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The carpel tunnel is actually in the left, but is not symptomatic at this time, so I am not dealing with that. Both the RA doc and the hand surgeon feel the numbness of the fingers on both hands is from the ulnar nerve and a cervical problem. This doc encouraged the surgery for the right hand. He said the surgery for the thumb is very successful and since the steroid shots are no longer effective after two years he thought the surgery was necessary. Rotator cuff tears do not heal, so they do not encourage you to wait. The school of thought with the tear is to have it fixed so that scar tissue does not develop and cause more problems.
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Just a quick question - have any of your docs ever thought about Thoracic Outlet Syndrome as a possibility for the hand/arm/shoulder/neck problems and symptoms?
There are several patients on the TOS forum here at NeuroTalk who were initially diagnosed (misdiagnosed) with carpal tunnel, or cervical disc probelms, etc... when they in fact had thoracic outlet syndrome... but they often went through with carpal tunnel surgery or cervical surgery and when that didn't help at all the doctors then discovered the TOS.
TOS is relatively rare, but based on your post and your symptoms, it probably wouldn't hurt to read a bit about it to see if any of the symptoms of TOS match your symptoms.
I have TOS-like symptoms on my left side. It has never been diagnosed as TOS, the doctors all consider my symptoms to be part of my fibro or a tendonitis problem --- but when I started to make lifestyle changes to be gentle with my arm/shoulder the same way that those with TOS do, I started to have symptom relief.
Take care,
Liz
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