Carpal Tunnel anyone

Thanks

Hi Alaskabound,

I also have trouble with carpal tunnel.  Also had trouble with tarsal tunnel (feet) and cubital tunnel (elbows).  These nerve syndromes can, in fact, be caused by the inflammation associated with RA, Lupus, and other associated connective tissue disease.  Once my meds (methotrexate and enbrel) took effect, the nerve problems lessened.  They are not gone, but once the inflammation is under control, they do get better.  When the carpal tunnel gets worse, I will wear wrist splints for a while (usually at night) and it does help.  The only problem is that they are so awkward that I can't really do anything with my hands when I have them on (hence, I don't wear them during the day, typically).  I'm fortunate in that my symptoms are relatively mild (except before meds); since your problem is bad enough to require surgery, I would definitely consult with a doctor.  Splints may not help you much at this point?

I hope you feel better soon,

El

caringbuddy said...
I had needless surgery for carpal tunnel. This is what I did first when the pain first started. Of course the pain went to other joints and I was finally tested for RA. My RA & Lupus numbers were very high. I learned that RA does inflame the carpal and tarsal tunnel nerves. Once I went on meds and before I had the second surgery on my other hand, everything calmed down. Also, surgery does not help since when I get a flare, both hands are affected.

Carpal Tunnel sugery in 90% cases is useless, no relief, and worse pain. Deep thought should be taken before surgery. They wont tell you things like how many people surgery did not work for, what the cons are unless you ask. Some you can tell by a stall in the voice that they do not even know the answer. I personally have carpal tunnel, not interested in surgery, and use a wrist brace properly fitted from a med supply store for my carpal tunnel.

I'm normally on the lupus thread but I happened to see your question in the RA category and wanted to chime in.  I was pretty much diagnosed with lupus and carpal tunnel at the same time and the carpal tunnel just about drove me bananas.  My rhuemy had put me on neurontin to try and help me get some sleep but it just took the edge off and really didn't fix the problem.  Well, I have been seeing a orthopaedist that is a hand specialist and my rhuemy is fine with that (at first she didn't until she found out that he was a specialist and that she knew him as well and said he is an expert in his field of course).  Well, he explained to me that while I am trying to get my chronic condition in check that it was still important for me to treat the symptoms of the carpal tunnel to stop putting my body through all of the stress of no sleep and daily inflammation.  What he does is inject my hands with a steroid at the carpal tunnel sight to alleviate the inflammation.  It was explained that the steroid stays pretty much locally in the hands and does not effect the entire body like when I take the prednisone.  I can get this done about every 3 months safely if I need to.  The last time I had it done was in April and I have not had any symptoms since, but prior to that I had been getting the injections for about a year and half.  He told me that I would be the one to tell him when I wanted surgery, he would never force it on me.  Well, it's been a godsend and whenever he injects me I can back off many of my other medicines that provide me with relief from inflammation.  I seem to have most of my problems in my hands and in the knees when I flare.  As long as I have this alternative, I would rather do this then add another drug into the picture that will affect the entire body.  Steroids as we all know have there side effects, but so do all the other drugs and you have to determine whether or not to weigh the risks, versus the quality of your life.  I hope this information helps you in anyway.  Good Luck!

Hugs and Angels,

Lynnette

DX - sle and carpal tunnel syndrome

RX - plaquenil, prednisone, lisiniprol, darvocet when needed, cenestin and prometrium and daily vitamins