Tuesday, January 31, 2012
Sunday, January 29, 2012
I'm having Carpal Tunnel Syndrome..
The carpal tunnel is a narrow passageway in your wrist created by your
wrist bones on three sides and by a ligament on the palm side of your
wrist. The main nerve that supplies your hand – called the median nerve –
along with nine tendons that bend your fingers travel through the
carpal tunnel. If this passageway somehow becomes restricted, pressure
is placed on the median nerve, producing numbness, tingling, pain and,
in more severe cases, hand weakness. Most commonly, what causes pressure
on the median nerve is swelling of the synovium surrounding the tendons
that travel through the carpal tunnel. Synovium is a lubricating
membrane that is found in joints and around tendon
Carpal tunnel syndrome usually begins gradually, with a burning pain, tingling and numbness in the palm of the hand and fingers (usually the thumb, index and middle fingers). These sensations often will wake you up at night and cause you to move and shake the hand. Other symptoms you may experience include:
- Tingling and numbness during the day, especially while driving or holding a book or telephone.
- Pain that radiates from the wrist up the arm to the shoulder or from the wrist down into the palm and fingers.
- A feeling that your fingers and hands are swollen, yet no evidence of any swelling.
- Weakness in the hands, lessening your ability to grip things resulting in a tendency to drop things.
- Decreased feeling in the thumb, index and middle fingers.
- Wasting away of the muscle at the base of the thumb.
- Inability to differentiate between hot and cold by touch (rarely)
