Carpal Tunnel? Tendonitis?

I have what I suspect is carpal tunnel in both my hands.  I had a pain in my left hand directly above the carpal bone area.  That lasted about two weeks and happened after a lot of work with Ikea furniture and also working with dad using a screwdriver.  Then I just carried on in life.  Well three weeks ago I had my finals and of course was typing a lot as well as writing out countless diagrams for a syntax class.  The day after my last exam my fingers began to hurt and soon after the swelled to the point that my ring will no longer come off.  For a week or so they have been swollen, very sensitive and I have not been able to open simple things like tubes or bottle caps.  I get pains in my wrist area. 

At a physical I asked my doctor about it and she just told me to wait two weeks.   

Yeah.  So I have been soaking them in Epsom salts, and wearing wrist supports on both at night and a bit during the day.  Hulling 80 plus lbs of strawberries for jam didn't help at all.  Now that I have been not using them as much (how does one even do that?) they are getting better. They still tingle every now and then or I get a bit of a cramp or numbness. 

Not sure if anyone has experienced anything similar?

What did you do about it?

I am going to set up the dictation thing on the computer and I already talked to my prof about it for the summer (he requires we journal and it hurts to hold a pencil or type) .  Not sure what else to do since I have a year of my Masters left.

Ack!

i had carpal tunnel about 14 years ago, presumably from my job which involved opening lots of bottles of wine   as i remember, it started with tingling and a real aching, hot, pain radiating from my wrist.  nothing helped or made it go away.  i was in the US, and was quickly diagnosed and had surgery on wrist and elbow nerves...  the surgery made me sore, but after the healing time was 100% better.  now i let others open the wine...

I have not had carpal tunnel but have/had RSI/OOS in my right arm which is similar. I found accupuncture helped tremendously, also altering my writing style so that I wasn't pressing so hard on the page.

You say you are wearing wrist supports at night and sometimes during the day.  Are the supports the kind with 'metal spoon' on the underside or are you simply using compression support?

I've used the type with metal spoon and compression, and had a good results; however, I've needed to wear them during the day and take them off at night.  I'd also suggest ibuprofen.

You really do have to limit work do you whilst in a bad way.  I could still get a way with typing during bad bouts, but needed to be careful doing anything else.

Thanks everyone... surgery is the last thing on my mind.  With a highish deductible and 80% coverage on a lot of things even the 20% we'd have to cover after the deductible is too much right now.  I am adopting the if it's not life threatening I'm not getting it done approach to medical care in the USA.  Maybe one day I'll have decent coverage (not holding my breath). DH even works for one of the largest insurers in the US.  

The pain you describe ncny is pretty much it though!

They are the metal spoon type Cait.  I have had them on some during the day and more so the first few really painful days.  I keep them on when typing too.  

Heat seems to work too.  I'll try Ibuprofen tomorrow.  

I have CTS AND Cubilateral (which is like Carpal tunnel, but in the elbow).

The metal braces did nothing for me.  You might want to get some hard plastic braces for night like this one: http://www.homecare-supplies.com/supply.cfm/braces/ace-carpal-tunnel-syndrome-wrist-brace-left-each-207349.html for you to really start to feel better, IMHO.  I never had the surgery and I felt loads better after putting on plastic braces at night for about 6 weeks.  During the day, I sometimes use a glove like this one: http://www.painreliever.com/muellersportsmedicine_MU465.html?source=froogle_pr&utm_source=Froogle&utm_medium=shopping especially if I need to type.  

I found that buying wider pens helped with writing and it didn't hurt as much to grip a pen.

Hope this helps!

If IB doesn't work, try Alieve. There's also an OTC sold in the US called Percogesic which is a strong pain killer (that also makes you sleepy). It's usually found on the bottom shelf of the pain relief stuff at CVS or wherever for about $8-9/bottle. That stuff works like a charm for me!  

I have severe carpal tunnel in my left wrist, and I've had it since 2001. I didn't have the surgery, but I control the symptoms with ice at night and regular accupressure/accupunture. Also, your doctor can prescribe occupational therapy, which can be very helpful. I also use the brace when needed, and I have been fine. Also, I don't know about your finances or how many family members you have, but I worked in our state medi-cal office for quite a while and even for families who have insurance and a decent income, many qualified for it and it covered the deductible and amount that insurance won't cover.

Unfortunately jw66 we make too much and have free to low cost insurance through DH's work.  Unfortunately it is a high deductible insurance and therein lies the problem. 

I just wanted to say though that I do have carpal tunnel and thus far have some exercises to do and that's about it.  It's hard to not use my fingers when I have tons of papers to write.

It is driving me nuts and I am sick of having swollen and painful fingers.