What next
14 October 2013 - 1:56pm
HAD my nerve tests done today and no cts was diagnosed which I am happy with,but I still have no diagnosis to my symptoms so what happens next.
The very nice nurse said that the results would go to my G.P. so can I assume I just have live with it or will I be put through other types of tests to hopefully find what's going on .
Regards
Lezza
There are several possibilities. The first and most obvious one is that there is some cause other than CTS for the symptoms. My own clinic is rather hyperspecialised in CTS and does not treat anything else (though we do carry out tests for some other neurological conditions). So far you have been sent through a pathway which is concentrating purely on identifying and treating CTS so if you actually have another problem your GP will need to tackle that by different means as he or she thinks best - that may be MRI of your neck or a rheumatology, orthopaedic or neurology opinion.
The second possibility is that these are false negative tests and this really is CTS. In that case it is likely to be fairly mild and not urgently in need of surgery. I note that no-one has tried giving you a night splint to try and that would be a good experiment. If symptoms persist despite splinting we might test again after a few months.
The third possibility is that there is really no proper diagnosis. A proportion of patients with this sort of symptom and normal test results get better without us ever finding a definite explanation. JB