Category: Health

A [very late] Update on Carpal Tunnel

Last year I posted that I had to take an unplanned break from blogging. That break lasted longer than I expected on this blog, although I did manage to post periodically on my food blog, Geek Food Critic.

Well, I’m back with a short update on what happened, how I dealt with the continued issue of RSI/carpal tunnel syndrome, and word that I’m once again participating in the 30 day blog challenge #vDM30in30.

The Medical/Body Side of Things

As of last December, I was waiting to see a specialist. I managed to finally get an appointment with him in late December. I saw an orthopedic surgeon who had actually performed an operation on my wife’s elbow, and she liked him a lot. I did too, although I didn’t really enjoy the nearly two hour delay in being seen the day of my appointment. He was apologetic, however, and I could tell the delay was due to how much time he spends with each patient.

I described my pain, numbness, and tingling to him and he did several manipulations and tests of my hand and fingers. I ended up getting a cortisone (I think) shot that day, and let me tell you, that was both terrifying, as someone who isn’t fond of needles, and oddly pain-free, thanks to some sort of magic cold spray the nurse used on my wrist. After a day or two the shot kicked in and it was like magic. My hand and wrist felt better than it had in years. I kept using the various trackballs and even the Evoluent mouse my boss ordered for me, but figured I might be able to just go back to my usual Logitech mouse.

Wrong. The magic wore off three weeks to the day from getting the shot, and the pain was even worse than before.

So I went to see the doctor again, but first I saw another doctor to have some sort of strange electro-shock torture test done on my hands and arms. I believe this test measured the time it took electrical impulses to travel up and down my arms and hands and fingers, and would have been required by my insurance company (oh how I love my health insurance company) before any possible surgery to address the carpal tunnel syndrome.

Except it turned out that the test was fine, mostly anyway, and showed no serious nerve damage. I asked the doc if that meant I’d just caught this early enough that none had occurred yet and he said that was possible. He didn’t recommend surgery, which was fine with me because I don’t want to be cut open if it isn’t absolutely necessary. So I got another cortisone shot, with an explanation that he really only recommended 2-3 of those in a calendar year, so hopefully this one would last longer.

And it has – right up until this week. That familiar pain and tingling is starting to come back, so I would imagine I have another trip to the doc and at least one needle in my wrist in my near future.

The Tech Side of Things

So what have I been using or avoiding in trying to deal with this issue over the last year? I ended up trying multiple trackballs, a Logitech trackpad, the Evoluent wireless mouse, and what I settled on for regular use at home and at work for a while was the Logitech M570.

Logitech_M570

 

At home I adapted to using the M570 for gaming for a few months, but I noticed some discomfort after an hour or so, so I’ve mostly stopped gaming on the PC on a regular basis. That meant I used either my MacBook Pro or my iPad Pro at home, and over the last few months, I’ve used the iPad Pro almost exclusively. It’s easier on my hands and it’s plenty powerful enough to do what I need to do. I’ll be finishing this blogpost later tonight on the iPad, in fact.

At work, I use the M570 almost all the time when I’m using my MacBook Pro at my sit/stand desk. Recently, for at least 1-3 hours every day I have to work with a PC to work with networking and security equipment, and while doing that I use my old Logitech mouse, but I try to grip it lightly and take my hand off it and use the keyboard as much as possible. Typing that out makes me realize I need to just put in an order for another M570 for the PC – thankfully they’re cheap.

I use my MacBook Pro rarely in meetings at work – it’s a 15″ beast, after all. For most meetings I use my 9.7″ iPad Pro with the Logitech Create case.

Supplements I’m Taking

Something I hadn’t tried by last December but did start by the time I saw the ortho doc was taking a couple of supplements based on recommendations from friends who had dealt with carpal tunnel syndrome. I’ve taken Tumeric in capsule form twice daily for the last 11 months, as well as a B12 vitamin every day. I’m not sure if they’ve helped, but from what I’ve read they both help with inflammation.

So What Comes Next?

I don’t know, but I’m going to start using an M570 on my PC at work and hope that reduces the irritation of using a normal mouse as much as I’ve been doing lately. I’m also very close to going all iPad all the time at home, given my disappointment with Apple’s latest and very late new MacBook Pros.

If that helps, great. If it doesn’t, I’ll see my ortho doc again and see how another cortisone shot works. I’d like to think that surgery isn’t in my future, but the truth is I use my hands all day every day to make my living, and I’m not sure what else I can do to lessen the impact of all of the repetitive and stressful movements I make doing my job.

An Unplanned Break from Blogging

So this will be even shorter than the one I’d spent a painful half hour typing before Squarespace decided to eat the post.

I completely failed in my commitment to keep up with and successfully complete the #vDM30in30 blog challenge. 

I did that for two primary reasons:

  1. We decided we needed a new, larger vehicle in November. As is normal for me, I obsessively researched the purchase.  We settled on a Kia Sorento and bought it the Saturday after Thanksgiving. Most of the spare time I had in November was spent doing car research, and nearly all of that on my iPhone 6S Plus because of reason 2.
  2. In late October I developed carpal tunnel syndrome. I’m still dealing with it now, having seen my primary doctor and am currently waiting to see a specialist. 

I typed up a good bit of info about my experience so far in the post Squarespace ate (and that I, admittedly failed to save – won’t make that mistake again) so I’ll just post a pic and a few links to what I’m trying right now.

This is me with the 2 trackballs I’m using with my right hand these days.  Not pictured is the one I also use with my left hand.

I’m using the Kensington Orbit with my left hand when I feel like I need to give my right hand a break. It’s cheap and not the best feel/quality, but I had it in a box at home and it’s good enough, for now anyway, for my off hand.

For my left hand, I am alternating between the Logitech M570 for precision work and the Kensington SlimBlade for general use. I bought the Logitech right away when I started hurting because I didn’t want to wait on the purchase process at work, and I figured I would need one at home anyway. I’m currently borrowing the Kensington Slimblade from my boss for a few days because, as the most expensive of the three, I want to make sure it will do well by me before asking him to drop nearly $100 on it.

I’m also going to borrow an Evoluent vertical mouse from a colleague this week. I’ve heard good things about vertical mice. I have tried and will be returning an Anker vertical mouse. It’s too small for my hand and gets fairly crummy wireless reception.

More to come as I figure all this out

I’m planning to post more about this as the pain allows and as my experience with it grows. I’m going to try to experiment with blogging via dictation either via my Mac or iPhone. While I anticipate needing to do some layout and image adding by hand, just being able to save typing most of these words would have been very nice.