RE: Carpal Tunnel, 101
Bpayton1,
my husband is a surgeon and here's how he explained carpal tunnel to me: there are four bones in the wrist (actually four on top, four underneath) which form a tunnel going in to the wrist. The fascia grows across the end of the bones, thereby creating the tunnel. The median nerve as well as all sorts of tendons fill up and run through this tunnel.
When there is swelling in the fascia OR over the tissue covering the bones, it decreases the size of the "tunnel" so that all the tendons and the median nerve become crowded and this swelling puts pressure on the median nerve and creates a numbness in the wrist and fingers. There are nerves from the "tunnel" going to the fingers. This, in the way he explained it in lay terms (obviously not technical language), makes sense to me. Treatment for my bilateral carpal tunnel is to sleep in splints. I have not gotten these yet, but I will.
I asked my husband, Sam, if the weight gain could result in carpal tunnel's syndrome and he said he had never heard of that, although he said that doesn't necessarily mean it's not so since that is not his field.
What kind of work do you do? & for how long? I have been typing since eve was in the garden and now am not only typing at work, I am also typing at home on the computer until the wee hours of each morning. Carpal Tunnel is what "they" (I wonder who "they" are??) call the computer illness. Hope this helps you.
One good thing (to me) is if you are diagnosed with CTS, then it is a comfort that it is not caused by the phen. Also if it is diagnosed, you don't have to worry about it turning into anything.
I assist my husband in the office with office surgeries, and work alot with really sick patients. I see so much, that I sometimes begin to have phantom symptoms. I 'm just glad I can put a name to this and not have to worry about it.
One thing though, at our hospital if you have been on any diet pills, Phen-Fen, Phen by itself, etc., they make you wait two weeks before surgery. Of course, if you come in as an emergency that doesn't apply. This, I guess is because of the bad press Phen-Fen got when it first hit the market. Frankly, I'm happy with the phen.
Enough - after awhile I turn into ramblin' rose.
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