Carpal Tunnel Surgery

[SlowSpyder]

My wife has carpal tunnel pretty bad. The doctor said that the scale goes from 1-5, 5 being the most severe. She is a borderline 5... has anyone had this surgery? Ofcourse she will talk to the surgeon at the consultation, but if anyone here has had this surgery can you tell me anything about it? We read about the procedure on the Mayo Clinic website. Her main concern is recovery time as she works at a small company and being out of the office for a long period of time will cause problems. How bad was the recovery, was it really painful? How long before you were able to get back to work? Just looking for some first hand experience... thanks.

 

[destrekor]

I had to get stitches for a cut right about the same spot as where the doc does the carpal tunnel surgery, and I was unable to really use that hand for about 2 weeks, well ended up being 3 weeks due to complications and slow healing.
I'm not sure what they do for carpal tunnel, such as how invasive the incision is, how immobilized your hand is, etc etc. But take in mind merely having stitches kept me from doing my job at the time (that was all lifting though, clerical work, once you get into bandages, probably wouldn't have been to terribly difficult).

 

[JEDIYoda]

If you truly did read the Mayo site then you are aware that nothing is written in stone?
The recovery time for Carpo Surgery could be from 6 weeks to 6 months or longer. That is provided the surgery helps at all!

With some people the surgery does not help and you actually need to just live with it!

If this is a work repated injury you will have all kinds of issues dealing with the workman`s compensation people.

Mainly because it can go away for no known reason. One day your wife could wake up and it`s gone.


There are way too many variables in dealing with carpo tunnel to give one set this is the definitive answer and answer!

Good Luck!

 

[OutHouse]

the success rate is iffy, and the CT will more than likely come back due to scar tissue.

 

[JoLLyRoGer]

I underwent surgery to correct tarsal tunnel (basically carpal tunnel in your ankles). I'm guessing the actual surgical procedure will vary somewhat from one case to the next with the actual cause of the symptoms. My symptoms were caused by an abnormality in the way my nerves actually grew.

The surgery was a snap. It was done as an outpatient and I was home the same day. I didn't have a whole lot of pain afterward. I took Vicodine(sp?) from Day 0 through Day 1 and switched to just Ibuprofin(sp?) after that.

They left about a 1 inch incision on the anterior side of my R ankle that healed within a couple of weeks. The incision site stayed tender up until about 6 weeks, but the pain and numbness / pins & needles related the the tarsal tunnel syndrome resolved immediately and I was back on my feet after about a week...

I know you were asking specifically about carpal tunnel, but I figured I'd lend my input anyway.

JR..

 

[Narse]

I know two people that had the surgery and both wish they had not done it. It did not help them much, the pain came back after about a year.

 

[JoLLyRoGer]

Originally posted by: Narse
I know two people that had the surgery and both wish they had not done it. It did not help them much, the pain came back after about a year.

Again I can't speak specifically to carpel tunnel, but I'm two years post-op and so far so good. I still have some minor "flair-ups" now and then, but nothing like it used to be..

If she's a 5/5, and she were my wife I'd tell her to go for it.

 

[SlowSpyder]

Originally posted by: JoLLyRoGer

Originally posted by: Narse
I know two people that had the surgery and both wish they had not done it. It did not help them much, the pain came back after about a year.

Again I can't speak specifically to carpel tunnel, but I'm two years post-op and so far so good. I still have some minor "flair-ups" now and then, but nothing like it used to be..

If she's a 5/5, and she were my wife I'd tell her to go for it.

Yea, I think we are to the point where we have to try something. She'll be holding something and her hand will just go numb and she'll drop it. She can't do much with her left hand for any length of time as it is now. If it was minor we'd wait on it, but it's to the point now that she has to try something.

 

[RiverDog]

Had both hands done (not at the same time). It wasn't that bad, I was done on Thursday and back to work on Monday. I have a high pain tolerance so it wasn't super bad. Other people have been off around 3-4 weeks. It helped me for about 5-6 years but is bothering me again now. I would and will get it done again if needed. Wish her the best, it's a real PITA having that.