Some interesting news

[fishing n autograph]

Hey Everyone,

 

For the last month or so I've been experiencing numbness in my left hand, specifically in the lower part of my hand (baby finger and palm). I wasn't too sure what was wrong so I saw my doctor today. After doing a few quick tests he's sure it's carpal tunnel syndrome - from the tests and from what I've been telling him like my hand being numb for a few hours after I wake up in the morning.

 

So to be sure he has set me up to see a neurologist because I will get the test results faster than going to another specialists. He says from the repeated typing that i've done over the years and driving with my left hand may be contributing factors. I'm not experiencing any pain so I don't think that it's very bad....the doc isn't sure the severity either, however it could be as simple as physiotherapy or surgery.

 

Yikes....i must be getting old

[irishfield]

Carpal Tunnel is generally restricted to all fingers/thumb EXCEPT your baby finger ! It operates on different nerves. You may wanna find a new Doctor that knows the human body a tad better.....and before Doug gets here... Google ACTIVE RELEASE THERAPY. Forgo the knife at all cost !

[danc]

I had the same thing happen to me 12 years ago or so. It got so bad that I lost the use of my baby finger and the next one to it. They just folded up like cooked spaghetti when I tried to do anything with them. My family doctor sent me to a doctor that did electro testing through the nerves. He determined that I had a nerve blockage in my elbow. Sent to the neurologist next with that info. The neurologist told me to give it some time. Sure enough it eventually went away. Most of it anyways. I still have constant minor tingling and numbness in those two fingers, extending into the palm, just as you've described. But the fingers are both back in working order.

[irishfield]

That's why I was saying it's not Carpal Tunnel Dan.... Carpal Tunnel is wrist nerves.. only effects thumb index and middle fingers. Not baby finger.

 

I've have extreme hand/lower arm/elbow issues thanks to over a decade of drilling/riveting. Found most of it was a "ball of knots" in my elbow region... that I get massaged by the local Reflexoligist from time to time to keep the pain to a minimum. Numbness and hands falling asleep is generally bad blood flow... also corrected by massage or Active Release Therapy.

Edited December 9, 2008 by irishfield

[danc]

I've have extreme hand/lower arm/elbow issues thanks to over a decade of drilling/riveting.

 

That was most likely the culprit in my case too Wayne.

[jwl]

if you say it's your baby finger affected as well that's definately not carpal tunnel, I had surgery for that on my right hand about 10 years ago...symptoms where anywhere from numbness, and tingling to severe pain from my hand ,wrist all the way up to my elbow. Got it from working in a factory screwing stuff together all day with air tools pretty much, and in general, just too much repetative work. Many tests, trips to the specialist, trips to the neurologist ect...months in physio, then the surgeons ect finally decided that surgery in fact was my best option.

 

As for the baby finger thing, ever since then, before and after the surgery and talking to the specialists it was determined that I had a pinched nerve in my elbow as well that I should have had surgery on already for years but haven't, one day possibly but it hasn't been a huge issue for the most part. The Carpal tunnel surgery was a great success I must say,I have had very little problems after. The only thing it has affected the most is the fact that I lovce to draw and paint ect just as a hobby and ever since I had the surgery I cannot hold a pencil for a long time before it is irritating.

[bigugli]

There can also be numerous neurological causes for the problem. None if which are surgically correctable.

[forrest]

I injured a neck muscle a while back and my hand was experiencing numbness and pain. The doc said I was find and to keep using it until I could not stand the pain any more, it will repair itself. That doctors brain was numb. I did not take that advice and eventually worked it out. I experience a slew of pain in various parts of my arm at different times: shoulder, neck, elbow, tricept and hand. The point is the problem might not be in your hand or your brain; take care of all your parts.

 

Greater than 85% of carpel tunnel cases are solved with simple stretching....did the doctor give you any of those?

 

Help out the neurologist and yourself buy doing some mild yoga type exercises and the carpel stretches. Neither are radical and feel / are gentle on the body.

 

If you are unlucky you will get misdiagnosed and get unrequired surgery etc...so do the exercises, get lucky/better and avoid the doc.

 

forrest

[forrest]

Oh yeah almost forgot. If the doc says...lets book you for a MRI or other magnetic diagnostic...some docs give them out like candy: 1 head scan = 50 xrays; 1 body scan = 200xrays.

[Guest skeeter99]

forrest

 

you have some poor info on mri's there is no radiation in mri's at all my friend so haow can it be like 1 mri = 50 x-rays

 

 

 

Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) is a form of medical imaging. Whereas X-rays look at hard tissue like bone, MRI actually images the water in your body. This allows it to image pretty much every single organ in your body. It also manages to do this in 3D, or even over time, tracking changes and metabolism.

 

X-rays use what is known as ionising radiation and thus too much of them can be bad for you, just like too much time in the sun. MRI uses a very powerful magnetic field and radio waves, and thus is harmless to humans.

 

 

 

The Magnet

 

The magnetic field is created by a huge coil of super-conducting wire surrounded by liquid helium. The field is fine-tuned, and altered for imaging by coils of 'regular' wire. The patient area looks like a cylindrical, hollow space about two feet across within the magnet. The strength of the field means that it is very dangerous to take any ferromagnetic objects into the scanner room. Any non-magnetic metals will also affect the scans as they will conduct a current in the changing field.

 

The loud noises made by MRIs are caused by vibrations in these regular-wire coils as the current through them changes. Being inside the magnet can be uncomfortable as you have to remain very, very still for the duration of the scan, and you are placed in a fairly confined space, which is no good if you are claustrophobic.

 

How It Works

 

MRI works by aligning all of the protons which are in hydrogen (H2) atoms in the H2O in your body (any magnetic species would do but H2 outnumbers the others by millions to one). In a very, very strong field (about 1.5 Tesla for most clinical magnets, which is 30,000 times stronger than the Earth's magnetic field) slightly more than half of the protons will have their magnetic fields aligned with the external field, and slightly less than half will be aligned against it. The reason for this has a lot to do with quantum mechanics. The number of 'extra' protons aligned with the field is much less than 1% at 1.5T, which is why the field needs to be so large.

 

Once they are lined up, they precess1 around the direction of the field, much like a spinning top does as it begins to fall over. The rate at which they precess is dependent on the field strength and the situation of the proton. If a radio-frequency pulse is emitted at the same frequency as this precession, the proton will absorb the energy and then re-emit it. A receiver antenna picks up these emissions and based on the strength and location obtains information about the protons.

 

Do this a few million times with a big computer and some fancy code, and you can build up a detailed picture of the whole body. By looking at oxygen usage in the brain over time (deoxyhaemoglobin is paramagnetic 2 and thus messes up some of the signal), you can even see which parts of the brain are being used at any time. This is called functional MRI. Tap your fingers during one of these scans and the motor cortex of the brain will light up. Watch a film and the visual cortex will be active.

 

MRI is a very safe way of viewing the inside of the human body. It is a very powerful medical tool that is helping to improve the health and quality of life of millions of people by improving the level of the diagnosis.

[douG]

A good find there Skeeter, a fine explanation of how MRI works and how it's different than x ray exposure. Note that there are limits legislated for non ionizing radiation too like MRI, and all of these are exceeded by your cell phone, based on 8 hours continuous exposure.

 

And Wayne tried to steal my story, but yupper, find a local provider of Active Release Therapy. This gizmo will let you find help for your problem in your neighborhood by entering your postal code. These professionals are physical therapists, occupational therapists, or chiropractors, that have received a certain type of training. The treatment is a type of deep massage that breaks up scar tissue along your nerves, from the endings all the way back to your back. It smarts a bit, but no bone cracking is involved.

 

It doesn't really matter to an ART provider whether the problem is in your wrist (carpal tunnel), in your forearm or elbow (tennis or golfers' elbow), in your shoulder, or in your neck / trap area. It's all the same to him / her, and results from the same sort of problem. Follow the link and learn about this yerslef.

 

I betcha here, right now, that your first treatment will help with a 60% improvement, hitting 95% after 3 more treatments, and then done, as long as you stop doing what caused the first problem. This was exactly my experience, with the same complaint that you described, numbness and tingling along the bottom of my hand, including Mr Tiny. You still have to fix the cause of this whole thing by using better tools that keep the joints in a neutral position, reducing the force you need to apply, and cutting down on the time you do the same thing over and over. Those three factors explain why someone who operates a jackhammer for 1 hour a day can have the same problem as a computer jockey at it for 12 hours a day.

 

Many health insurance companies in the US will not pay for RSI surgery unless AND until ART has been used. Success rate over thousands of sufferers is 90%, even when the folks are scheduled for surgery, or have had failed surgery. I am currently running 19 successes over 23 recommendations, so about 7 out of 8 are much improved. Note that surgery has a typical success rate of only 50%.

 

If your first treatment don't work, let me know, and I'll make it right for you. Just PLEASE don't let anyone cut you before trying this.

 

I should paste this to my desktop for handy reposting. Ah gots the religion.

Edited December 9, 2008 by douG

[forrest]

forrest

 

you have some poor info on mri's there is no radiation in mri's at all my friend so haow can it be like 1 mri = 50 x-rays

Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) is a form of medical imaging. Whereas X-rays look at hard tissue like bone, MRI actually images the water in your body. This allows it to image pretty much every single organ in your body. It also manages to do this in 3D, or even over time, tracking changes and metabolism.

 

X-rays use what is known as ionising radiation and thus too much of them can be bad for you, just like too much time in the sun. MRI uses a very powerful magnetic field and radio waves, and thus is harmless to humans.

 

 

 

The Magnet

 

The magnetic field is created by a huge coil of super-conducting wire surrounded by liquid helium. The field is fine-tuned, and altered for imaging by coils of 'regular' wire. The patient area looks like a cylindrical, hollow space about two feet across within the magnet. The strength of the field means that it is very dangerous to take any ferromagnetic objects into the scanner room. Any non-magnetic metals will also affect the scans as they will conduct a current in the changing field.

 

The loud noises made by MRIs are caused by vibrations in these regular-wire coils as the current through them changes. Being inside the magnet can be uncomfortable as you have to remain very, very still for the duration of the scan, and you are placed in a fairly confined space, which is no good if you are claustrophobic.

 

How It Works

 

MRI works by aligning all of the protons which are in hydrogen (H2) atoms in the H2O in your body (any magnetic species would do but H2 outnumbers the others by millions to one). In a very, very strong field (about 1.5 Tesla for most clinical magnets, which is 30,000 times stronger than the Earth's magnetic field) slightly more than half of the protons will have their magnetic fields aligned with the external field, and slightly less than half will be aligned against it. The reason for this has a lot to do with quantum mechanics. The number of 'extra' protons aligned with the field is much less than 1% at 1.5T, which is why the field needs to be so large.

 

Once they are lined up, they precess1 around the direction of the field, much like a spinning top does as it begins to fall over. The rate at which they precess is dependent on the field strength and the situation of the proton. If a radio-frequency pulse is emitted at the same frequency as this precession, the proton will absorb the energy and then re-emit it. A receiver antenna picks up these emissions and based on the strength and location obtains information about the protons.

 

Do this a few million times with a big computer and some fancy code, and you can build up a detailed picture of the whole body. By looking at oxygen usage in the brain over time (deoxyhaemoglobin is paramagnetic 2 and thus messes up some of the signal), you can even see which parts of the brain are being used at any time. This is called functional MRI. Tap your fingers during one of these scans and the motor cortex of the brain will light up. Watch a film and the visual cortex will be active.

 

MRI is a very safe way of viewing the inside of the human body. It is a very powerful medical tool that is helping to improve the health and quality of life of millions of people by improving the level of the diagnosis.

 

 

umm....yeah. They are different, but, the effect of their energy is equivilant in the amount of disruption they cause to cells.....or maybe it was another imaging techniques.....oen o those ones they stick you into and leave you in for a bit. CT scan...thats the one....

 

No need for the copy/paste info on MRIs. Yeah...I mispoke

 

 

forrest

Edited December 9, 2008 by forrest