6 months after cts surgery, severe numbness /pain /electrical shocks

Lee T
Offline

Hi,
First off i want to thank you for this forum and taking the time to respond to each post. I'm sure you have other things that you'd rather be doing.

I had carpal tunnel syndrome for years and never had it looked at, i now realize that was a mistake. In March of this year i finally had a nerve study done and was told that I had severe to extreme cts in both hands and needed ulnar nerve surgery on both elbows as well.

March 7th i had my left hand and elbow done.everything went great. April 25th i had my right hand and elbow operated on,my follow up appointment was 6 weeks later.

Ever since my right hand and elbow operation my thumb, index and middle finger are completely numb with severe pain / burning at times. They swell up and get stiff to the point that i can get no satisfaction no matter what i do.it really gets bad if i drive or type on the computer. I forgot to mention that I also have a electric shocking sensation that goes from between my fingers through my wrist and up my arm when doing things like washing in the shower or putting on my belt.

My cts was very bad before the operation, i would wake up several times a night with my hands numb i couldn't hold on to the steering wheel for more than 30 seconds before they would go numb and couldn't ride my cycle because I was constantly shaking my hands to get feeling back.but never experienced severe numbness with swelling and burning that would never go away.they are so bad i can't even bend them fully at times.

My doctor says that mine was the worst he has seen in the last 3 to 5 years. i just have to be patient and the feeling will come back. My concern is he won't send me for any kind of testing and i don't understand why. I've asked him the last two follow up appointments and he says that there's no reason to. I'm going crazy with the way my hand feels and would do anything for some relief. I think that after 6 months there should be some improvement.

I do not know what the readings were from the nerve study,i can ask on the 23rd of October. That is my next appointment. I also am still out of work because i have to be 100 percent and released by my doctor. I even asked if i could go back light duty but was denied because of liability issues. I work for a municipal government and they love their lawyers.

I forgot to mention, I'm right handed and it was always my strongest hand.now i have no grip strength and drop things all the time. And also near zero fine motor skills. Any ideas or suggestions to ask my doctor? Treatments, tests? If i had to live the rest of my life like this i would have at least my two fingers cut off thats how bad it is. This coming from someone who has been in bad vehicle wrecks, been shot with a 45 and two nasty motorcycle accidents,so i know what discomfort is.

Again, Thank you for your time. Lee

jeremydpbland
Online

The keys to analysing this situation are the pre-operative and post-operative (I know you haven't had any post studies yet) nerve conduction results and sometimes a post-operative ultrasound examination. CTS really should not feel worse 5-6 months after surgery no matter how bad it was before surgery so if your primary care physician or surgeon will not get it re-investigated then ask for a second opinion. If you can get hold of the original NCS then I'll be happy to look at them. JB

Lee T
Offline

Thank you for your response to my post. I will ask for the results of the nerve study on the 23rd of oct.and post that night.

I am pretty desperate for some relief, as you probably realize from reading my last post. It has me to the point that i sometimes feel like I'm going to have a anxiety attack, which I've never had in my life.

In case you were wondering I'm 52 years old and work for a municipal government as a maintenance worker. (That's a nice way of saying that I do anything from road work, to climbing in and out of manholes and everything in between.)

Thanks Lee

jeremydpbland
Online

I'll look out for it. You can email results to me (address in the contacts section of the website). Unfortunately English language terms relating to the severity of CTS (mild, moderate, severe, extreme etc) are bandied about with gay abandon and no consistent meaning by all concerned in treating CTS.. You really can't tell what the case was actually like without the NCS results. Good luck with getting hold of them. JB

jeremydpbland
Online

Thanks for the NCS - they showed bilateral grade 3 CTS before surgery, Grade 2 (or possibly even 1) on the left after surgery which is about right for a successful decompression. The right side however has deteriorated to grade 6 suggesting either incomplete decompression or operative trauma to the nerve. Get it looked at urgently. I've also replied by email. JB

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