carpal tunnel

[dflawton]

First of all, I apologize if this is in the wrong forum. It seems you have to be a doctor to even figure out the correct place to post ;)

Anyways, I was complaining to a friend of wrist pain and they kind of freaked me out. They told me that it's probably carpal tunnel, and they knew someone who had it, and their wrist would spasm and make it look like there was something moving under the skin. They said I'd probably need a brace and surgery as I got older.

First of all, after reading some of the symptoms it DOES seem like I probably have carpal tunnel. I do a lot of typing away from my job, and my job itself is 8 hours a day of typing. The feeling I get usually occurs at night, but not necessarily while I'm trying to sleep. It's sort of a dull throbbing sensation in my left and right wrists that occurs periodically in "pulses." Sometimes I'll feel the throbbing/numbness through my wrist into my pinky and ring fingers.

I'm 21 years old and I'm not a diabetic. In a way, I'm kind of hoping it's carpal tunnel, since there's a lot of history of heart problems in my family. Anything that happens in my body that might seem slightly connected to blood circulation tends to freak me out.

Anyways, I'm mainly wondering about the prognosis. Is this something that's going to progress into really bad pain/numbness instead of something that just occurs a few minutes out of the day? Am I going to eventually need surgery? Thinking of surgery anywhere near my wrists is kind of freaking me out...

Thanks.

[toolmaker]

Have your gp write you a prescription for some wrist splints.All you really have to wear them is while you are sleeping.

[mini_d]

Hi,

You probably have carpal tunnel syndrome or something similar. Typing is one job which puts you at a greater risk for CTS. Hypothyroidism is also an associated disease. There is in most cases no need of surgery. So please do not get worried

Regards