Quote:
Originally Posted by Sheri_TOS
FrenchFri - Glad to hear you are slowly improving.
Regarding a double crush, how it was explained to me is to think of a water hose. You get a kink in the hose (say at the neck), it takes less pressure to get a kink (compression) in the hose further down the line (say in the thoracic outlet or elbow). You can even have a triple crush => neck, elbow and wrist. If the nerve is slightly compressed above, it doesn't take as much to compress the nerve further down the line. None of the sites may be compressed enough to show up on EMG or physical testing on a standalone basis.
Cathy - Have they ruled out TOS as a possibility for your ulnar nerve? I've had surgery for it and I wouldn't be able to work today if I hadn't had surgey as I'd lost the use of that hand before surgery. So I know what you're going through regarding considering getting re-trained for another field.
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Sheri: Thank you for your explanation, it was much better then the one I received from my neurosurgeon. I did bring up TOS, but it was dismissed without further investigation, he still thinks it's ulnar nerve compression. I will push for more answers next visit. Especially since you said an EMG may not show the compression. I have my EMG tomorrow, and don't have a followup with my neuro until Nov. 16th, so I will not get much info until then. Maybe the neurologist will be more helpful tomorrow, but I've seen this one before and he's not that great at talking to his patients, he's brief and abrupt, and being in Ontario (we have gov't controlled health care) I don't get a choice who does the testing. Ugh. I'm hoping I will get some answers though, I really don't want more surgery.
My physiotherapist has been working with me to resolve some of my issues, it's helped a bit, not great strides, but little ones are okay too. PT discussed TOS with me, and explained that it's hard to diagnose and usually used as a last resort diagnosis. Again, ugh.
Thanks for your insight, it's appreciated, especially knowing you're doing better now with it. I've been thinking non-stop about what field I would be retrained for if I don't regain use of my right hand soon.
Take care,
Cathie