What are some surefire signs that I have carpal tunnel?
Get ready: after I left nursing, I ended up doing training on carpal tunnel syndrome for the employees at my new job, so I have a lot to say on the subject. As far as a differential diagnosis goes, that’s kind of hard to do. Obviously a doctor would have to make the diagnosis anyway, but the symptoms of carpal tunnel can have other causes, too – arthritis is a big one that comes to mind. (If your avatar is a picture of you, I’d venture a guess that it’s not arthritis, but it doesn’t just affect older people.) Also, carpal tunnel can coexist with other conditions. It sounds like you’ve done some investigation yourself already, so I won’t go into too much detail on what carpal tunnel syndrome actually is, but very basically, CTS symptoms are caused by the compression of the median nerve. There’s a little tunnel where your wrist joins your hand through which the median nerve runs, and repetitive stress on that tunnel causes inflammation that puts pressure on the nerve. Some things to cons
Tuppence here. I had severe carpal tunnel that required surgery two years ago. I had ignored the early stages, and what I was experiencing which led me to BEG for surgery was pretty nasty. I would wake up in the middle of the night already crying from pain — my right arm would be on fire from my fingers to my elbow. I would walk through the house, back and forth, holding it with my left arm until the pain died down. I was in wrist braces through the day. I was stubborn and did not want more surgery! Yes, you might be in the beginning stages of carpal tunnel. Take your right thumb and press it into the palm of your left hand. Hurt? That is one sign of carpal tunnel problems. Another is one or more of your fingers simply falling asleep at times. Please don’t wait until you got to the point that I was willing to let myself get to. See a doctor and see what he/she says. In the meantime, ibuprofen will help relieve the inflammation from the irritation. Ice can help, but I hated it. I prefe
