I've finally decided to go ahead with carpal tunnel surgery!
I've yet to get things started, only decided yesterday after consulting my GP and my hand therapist. I have to go back to my neurologist soon, he wants to know my decision anyway, so he will refer me to whoever for the surgery.
My hand therapist has agreed, after 3 months, there hasn't been much relief, other than not using my right hand at all! (which is rather impossible for me! lol)
I'll probably have to wait a while to get it done anyway, and I'll probably change my mind a hundred times before I even have a surgery date! lol But it looks like it is needed, for the right hand at least...
Now, don't talk me out of it...I need encouragement here! lol
~Jaime~

Hey there Surger looks like Sue will be having it to but ,there's always
a but,they the Dr's have to get it all together,but looks like July geee
Good luck to you,ya hear. Hugs to all Sue

Hi Jamie, i had the carpal tunnel done on one wrist a few years back, i was and still am very glad i had it done, never had a problem since the op.... , i had mine done down at the Geelong hospital at the day sugery, only in there a couple of hours and went home, it was a real breeze for me.. worse having a tooth pulled, i wouldn't hesitate to have it done on the other wrist if the time comes.
good luck
Brian

with the surgery! It sounds lke you have tried other measures and you likely truly need the surgery!

(I will be having cubital tunnel surgery shortly.)

Please let us know how this goes for you!

I've had the carpal tunnel surgery. On both hands. It was a miracle! Best decision I ever made. However, be aware that if you have permenant nerve damage to your hands the surgery is of limited value as far as relief of symptoms goes.

I need to have it done too.
My hang up is the recuperation time.
Can't decide on anything that'll keep me out of work
for more than 2 weeks. Any feedback on how long til I get back to work. For orthoscopic and/or open-wrist ?
I don't heal as fast at 64, than I did when I was younger.
My doc does open wrist, only - but will refer me to a colleague for the orthoscopic if I want to go that route. He has me worried about the dangers of orthoscopic vs open wrist (he sez that the open-wrist is the least chances of error and a better recovery)- but I realize that he's got his own agenda, cuz he doesn't do anything but open-wrist.

I had the open wrist done and chose sedation and a local rather than be put under. My right hand (which was done first) I had almost full use of by 3 weeks. It was good enough that they did my left hand at 3 weeks. The left hand took longer as the surgery didn't go as smoothly as the right hand did. It was because there was a problem with the cuff they use to block the blood flow to the arm for the local. The cuff deflated during the surgery and the local failed so he was rushing to get out. Not good. It's better than it was before surgery for sure but it's never been as good as the right hand has been. And my right hand was my worst hand before surgery. Total recovery time is, of course, individual, but for some people can take up to 6 months for a full recovery. My right hand was back to normal long before the 6 month mark. My left hand, not so much.

Jarrett,
At what age was your CTS surgery done?
Did you have a Dx'd case of PN at the time?

I'm trying to take as many factors into consideration as possible
at the age of 64 & PN, for 12 yrs.
I'm a locksmith & both fine motor skills (picking & rebuilding with small parts), as well as heavy duty (drilling 2 1/2 " holes thru 1/4" solid steel comm'l doors) are needed. I could 'vacation' for 2, maybe 3 weeks- but that's about it.
I'd have to be back at, at least, 60-75% after that.

Let's see, I'm 47 now...it'll be two years this Oct since the first surgery...so I was 45. Math is not my strong suit, can ya tell?

My PN was DX at the same time I had the nerve conduction study done for the CT. The Neuro did a study on my feet as long as I was already there. That was the second time I'd had a nerve conduction study for CT done. The first one was long before any PN symptoms. The PN symptoms came on a couple of years or so before the CT surgery.

PS: Bob, you might be able to do some work at 3 weeks but I couldn't tell you how much. There are so many factors to consider in this surgery. Everyone heals differently and has different pain thresholds and of course with PN I think we probably tolerate a higher level of pain than most people normally do. And much depends on the doctor doing the surgery as well. It's a crapshoot. Honest.

I can only tell you what I experienced. It may or may not be simliar to what you will experience. I can tell you that before the surgery I was in agony. It even drowned out most of the PN pain when the CT pain was at it's worst. After the surgery it's been great! In my right hand it's like I never had CT ever, at all. My left hand still gives me a bit of trouble but it's different than the CT pain was. What the cause of it is I have no idea. I do know that the left hand did not go as smoothly as the right hand did. And the CT was much worse in my right hand than my left. To be expected as I'm right handed.