked for it to be kept around 0 so we agreed to up my dose. This however has not improved my carpel tunnel. Sorry for the essay!!
Help with carpel tunnel: Dear all, I am currently... - Thyroid UK
Help with carpel tunnel
Surgery was the only thing that helped my carpel tunnel, I had put up with it so long that it turned out to be a difficult op.
Aunt Bessy, I had success with a book on relieving carpal tunnel that is sold on Amazon, although I suffered from cubital tunnel, which is a bit different, in the elbow mainly.
If you PM me I think I can send you the name of the book. I don't think I'm allowed to post it here though.
sleeping in wrist braces and learning to keep wrist straight helped me.
may be a sign of B12/folate deficiency
best to try for nerve conduction test to confirm it is carpel tunnel
I never found a cure other than hanging my arm out of the bed each night! Had both CT’s released both wrists. Life is so much better would recommend it. It’s relatively quick and easy op and the recovery is too.
Improve your circulation. I take ProArgi9+ recommended by a GP in Sheffield. It's worked for me and several friends so I always recommend it. If you're used to taking supplements you'll find it easy as its a powder you just mix with water - tastes good and is from natural food - no interaction with your drugs.
I started getting Carpel Tunnel symptoms and to be honest they’ve become less frequent since I’ve been taking B12 and B complex.
I am going to ask for my b12 to be tested to rule it out 🙂
I've never had this problem thankfully but I've always understood that it's excess fluid pressing on the nerves and can be relieved by optimum thyroid meds
Apart from raising or improving my meds which my gp seems willing to consider after my forthcoming blood test, are there other ways to reduce the excess fluid I seem to have?
the best treatment world wide for carpel tunnel is Acupuncture .Find a member of the British Acupuncture society and they will fix it .t could also be coming from you back but so easy to fix.
Acupuncture did absolutely nothing for me.
I am really sorry to hear that. Normally, in all studies and in practice it works really well ..better than any other know n treatment. It is a simple inflammation around the nerve in the wrist and ac usually does it. If it is coming from the spine then and osteopath. Try large dose curcumin which is great for taking down inflammations.
I’m very grateful for all your replies. I hope I can resolve it soon. It’s driving me mad!!!
Hi, just seen your post, I am far from expert as many members are, so can only relay my experience. I had awful carpal tunnel syndrome and couldn't tolerate a brace, I would wake in the middle of the night and have to rip it off because of the pain, my hand was often coil like. I started on T3 last summer and within a short space of time my carpal tunnel syndrome completely went! I would say definitely check your conversion ratio.
Hi i bought hand straps for it from Amazon they work for me
As said previously a nerve conduction test would confirm if it is Carpel Tunnel, Have had colleagues and patients with this (was an Occupaational Therapist) the wrist splints which take some of the pressure off the area and hold the wrist in some degrees of extension (bent upwards a little not dropping down on the palm side) if you hold your hand level with the forearm and then make a fist, you can see the back of your hand raise upwards into a more functional possition, can be helpful, especially when lifting heavy articles ( even a full sauce pan) . Also keeping the wrist straight, in some hospitals the Physiotherapists have ready made wrist splints and in others the Occ Therapists do, your General practitioner could refer you for assessment/exercise. This way you could get some help whilst waiting for a nerve conduction/consultant assessment, as you need help now if this is what it is. Certainly in my experience, surgery does usually work for this condition. If it is painful and slightly swollen, then an ice pack can assist but care must be taken to ensure it is well wrapped in a tea towel, do not want ice burns, and only used for a very short period of time, much better to see a physiotherapist first to show how to do this, because they will be able to factor in your other medical issues, and ensure you do not make other things worse. It is basically working to slightly reduce the internal swelling as with a swollen ankle, will not work unless it is a carpel tunnel/rheumatic type issue. Good luck with this
Hi Auntbessy, like you a close colleague of mine suffered terribly with carpal tunnel. She had 2 injections over some time and was recommended to have an operation to correct it. Unfortunately she couldn't afford to take the time off work she needed as she was a single mother with several jobs. However I had read somewhere about vitamin B6 helping and I bought her a bottle just to see if it helped at all. After the first bottle there was a small improvement, but after starting another bottle she almost completely recovered and ended up not having the third injection or needing the operation. She did stop talking them when she went on her honeymoon recently and she got some minor symptoms come back. So now she won't be without her B6 everagain. It's worth a try whatever your B12 shows.
I was diagnosed with hypothyroidism following constant carpal tunnel waking me up at night.
As soon as I started on treatment, it improved. TSH of 2 is still too high, but it's good that your GP is aware that there can be issues of conversion. Hopefully they will check this out and it will resolve your issue
I had a carpal tunnel operation because I have thyroid problems and am diabetic. This has resolved the problems of pins and needles in hand and a weak feeling in the arm which the consultant said would worsen with having diabetes.
Hi there. The hand/wrist symptoms you're describing seem to be very similar to a problem I had about 10 years ago now. I had been using levo. for about 15 years and was at the time on125mg dose. I was having severe joint pain, tingling in thumb, wrist, fingers and ultimately my GP could only suggest carpel tunnel surgery, which I had on my left hand. Absolutely nothing improved, I had physio for 22 weeks afterwards and no one could explain why I still had the tingling. Long story short - I continued to have numerous other joint symptoms, flushing, feinting, palpitations and ultimately said I wouldn't take levo any longer. Moved on to various supplements for thyro and adrenal plus small dose of T3 daily. What an improvement, I now currently use NDT (WP Thyroid from RLC labs - when I can get it!!) or failing that, Metavive bovine glandular supplement. My health and energy are considerably better than when on levo. and I would never go back to using it, I felt so unwell when taking it.
Please think seriously before entering into any carpel tunnel surgery and do investigate whether you have any improvement by using a different thyroid treatment.
Good luck.
I too have carpal tunnel but being a typist for 50 years hasn't helped. I went to doc and he suggested painkillers, physiotherapy and a hand brace. I don't like taking painkillers on top ofmy ndt and as I am still working don't have time for a physio. however I bought a hand brace from amazon and what a difference. I have slight pain during the day but its much improved. you only wear it at night and I would neverhave thought it would make a difference. if that doesn't help then a small operation can help
I had carpal tunnel release surgery done about 20 years ago. It worked brilliantly. Another much older lady had the same surgery done at the same time, and she (or her doctor) had waited far too long and she had permanently lost sensation and strength in a couple of her fingers. The moral of this story is that if you need to have the surgery done don't put it off or you could be permanently damaged. You usually have the surgery done under local anaesthetic, and you can even watch it being done if your surgeon agrees, which sounds odd but if you can convince your brain that you are looking at a piece of meat on a butcher's slab rather than a part of your own body it is fascinating.
I certainly don't regret having the surgery done, because although I didn't have any pain I found my hands going numb at night, when playing the piano, and when driving. It would only have got worse.
Had my carpal tunnel operated on many years ago, probably had an under active thyroid at the same time but that wasn’t diagnosed for many years. Left my hand for a while, so had to have the elbow operated on too.
Di
Had carpel tunnel in pregnancy, that ceased at birth
Seen it on thyroid symptom list (so hopefully it would relief with tresrment)
Also I had it when a hair dryer blew up that I was holding! , I saw a homeopath and she cured it in a fortnight, however she said it's from either trauma (in that case) or from the fluid
Maybe worth enquiry, understand it's unpleasant. Good luck 🌸
To make a smile, when the hair dryer blew up it was in the communal room at a campsite
And the owner impressed in me that 'I was very lucky indeed, as he had only just fitted a trip switch 2 weeks earlier ..... honestly 😳
Although I am now suffer from Hypothyroidism my problems started with Hyperthyroidism,at that time I suffered big time with carpal tunnel syndrome.
The reason being that I had an enlarge goitre which caused pressure on the median nerve,I had numbness, tingling and weakness in the hand, fingers, wrist, and forearm, this was much worse at night while trying to sleep.
I used an arm/hand brace at night ,it helped, but it was still a problem sleeping due to the stiffness of the brace.
My Carpal tunnel didn’t improve until my goitre was reduced with medications.
I got my most recent B12 result and it’s 292 and the range is 180-1000. Would this be classed as OK in people’s books?
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