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General health

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Original poster

Carpal tunnel

8 replies

chickenfeathers · 16/12/2018 22:34

My poor DH is suffering with carpal tunnel at the moment. Painkillers and anti-inflammatory drugs are not working at all. Our GP has said the other options are steroid injections or surgery. DH does not really want to risk surgery, so my question is, has anyone had the injection for this, did it work and how long did it last for?

OP posts:

redannie118 · 17/12/2018 00:30

This reply has been withdrawn

The OP has privacy concerns, and so we've agreed to take this down now.

SpoonBlender · 17/12/2018 01:00

Totally worth the surgery. The steroids work for a while but don't fix actually anything.

Does DH know what movement is causing the trouble, and ameliorated it?

Original poster

chickenfeathers · 17/12/2018 14:54

Thank you both for responding.

We did think the injections might last a bit longer tbh. DH is wary of the surgery, as he doesn't want to be that miniscule percentage that goes wrong! There isn't one movement that has caused it or made it worse. He is a craftsman, so his hands are vital for his work, and it is just years of doing the same thing that has caused it. Hopefully a rest over Christmas might help.

Thank you both again for responding.

OP posts:

Spartacunt · 17/12/2018 18:05

I had surgery and it went wrong - permanent nerve damage and weakness in my arm. In his position I wouldn't risk it.

Original poster

chickenfeathers · 17/12/2018 20:20

Spartacunt I'm so sorry your op went wrong. If this happened to DH he would lose his livelihood forever.

My guess is he will try the injection and just soldier on. He may get to a point where he can't work at all with carpal tunnel - so surgery would be his only option.

Again, thank you all for letting me know what happened - it has put things into perspective for us both.

OP posts:

KingIrving · 18/12/2018 06:13

I had it done in May and still now I haven't full recovered. I have completely lost strength and I can't bear weight on it as I had a big lump of scar tissue on the palm.
I did hand physio for a while and the specialist told me so many go to them for not so successful carpal tunnel release when doing the physio might have prevented the surgery in the first place.
Investigate the options of specialist hand physio.

Lonecatwithkitten · 18/12/2018 09:32

I am a surgeon myself so like your husband was keen to ensure proper function. The steroid lasted dead on 28 days for me so no long term use.
I researched carefully and ensured I was referred to a hand surgeon rather than general ortho/ neuro. Hand surgeons have much, much better success rates with the ops.
I religiously did my physio post-op which is vital to full recovery and 6 months later had full function again.

Original poster

chickenfeathers · 18/12/2018 14:46

KingIrving - sorry to hear your op wasn't a success either. I will look into the physio side of treatment too - I hadn't really thought about taking that route.

Lonecatwithkitten glad to hear you op was a complete success. I have said to my DH that if he goes for surgery, he must insist on seeing a specialist in this area to try and ensure the best possible chance of success.

DH is seeing our GP this week to chat through the options available to him.

Thank you all once again for your valued input.

OP posts:

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