Biggest problem: Nails at the fingertips

You mean You STILL have that, Joann, like someone's pinching you?

The finger tips on the ring finger, thumb and meaty part of thumb are like you discribe and also pins and needles, sometimes if I grip something I get a sharp pain in my hand.  They say they say they want to do revision surgery,  I was told when another doctor read my nerve conduction test NOT to have any surgery.  This has been very stressful for me and especially my poor husband who has to put up with me.

Hi Richard, i went to see a neurosurgeon who was totally unhelpful his reply to me was change my job !! i have numbness pins and needles and burning sensation in palms of hand, all in my dominant hand, i have since went back to me gp ( bearing in mind i waited 3 months to this surgeon) she is now sending me to see an orthapedic surgeon 23rd of feburary to see what he has to say, ive also been wearing a brace night and day for the past 4 month...

Did you have surgery done? If so, when?

I have never ever had sweaty palms or fingers, fingertips in my life. But I have always been sweating a lot on the other side, on top of my hands, a lot! Since cts I have noticed I do not do that anymore not even after 30 minutes on my spartacus bike in the bedroom! Maybe you're right about this, it has something to do with not sweating after all. Over here in Sweden they've said cts normally starts with night numbness, but interesting to read it can be different. It's vital for me in deciding what to do with my other hand,  not experiencing night numbness but the pinching nails symptoms now. I had this setback after using a dishcloth a lot, during Christmas I was pretty much recovered, 95-100%. But it's a dilemma, if you don't do things, how would you know for sure you're actually recovered?!

Well, the dry fingertips seem to be my only real symptom day in and day out so far, and the surgeon's explanation was plausible. When I asked the other surgeon, he asked if I could distinguish the different objects in my pocket (keys vs. coins vs. paper clips, etc.) and since I could, he didn't seem too worried.

My hands are occasionally numb when I hold stuff up for a while (newspaper, tablet) and when I have been out shovelling snow (next door, on the Arctic Circle btw). The thing that gets me is that I had no symptoms in my right hand - ok, lousy circulation - until I had the darn ENMG in October, which was to assess nerve damage in my left hand after an injury. But I'm not an optimist, so I don't think cts/the symptoms are psychosomatic and it seems like questioning the ENMG might get you put away...

I didn't get a ENMG, even if it was said so. Now I wonder if it's best to wait a bit longer before having one done, not to put pressure on my median nerves. But they're always talking money and savings here.

Well, the ENMG is supposed to be the definitive test for the diagnosis, ordered when the other symptoms indicate there's a problem.

I was lucky to have klutz (leisure-time) insurance through my union - I tripped and fell running - and the neurologist ordered the ENMG, because of nerve pain in my left hand, which I had broken in the fall. They did both hands in the ENMG while they were at it and then said, "By the way your right hand is shot to h*ll." There was one connection to the thumb where they couldn't raise a signal; that is, the signal wasn't going from the arm to the wrist presumaly because of pressure on the median nerve.

Budgets are tight here, too, but I'd  be surprised if it would be hard to get a referral in Sweden. (We're the ones playing catch-up welfare; you're the model.) If you get full-blown cts for lack of a speedy diagnosis and can't work, it's going to cost the state a heck of a lot more money than an ENMG.

I've decided that when I do have the surgery on my right hand, I'm going to pay for it myself so I can decide (more or less) when it is operated on and determine who operates on it. It's 1200e. I'm all for socialized medicine but all the problems in my left hand came from a lousy public job when the cast was put on in the emergency room. The neurologist said that the cts operation is considered so routine that it is the first operation new resident surgeons get a crack at. The hand surgeon I talked to, who has been in the business for 25 years, said he has had to patch up quite a few botched jobs in his day.

No Ken havnt had any surgery..just having pins and needles numbness and burning palms..and cramp like pains in hands

Hi Dorothy! Of course it's your decision, but if I was You I would have gone for the carpal tunnel release surgery immidiately. Before surgery I hade ups and downs and after surgery I'm still having ups and downs, but I'm pretty sure if I hadn't done the surgery at all, my hand would have been paralyzed by now! I would say the trend is positive in my case looking back 10 months, but I regularly have setbacks, the last one after doing a lot of cleaning here and excessive use of a dishcloth removing stains a couple of weeks ago. I admit I absolutely have setbacks. The burning palms you're talking is actually the worst sign - it's a sign the nerve is damaged. The only way to stop the process or diminish the process is to undergo carpal tunnel release I would say. Cramp-like phenomena is a disturbed muscle function (nerve related). In fact, I had those mini spasms in my fingers for more than ten years now and then (especially after exposure to cold weather, and it was NOT a sign of cts according to the doctors then), but after the carpal tunnel release they went away! One unlikely bonus effect. I can only refer to Sweden, and here is carpal tunnel release the most usual surgery done, thousands per year. I would guess your numbness will be a lot less or disappear totally if having one. These things can't disappear by themselves so it seems.

"You're the model"... no longer, that's for sure.

One difference I've noticed pre-surgery and post-surgery is that lifting pretty heavy bags (25 lbs) and other things was a problem before. increased pins and needles and some kind of sharp pain sometimes then. Now, liftings these bags instead improves how my hand feel. I've figured out the feeling of someone pinching with their nails at my fingertips absolutely has to do with the median becoming trapped on its way somewhere. This spring I really have to get a ENMG to figure out where. I have had a herniated disc on the right side of the neck, my shoulder broken, tennis elbow, my wrist broken and the now worst finger in the hand, the middle finger, broken - so the right dominated side has been through a lot in my life.

as i said previous ken when i saw the consultant he just said change your job!! he said i had pretty much good strength in my finger tips...but he isnt the one waking up with numbness and burning sensation during the night and especially first thing of a morning..the only test he did was to get a pin and go up each individual finger to see when i could start to feel the pin prick....i was expecting him tio send me for a nerve test , but his reply was why would i a surgeon would want them results before surgery not 6months down the line..so i have been back to my gp and is now waiting to see another consultant for a second opinion 

Hi Dorothy! To wake up with numbness durig the night should often be enough to be sure you have cts. And if this has been going on for several months you should have a carpal tunnel release. Cts is not a disease, it's a symptom. Excuse me for saying this, but the 1st consultant you've seen must have been an idiot. If he waits for you NOT to feel the pin then it's too late, then you would never ever be recovered. I was also experiencing numbness during the night before surgery. But still I could feel the pin of course, I mean who couldn't? I didn't get a nerve test either, the reason for this decision is still a big question mark, since the surgeon wanted me to have one. Now he's retired. Anyway, the reasons for having a nerve test in the first place are two: 1) if they're not sure it's cts and 2) to able to compare pre-surgery w post-surgery results. I think the first consultant you've been to seems very inconsisent. Maybe he thinks if you change your job you wouldn't need a surgery? But the saying "why would a surgeon need them results before surgery?" indicates he thinks your in the need for a carpal tunnel release surgery after all. Has not your gp or consultant made manual tests on you, like Durkan's test (pushing in the palm), Tinell test (bending the wrist)? These should be enough, there's no absolute need for a nerve test. And what's worse, some of the patients doing nerve tests don't show signs of cts during the nerve test but have problems before and after. Just pure unluck. It's not a 100% method. I guess the best way before doing a nerve test is NOT to absolutely rest the hands for two whole days, but to use them normally. Some days the tendons are more swollen. And if another disease is lurking behind as a reason for all this, it could be tricky. The most common reason for having cts is overusing the hands though (typing for instance or carrying with bent wrists). I wish you all the best w that 2nd consultant, a real surgeon I hope. /Ken

One more thing... when they opened i'up my wrist and palm they were 100% sure I had severe cts, it was all too tight in there, with blood all over the place (unusual for a cts patient). Even if the surgeon just a day before made a 2-pin test on my hand and fingers, the result I had on that one was even better than a person without cts!! I could tell if he put one or two sticks on my fingers and fingertips (4mm between sticks).