Carpal tunnel solutions?

Best thing I did was realising that I tended to use my optical apple mouse with my wrist rubbing on the table top edge.

Using my mouse 6" further into the table, ie with my wrist flat, no CTS.

As before, splints helped, night-time, along with realisation that I tended to sleep with my wrist fully bent, ie resting my head on my hand.

Lasted around 3 months, ok now for a year.

As I pointed out in the other thread, a touchscreen lets you point and click without moving your fingers at all. Much, much more precise to work directly on the screen rather than through a touchpad or tablet. Personal preference of course, and I know someone who prefers to operate a trackball with their feet!

I'm bumping this thread because I've had some recent success in alleviating what was most likely the main cause of the problem, with CTS being the major symptom. A chain of events starting in late February which I'll outline shortly brought me to this point. The "cure", while so far not 100%, is nevertheless a huge improvement.

Anyway, one day in late February I was alternating between doing some experiments in my workroom in the basement and using my computer. I probably went up and down the stairs a good 100 times that day, if not more. The day afterwards my feet hurt like crazy. No big deal I figured-just a few days rest and they'll be fine. Well, they felt somewhat better after a few days, but they still hurt when I walked while running my daily errands. The pain persisted, sometimes getting better, sometimes getting so bad I was walking like I was 100 years old. It never got completely better, and I suspected that maybe I had a fallen arch or some other foot problem. I eventually tried arch supports with a little success. New shoes combined with the arch supports helped yet more. One day in March I managed to walk about 10 miles at 13 minutes a mile for the first few miles, and 14 or so minutes a mile for the balance. The pace was a little slow for me, and my feet hurt quite a bit when I was done (not unusual for walks this long even prior to the foot problems), but it was a huge step up from where I was a few weeks earlier. Cured I thought.

Turned out I was wrong. In April the pain started coming back. I noticed my some of my toes were slightly swollen, more so on the left foot which gave me more problems than the other one. I forced myself to walk a few miles a day, but it wasn't pleasant or easy. Even during times when I didn't walk at all for a few days the pain persisted. At around this time I also started having gradually worsening problems with my hands, the right in particular. By late June my right index finger was swollen quite a bit, and I couldn't move most of the fingers on my right hand more than a few degrees. Cycling made both the foot and hand problems worse. I felt like an complete invalid at this point, and was thinking of ways to end my life if I couldn't do anything about this pain and lack of mobility.

Around this time I read something in a medical periodical (Health Alert) which mentioned that CTS is basically a symptom of inflammation of the median nerve, and the carpal tunnel release operation, while providing relief, doesn't eliminate the root cause of the condition, namely the inflammation. It was also mentioned that the pain sometimes recurs even with the operation. Anyway, I put two and two together, and realized that my foot problems and my CTS were manifestations of the same thing-generalized inflammation. The cure mentioned couldn't be simpler-vitamin B12!

Don't get me wrong. I was skeptical of course. Nevertheless vitamin B12 certainly couldn't hurt me, at least taking it for a short duration. I tried 500 mcg once daily. After a few days the swelling in my right index finger went away. A few days after that most of the pain was gone. I also noticed that the pain in my feet was gradually declining. Unfortunately, I didn't have a chance to test my joints since I came down with a flu-like illness which kept me bedridden for a good week shortly thereafter. After I finally felt better, I went for my walks with little pain. The swelling in my feet seems to be gone. I'm back to walking sub-12 minute miles. While my hands still have some problems (I still can't make a closed fist with my right hand without moderate pain), they are better than they've been in a long time. I was actually able to dig along the foundation for about 5 hours straight this Friday (step one to correcting a flooding basement) without undue hand pain, although my back was sore from lifting and dumping 75 pound pails of dirt. Needless to say, I don't contemplate going the surgical route. Truth is I was cool to the idea all along, but kept it in mind only as a last resort.

What brought on my apparent B12 deficiency? Probably the same diet of processed crap which causes most of the health problems in this country. I'm making a greater effort to eat better, basically avoiding things in a package as much as possible. I recommend to anyone else who has any health problem except a trauma of some sort to try to find and correct dietary deficiencies before resorting to surgery and especially before resorting to prescription drugs. Although I pretty much thought so beforehand, this medical periodical merely confirmed my worst suspicions about prescription drugs with many examples. There is no such thing as a drug without side effects, and they all eventually cause more problems than they cure. For example, I suspect Lipitor was largely responsible for my father's declining health, and his eventual death. A friend of mine experienced severe side effects from this drug, but was smart enough to put two and two together, and stop taking it.

If it turns out that vitamin B12 isn't the miracle cure it seems to be I'll keep everyone posted but so far, so good. And no side effects that I'm aware of, either, although I do plan to gradually decrease my dosage since the present dosage is 8333% of the RDA.

What brand of B12 are you taking? This is really interesting news. My girlfriend often suffers from what she suspects to be CTS (brought on, suspectedly, by her old job working as an accounts managers for infinity-micro.com which required her to be logged on to the net all day long, typing, typing, typing, and mousing, mousing, mousing (don't buy from them, by the way, her boss is a psychotic, dishonest crook! (really--this isn't gossip--crook, as in selling refurbs as new and even selling stollen merchandise (they've actually been raided by the police) You can read plenty of bad reviews about them, and the good reviews, I'm told, are all written by her old boss to combat the bad ones!) I'm going to let her know about this info and will also keep it in mind myself, as every once in a long while I get a pain in my wrist that feels as if the vains in my wrist are under a lot of pressure, or feel as though they're contracting or expanding on the inside. Does CTS feel like this? Like your wrist sort of wants to blow? (I usually can't help holding it with my other hand in an attempt to relieve the pain (doesn't work))

Trashman said:

What brand of B12 are you taking?

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Sundown brand. I suspect the brand isn't particularly important though since B12 is just another name for folic acid. I also heard that vitamin B complex (as opposed to B12) should be even more effective since it contains B6, B12, plus minerals to aid their absorption by the body. I plan to give the vitamin B complex a try soon since the B12 is almost out.

I'm going to let her know about this info and will also keep it in mind myself as every once in a long while I get an pain in my wrist that feels as if the vains in my wrist are under a lot of pressure, or feel as though they're contracting or expanding on the inside. Does CTS feel like this? Like your sort of wants to blow? (I usually can't help hold it with my other hand in an attempt to relieve the pain (doesn't work))

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Prior to my B12 therapy for me it feels like a sharp pain in the segment of the fingers closest to the knuckle combined with a tingling/popping feeling in the wrist, and an electrical nerve tingling in the lower arm. That's on a good day. On a bad day all of the above, plus little or no sensation of touch on my entire hand combined with a feeling of numbness.

I also forgot to mention that the B12 more or less stopped my hands (and feet) from being particularly bad after sleep. The pain and lack of movement after sleeping had gotten so bad that I didn't sleep for more than 2 or 3 hours at a time for fear of waking up immobile. Now I can get a normal 6 or 7 with no unusual stiffness upon waking.

Thanks for the warnings about your girlfriend's company.

Good to see you back again, JTR!

Folic acid is actually B9 and NOT the same as B12; excess folate can actually mask symptoms of B12 deficiency, which is why supplements containing large amounts of B9 are prescription-only even though it is water soluble and nontoxic. You see, prolonged B12 deficiency can lead to irreversible nerve damage.

For what it's worth, some guy has a whole website deidcated to how he cured his gout by drinking baking soda water. Swears by the stuff.
Lecithin is also important in nerve nourishment. Might be worthwhile to look into that supplement.

As far as stretching and posture, it's a four letter word, and that four letter word is: Yoga.

G'day all,
I've had good results using the acupuncture-related technique 'EFT' for all sorts of pains. No needles, you can do it yourself, and learning how to do it is easy. The complete training manual is a free download!
Lots of information is available at <www.emofree.com>. Try a search for Carpal Tunnel and see what it says. (I don't know--I haven't searched for that specific topic myself.)
I have used this as a professional therapist. I don't usually frequent this forum so an email or PM is more likely to get a response.
Greg

I had the onset of it when I programmed all day every day before getting promoted to Analyst. The first thing is get a good ergonomic keyboard as mentioned, I like the Microsoft natural best of them. I now use the cordless natural keyboard. Another thing is make sure your keyboard height is correctso your hands are at optimal, there are sites online that show this better than I can explain.

I found that wrist supports, the elastic versions that some tennis players use work well when you start feeling sore. Exercises help also, working your arms and wrists. One thing to remember is to get up and move every hour or so, less if you can help it. Even that small break of standing, and moving a bit helps a lot. Mine lessened and mostly went away after the new keyboard and the other small things.

I developed CTS while working as a mechanic, it was confirmed with the EGS test. I have had the surgery on one wrist and learned several important things. The reason for wearing the wrist splints to sleep is the human tendency to assume the fetal position during sleep periods, one of the main indicators is the hands curling inward, unfortunately that position puts the carpal tendon into a stressed situation that results in that tendon constricting around the nerve bundle in your wrist. The wrist splints may not be comfortable but the alternative is much less comfortable.