Post Carpel tunnel surgery
I had surgery on my right-hand on 6/16/16. I have had no feeling in the hand since the surgery day. I had shock and needle testing by a neurologist on 4/12/16. It was recommended by him that I have surgery. I have it in both hands and chose to do the right hand as it was very painful. My hand has been swollen twice the size of my other. It feels hot, pins and needles, burning, and horrible shots of pain that hit between my index and middle finger that goes to my elbow and sometimes my shoulder. On 6/30/16 I went to the surgeon for stitch removal. He wanted to send me back to work. I told him I had no feeling. He sent me for a one day session with a physical therapist to get exercises that I could do at home and took me off work for 2 more weeks. The therapist had
me shut my eyes and ran needles or something over my hands and fingers and told me to point when I felt something. I felt nothing. I was told I had desensitization and was given exercises to do. My hand is discolored. Red and purple. I have done the exercises every day and all day trying to get movement. I have more movement but no feeling. I get some swelling out and wake up the next day and am back to square one. The views on my forearm are pretending and there is swelling at the wrist. I am hoping the exercises will work as I am broke and will only receive 90.00 a week. No one I know that has this surgery has had any of this. I go back to surgeon on7/14. If I have no feeling I cannot work due to the type of job I have. Any advise would be welcome as this is very depressing. It was rated at 6.50
The surgery was a open. Since the surgery the only finger I have had normal feeling in is the pinky. I was sent straight to surgery. I was seeing a Physical therapist before the surgery for cerviclgia . He worked on my hand once just to give my some relief. When I lay my hand flat on a table without using my left-hand to keep hand flat my thumb will move maybe 30 degree's. If I put hand flat without the left hand, my thumb will almost go to 90 degree's but the fingers come up. All of the symptoms I had in the left hand are gone. I used cock-up braces before right handed surgey. Right hand was very painful as the left was more of numbing pins and needles and sleeping. I think I still have the nerve study. I will look. Yes I am from the USA. I live in Arkansas. I have done all the exercises given to me very day . I try to do things with my hand that you should be able to do. I can move my fingers but not like I should be able to. I have to take cool showers as I can't stand any heat near my fingers. I would compare the feeling to having 3rd degree burns and having hot water poored on you. But I very little feeling or none to touch.
It's hard to be sure without seeing it but the thumb movement sounds encouraging. On the other hand the loss of sensation is consistent with worsening function in the median nerve - you may find if you examine the sensation closely that there is a difference in sensation between the two sides of the ring finger - that is the side adjacent to the little finger vs the side adjacent to the middle finger. I think you may well need some follow-up NCS doing but if you can find the pre-operative set so that we can get a feel for exactly how bad the CTS was before surgery it will be easier to suggest when they should be done. JB
I cannot find the NCS but will keep looking.. I believe you are correct in you're accessing. I have feeling on the pinky side of my hand but none on the other.
If you can't trace the NCS results then the policy of caution would be to get a new set done sooner rather than later, and preferably by the same person who did the original set so that they can compare their old and new results. It's now about 4 weeks after surgery and in most CTS cases both the symptoms and the NCS should be better by now. JB
JB
I have found the NCS on the pre operation. How would you suggest I send it to you. After Doctor appointment today i am off. work for 1 month. I will be going to physical therapy . I received a prescription for Seratopinn. I am not sure on the spelling. The Insurance refused to pay and I can't pay. I am sure they can find something. Hoping this ends soon.
I am now 2 months out on CTS surgery. I do Physical Therapy. I had a doctor appointment. On 8/15/16. He sent me to the. Pain clinic where I will have 5 days of nerv block i injections. I now have been diagnosed with RSD. Are you familiar with this?
The favoured term for it now is CRPS. RSD = Reflex Sympathetic Dystrophy CRPS = Complex Regional Pain Syndrome. Although it is a fairly well defined clinical picture it's also often used as a catch-all diagnosis for any inexplicable pain after upper limb surgery or trauma. Can be difficult to treat. We still need to see before and after surgery NCS really. JB
OK so I read that description of the symptoms as being that you have less sensation in the fingers than you had before surgery. Does this affect all of the fingers or is there a difference between the little finger and the rest? You had some nerve conduction studies in April - did they give you a copy of the results? Was any other treatment tried or did they go straight to surgery? Can you move the thumb away from the plane of the palm of the hand - ie if you lay your hand out palm up, on a table can you point your thumb up at the ceiling without moving the rest of the hand? WHat are the symptoms like in the other hand and have they changed. FInally how was the surgery done - was this a 'keyhole' operation or the traditional 'open' operation?
Judging by the way you write dates I guess this is in the USA? JB