Post Op CTS

Strangely no. My positive hand( right) is fine. Interesting that my surgeon said that many of his patients wake up from the operation with the numbness gone! Can't help that my procrastination on getting this thing taken care of may have dire results. I just hate dealing with medical issues, and i don't trust the industry. My bad. It's early but i do need to get back to work this weekend.

Thanks for the letter Mark,

I look forward to someday buttoning my shirt without cussing!

You know i have lived with this issue for a couple of years now. But since mid Oct it really flared up. Very little sleep all through Nov up untill mid Dec. Some nights i would just pass out in a chair. No sympathy from the Orthopedic end they were booked solid. Looking forward to feeling postive signs of recovery. I'll keep my fingers crossed! at least on 1 hand!

 

Cut nerves? i was told that the ligament pressing down on the nerve would be cut to relieve pressure. Seems reasonable that after the pressure is gone the bloodflow would be increased to the fingers and thumb. Why is the recovery so slow?

I was talking about the nerve endings in the skin that have been cut to get in. They are incredibly sensitive .

Regards Elaine 

Not totally cut nerve/s hopefully (even though it can be the result of severe compression (extremely rare)), since then you wouldn't be able even to move the body part corresponding to it. A cut nerve will almost never ever be 100% recovered, even if neuroms are growing out again. A cut nerve should be under micro neuro surgery within a couple of hours for best possible result. However, tiny fibers of the nerve can be cut and healed again and learn a new role, under the best circumstances. Think of the nerve as an electric coaxial cable. Some fibers can be compressed, cut or missing and it still works, the sound in the speakers are great. But if the cable is cut off, nothing works.

Around the scar. I see. Nerve endings. Tell me about it, mine are really cut, no feeling there. How about you now? Can you feel a ping pong ball if you put it there? Or if you press with a finger in the palm?

Because the nerve have been compressed and the nerve have been reliable on the blood vessels. Nerves are very slow learners and recoverers - slowest cell types in the body. So it takes time for the nerve to understand that the blood flow has returned. And in the early days they didn't think nerve cells could recover. Recent science have proved they were wrong!

In my case I had newborn blood vessels growing around the place since the existing ones weren't enough for the nerve in that particular situation. Did your surgeon say anythong about new blood vessels growing in your hand to you, John? They devoted most of the time to destroy the newborn blood vessels during the operation on me.

I've read (and heard) that if you've had cts for six months it's a good thing to have a surgery on the hand/wrist. But simultaneously, there are cases that should undergo surgery within hours to be really successful (most of them incurred by accidents). And still we have cases when people have had cts for many years and then after surgery are 100% back to normal. The "worst" case they've heard of was a man in US that had numbness for 21 years, and he was recovered fine!

Some years ago I squatted for ten minutes while helping my mother to connects all the cables on her new tv. Result? I got nerve compression in my right foot and numbness. Severe one, I couldn't feel the ground for 8 months! Went to see the physio therapis and very carefully did some gliding exercises and after 2 years my foot was normal again. However, nerve gliding exercises should never be performed if a doctor or the like have told you to do them. The nerve can be further damaged if the nerve stops somewhere on it´s way.

It helps to massage the ping pong ball quite firmly. Any cream will do. It will eventually go away.

Regards Elaine

Thanks Elaine!

*putting my Stiga ball on here now*

I see, no mention of nerve endings being sensitive after the procedure. More like "Give us a call if those stitches get infected. So glad that this group of informed people can provide some insight and clarity. Thankyou. It has been 3-days since my surgery, my hand has been bandaged this entire time. Should i change it today or wait untill the stitches are removed on 12/24. Side note my fingers and thumb are still numb but are tingling in a different way with more sensitivity Did anyone else experience this? is it temporary 

Many of us were instructed to take the big bandage off after 48hours. You need to be starting to use your hand to prevent stiffness setting in. After the stitches are out you can retrain the nerve endings by touching them with a variety of textures, cotton wool, rough towel, toothbrush!!! It 'goes through you' but soon gets back to normal with this treatment.

regards Elaine

Ok Elaine, i will do so. It's noon in Southern California, I will check it out and then start to work it. Need to see how it looks. I will keep you informed. Thanks to you and new network of friends for all the advice. John

Don t over work your hand. Take it gently. If the dressing is bloody don't be frightened of changing it.

nearly bedtime here, I go at 10 pm.

let me know how it looks and then I will be able to sleep!!!

Regards Elaine 

Ok, So it looks clean. 4 stitches. A bit higher above the the wrists than iv'e seen in videos. I can't make a fist, suppose i should get one of those balls everyone have been talking about. Think i can work we'll see. Surprised at how weak my hand feels

Great, don't rush into exercise just take it gently until the stitches are out. 

Re

Any bruises, John? I had a very stiff bandage filled with gypsum and a metal thing inside for 14 days. The same you get when the wrist is completely broken!   When I was released my hand felt as it didn't belong to me. The surgeon said it looked "disconnected". Clumsy fingers was the worst sign. I could reach all fingers with my thumb at once and made what someone might call a fist (but it´s better today). But the weakness, turning knobs, pressing buttons was very hard.

Getting ready to go back to work today. Hand feels stiff not a great deal of pain. No change in numbness as well as tingling this morning. I slept with my wrist brace on last night. Any thoughts on wearing it at work?

What kind of work do you have? I got 7 stitches, from the center of my palm (since my worst problem was my long finger and  they wanted to reach it's nerve) to below the wrist. Those balls are good, but I've bought the handmaster plus balls instead. These also have elastic bands on top of them, so you exercise BOTH the 9 inner muscles and the 9 upper muscles of the hand simultaneously, for stability. Ask your doctor what he/she recommends.

I suggest you ask your doctor for his/her recommendations concerning the wrist brace, in YOUR case! My surgeon said a bit angry that I should get rid of the wrist brace now and absolutely NOT sleep with them. But that´s me, maybe you´ll get other instructions.

Maybe I should explain, out of three persons; the surgeon, my ordinary doctor and the physio therapist, only the physio therapist was found of wrist braces at all.

Ken I work for Costco Wholesale, and my position is in sales. There is some lifting that i deal with daily but i did ok today. I bumped my hand right into the stitches, being careless and really paid for it with a jolt!!. I did wear my brace to work and when i see my doctor the 24th i will ask him about sleeping with it. He is one of those that i feel do so many of these surgeries that i get the impression that he is bored. Perhaps he gets asked the same question and is tired of giving the same answers. It would be nice if he could show some concern but it is what it is. John

Hi John

did you keep the padded bandage, that might be more protective at work, at least til you get your stitches out.  Kept mine and wore it to the airport in the hope it would get me an upgrade!! I had the sstitches removed that morning and was a bit nervous yanking cases about and it was reassuring. You seem to have gone back to work very early. Are you in the UK?

Regards Elaine 

Hi Elaine

I have the last two days changed the dressing on the incision after showering. Being careful not to get my hand wet. I have worked Sat&Sun 8 hr work shifts. Some lifting involved with my work but i have been careful and somewhat productive. Your posts indicate that your very happy with your results. Can you remember when you first started to feel your numbness and tingling regressing? Was it weeks, or months? Did you one morning wake up with restored feeling in your fingers. From all accounts everyone is different. And unfortunately some of us don't get better at all. Would you agree.  

I was one of the lucky ones, by the time the local anaesthetic wore off the symptons had gone. I had a variety of pains etc over the following weeks but I think they were all related to the trauma of the operation. You are right about some not getting much relief, I honestly feel guilty and not sure what to say to them. I had CTS for only a few weeks before the op. and I think this may be why I had such good results. I don't know really, we are all so different, my CTS was due to being in plaster for 6 weeks when I broke the scaphoid bone in my wrist. At least I think that is what happened although I have read it can be a complication of scaphoid fracture.

be careful not to overuse your hand.

happy christmas

Elaine

Hi Elaine! Some symptoms disappeared quite soon for me, the feeling of having the hand stuck into a laundry mangle went away pretty soon.

I was in plaster two weeks after the operation (I don't know how common this is??) and every time I wear a wrist brace at night in a way I feel worse, clumsy and that. I wonder about the pain sensations You mentioned here. What kind of pain? Some knife cutting pain also? I've wondered if I've started the increasing strain on the hand late? These sort of pain sensations I now feel, perhaps I could have started to have them earlier if I pushed me even further sooner? Yesterday, I both played the guitar and baked a bread. Keep going.

You are the first 'plastered' case I have come across. Most people seem to have a big padded bandage which they take off after 48 hours,

, it's weird the way we have all been treated differently. As I understood it 

'best practice' was based on research that had been replicated but what I'my hearing on this blog seems to be very hit and miss. Perhaps we need to be saying where we had our operations. Mine was done at Wrightington Hospital in the North West of England. It is an orthopaedic hospital renowned for pioneering hip ops.

cheers Elaine 

Hi Ken

just realised I did not answer your questions about the pain.

as I remember there was not much sort of regular pain. ( the local anaesthetic took 48 hours to wear off)It was more unexpected sharp jabs mainly up my arm and also in my hand behind the scar. Reall quite weird and irregular with no rhyme nor reason to them they got less as time went by and I seem to be completely over them now.

i feel very lucky to have had such a good recovery. I have had occasional pins andd needles in the other hand and the nerve test guy said he might as well test it whilst I was there. He said I had CTS in that hand also so half expect I will need to have that one done someday. I will certainly go into it with my eyes open this time. Whether that remains a good thing I'my not sure. Only time will tell.

i'm off now for a Christmas cruise to the sun so won't be contributing until the new year.

happy pain free Christmas to you all

elaine

 

Hi Elaine! I was the only plaster case at the clinic here that day. All the others got what you describe here. Mine was done in Sweden. But by now he´s moved abroad I guess. I was hit by a bike two weeks after the cts began, but neither my ordinary doctor nor the emergency unit at the hospital wanted to do x-rays, even though I was in severe pain and I thought there may be some crumbled bones in the wrist therein. Their excuse? "If so, you would have more pain." Maybe that was what they found, at last... The surgeon was very good. One of the best doctor's I´ve ever met!

Pins and needles wasn't my most frequent symptom at all. The main symptom was the feeling of having my hand stuck into a laundry mangle or even a car door. Like the hand was about to explode actually! It was red and swollen. And freezing cold at night! Absolutely like having it in a bucket of ice. I had to shake my hand at night every time I woke up and for at least 1 hour(!) every morning and during daytime now and then, as soon as I sat down. I'm very fascinated you could come to surgery that quick Elaine! Six weeks or so, was it? Over here noone gets surgery within 6 months! They test every other possibility first. There is NO emergency unit at any hospital taking any of these cases here at all. They redirect you to your ordinary doctor (more of an administrator). Then if you're lucky you can get to an orthoped specialist 3 months. Then the tests begins.

Merry Christmas to All of You here!

Ken