CARPAL TUNNEL TROUBLE
One morning back in July I began to tie my shoes and found I couldn’t properly manipulate the laces with my left hand plus I felt a tingling in my fingers. I asked myself what the heck could this be? I have arthritis in my hands so suspected that maybe it was especially acting up that morning. But when the same thing happened again later that day when I changed into my running shoes I began to think that this might be the dreaded carpal tunnel syndrome. But could it come on so quickly?
I visited my primary care doctor the next day and after a quick physical exam and some questions about my arthritis, she told me I had the classic symptoms of carpal tunnel syndrome—numbness and tingling in the thumb and index and middle fingers—and that yes it could come on suddenly. She explained to me that this occurs when the median nerve—which runs down your arm and into your hand—is compressed by a ligament that crosses over it as it passes through a narrow space in the wrist known as the carpal tunnel.
To follow up on her diagnosis she sent me to a specialist who performed a nerve conduction study. This doctor measured the speed and the strength of the impulse running through my median nerve at the wrist to find the severity of the compression and confirmed I had carpal tunnel syndrome. I asked him if all the keyboarding I do on my computer could have caused it. He said probably not, it was more likely that my arthritis had made me more prone to the trouble. He said I could try wearing a splint at night to relieve my symptoms. However, by this time I had done some reading up on the syndrome and had found that only surgery can actually cure the condition. I then asked my primary care doctor to refer me to a hand surgeon, which she did.
It took a month until I could actually see the specialist, but it was worth the wait. Dr. Stephan Sweet is an orthopedic surgeon here in Ventura. He is one busy doc—besides hand surgery he operates on knees, shoulders, hips, elbows, you name it for orthopedic or sports medicine problems. My experience as Dr. Sweet’s patient was exceedingly positive.
On that office visit he told me that there are two main types of carpal tunnel release surgery: open and endoscopic. In both cases, he cuts the ligament around the carpal tunnel to take pressure off the median nerve and relieve the symptoms. After the surgery, the ligament comes back together, but with more room for the median nerve to pass through.
In endoscopic surgery, he makes one opening in your wrist and may also make one in your arm. These cuts are small, about a half-inch each. He then places a tiny camera in one of the openings to guide him as he cuts the ligament.
In open surgery he makes a larger cut, or incision—some 2 inches from your wrist to your palm.
Dr. Sweet told me that he would be performing open surgery on me. He said that this would allow him a better view of the ligament to make certain he did a complete cut through it. He also said he preferred to give me general anesthesia to make certain I didn’t jerk my hand during the operation. He booked my surgery for November 15.
On that November Thursday I showed up to the Ventura Surgery Center at 2pm to have my operation at 3:00. Unfortunately, Dr. Sweet was running behind so I didn’t have anesthetics injected until 6:00 and the actual surgery performed at 6:30. I woke up an hour later to see my hand and wrist in bandages but I didn’t have much pain. Even later that night and the next day all I needed was ibuprofen to handle it. Dr. Sweet ordered me to not put pressure on my hand until my stitches were removed but that I could start driving right away.
Eleven days later I had the bandages removed and my stitches taken out. I went to see Dr. Sweet one last time on December 31. I told him that my hand and wrist actually felt worse than before the surgery. But he informed me that this was completely normal and it would take 3 to 4 months to recover and up to 1 year before my hand strength would return.
I’m glad I had the surgery as soon as I possibly could. I’ve since been told that if my nerve had been compressed long enough that the muscle could atrophy and the nerve damage become permanent.
My advice to you is that if you begin noticing tingling or numbness in your fingers and find it hard to grip things like a fork or a pen (or shoelaces!) to visit your doctor as soon as possible.