Hypothyroidism & carpal tunnel

[SarahE86]

I was diagnosed with multinodular goiter and hypothyroidism. I chose to have my thyroid removed where they found multi nodular hyperplasia and hashimoto's thyroiditis. A week and a half after my surgery my wrists and hands began to feel tingly and numb at times. I was just curoius if anyone has heard of this and if it is related. My thyroid levels are normal now from the medication and i am on vitamins and calcium to keep my levels right. Is this just a coincidence or could it be related?

- Sarah Emmons

[LazyMoose]

A lot of people that still have a thyroid - but hypo seem to have carpel tunnel like symptoms, which can be muscle related (very common when hypo). Real true Carpel Tunnel is what goolarra described and the median nerve is pinched in the wrist area.

Another angle to look at for quick relief : Any of the nerves that go to the hand can be pinched from tight muscles anywhere from the neck, to the fore arm, but you can feel the pain at the end of the nerves - your hand! This can sometimes be quickly relieved by a massage therapist (or yourself) searching for the tight muscles that are causing the pinching. So, a doctor may say you don't have carpel tunnel even though your hands tingle/hurt. They are mostly familiar with this feeling if the cause is in the wrist itself. Your cause (like mine) may be muscles pinching nerves in the neck and forearms, but you feel it in your hands. With this situation wrist braces still work great when sleeping as the whole nerve can get quite inflamed when bent.

For me in the long run, the addition of T3 seems to help in that area, just T4 (was on it for ten years) did not help the hand pain at all. Don't know what med you are on, hope it goes away for you when your labs level out.

[goolarra]

If I remember correctly, I have heard of people getting carpal tunnel-like symptoms post op.

One of the ways to tell if it's carpal is that the thumb through the middle finger side of the ring finger goes numb, somtimes the other side of the ring finger also, and the pinkie is not affectred at all.  I remember the hand being very painful and "hot" when it came back from being numb.

You might try starting another thread so people who have had TTs can respond to you.  I'm almost certain this is a fairly common side effect of TT and eventually goes away, but it would be better if you heard that from someone who had experienced it.  Try something like "TT and tingling hands and wrists" in the title.  

Sorry I couldn't be of more help.  

[SarahE86]

That's the thing. The day after my thyroid was removed i immediately started the 150 mcg which my endo has said is keeping my levels at the normal range. I have had hypo as long as i had the nodlues. Only until they remove the thyroid is when the carpal tunnel started. And that was almost two weeks post op. And it is still very painful and tingly. I am doubtful that it is carpal because it's my entire hand and wrist. Nerve testing is set up but i just thought it was strange and so does the nerologist.

[goolarra]

You were probably hypo after your surgery, and carpal tunnel syndrome is a symptom of hypothyroidism.  Try keeping your wrists slightly extended whenever possible,  and don't let them flex .  There are wrist braces available at drugstores that will keep your wrist from flexing during the night if that's a problem.