Carpal tunnel release

Hello @bernese53 Nice to e-meet you here. I am Scott and I, too, have been diagnosed with severe carpel tunnel syndrome in both my hands. It came from the years of repetitive lifting of my wife while I was her caregiver.

After scans and an electromyogram nerve conduction study (not my favorite test in the world), I have been told I need surgery in both hands. While I am not in a position to get to the Mayo for this surgery, I have made the decision (only my personal choice) to forgo the surgery at this time. This is for several reasons. First, I am not ready to be a 'patient' this soon after functioning as a caregiver. Second, my local surgeon admitted it is not 100% successful, especially in severe cases. Third, when I pressed him for possible outcomes (beyond 'it might not work') I was uncomfortable with the additional things that could go wrong.

This is just my opinion and just my personal decision. While I have seen some improvement in the lessening of the chronic pain in my hands by not having to do the same lifting at this time, I still have pain and sleep with splints every night.

Hoping for all the best for you!
Peace and strength,

You didn't scare me LOL! I appreciate your reply very much. From my reading about CTS I learned that there's a much better chance of success if the CTS is caught early. Mine definitely was not caught early. I did feel that my appointment with the surgeon was rushed. He certainly didn't offer any
options other than surgery. I am sorry to hear you've had so much debilitating pain, and that you had thumb surgery as well.
I know I need to make up my mind. The pain now from the CTS, as well as tendinitis in my left wrist, is not screamingly bad as yet. If I decline the surgery perhaps it might become inoperable. Thank you so much for your post.

@mcden
I had carpal tunnel release surgery a couple weeks ago on my right hand. It was classified as “moderate” based upon EMG/nerve conduction study. It has helped relieve the pain/numbness and I am working on PT and massaging scar (they give you a little hard ball to roll on your palm scar tissues). I want to do the left hand later this year. It has “mild” carpal tunnel but it gets numb and wakes me up at night. I am happy I did it and probably should have done it sooner but it was hard to determine what was carpal tunnel vs spinal stenosis/radiculopathy and cervical myelopathy.

Good luck making your decision. I never tried injections but have heard they temporarily help relieve symptoms for some. I went straight to surgery once I learned that nerve damage can become permanent if you delay too long.

I had carpal tunnel surgery in both hands at the same time. It took 5 months for the recovery to be able to use my hands correctly. The length of time was also due to arthritic thumbs. After the CTS, I had the bone at the base of my thumb removed for both hands but not at the same time. Prior to that, I would get injections in my thumbs for 3 years in one hand and 4 yrs. in the other. I'm good now.

Thank you for posting your experience. I am still on the fence about CTS. I use a cane in my right hand - the one with carpal tunnel. I have heard from two people that were in the same situation. Both of them said they couldn't use a cane afterwards. Also, the CTS I have was called "severe". I want to make the right decision - there's no going back either way. Thank you for your good wishes.

I was a cosmetologist back in 2002 and I had carpal tunnel release surgery on my right wrist and the surgery was successful and the healing time was 6 weeks. During that time I learned to accomplish just about everything with my left hand. 20 years later my left wrist developed carpal tunnel but never had surgery. I hope you have quick healing of both wrist.