Ne Referral

Unfortunately there isn't a completed questionnaire attached to this account for me to review. Did you do the questionnaire first and then register afterwards? JB

Hi,

I have now completed the questionnaire.

Samie

Hi, I did complete the questionnaire before making the account, so I redone it after your response but haven't heard anything since. My wrists are really hurting recently and the pins and needles are happening frequently. I can't hold my phone to my ear for long and writing is getting difficult. Please can you help?

I can see the completed questionnaire now. You have to tell me about them though - the website doesn't notify me automatically. It's a fairly low score so overall your probalem is more likely to be some other painful hand condition rather than CTS but it would be worth checking. One possibility is that you may have more than one problem. If you email me your full contact details I'll set up an appointment (email please, don't post on here as the forum is public). There is a list of what to email me on the patient infomration page of the site. JB

Hi,

In March I had my first appointment at the hospital where I had the diagnostic tests etc, and I ended up opting for the steroid injections in both wrists, which I had that day. I don't feel they have helped as I am still getting pins and needles in both hands and pain / locking in my thumbs. I was informed that I would have to wait 3 months after the injections if I want to go ahead and have surgery on them instead. I do now wish to have the surgery, so is this something I need to wait til 3 months have passed or can I go on the waiting list now ready?

Thanks

You are actually supposed to come back onto the website here 6 weeks after the injections and add a new severity score (from the home page there is a button to do this when you are logged in). You can then email me and we decide what to do next based on those scores and what we already know about you. I don't know where the three months story came from, probably a misunderstanding of something as we have no 3 month rules. In your case the obvious question here is "is this actually CTS?" You had very mildly abnormal test results and a complete lack of response to injection in those circumstances always makes you wonder if there is actually a completely different problem present and the nerve abnormality at the wrist is just a red herring, especially as your symptoms are not really typical of CTS to start off with. I would probably want to re-test you and look at your ultrasound imagess then have a good talk aout what to do. If we do decide to operate there isn't much of a queue at present. Perhaps if you record a new severity score for me now I'll look at that during the weekend and we'll go from there. JB

I have submitted a new severity score for you to assess. The doctor who did my injections, said surgery can't be carried out until 3 months had passed after having them to lower the risk of infection from the steroids. I have had numerous tests for arthritis, etc and have been told since I was a teenager "It's growing pains". I have always had this wrist "flick" that I do, where it hurts when doing tasks such as typing, writing, just using my hands in general. I just wish there was something that can help as the pins and needle type tingling is getting more noticeable at night and when using my phone or carrying objects.

I think the increased risk of infection after surgery from pre-operative steroid use is something of a surgical myth myself but we can discuss it when we see you again in June. I've made an appointment and put a letter in the post. I think the real challenge here is deciding whether the slight nerve abnormality we found on testing you in March is actually the cause of the symptoms or just an innocent bystander. Make sure you see me in the clinic so that we can talk it through. JB