Carpal Tunnel Surgery Recovery - what can I expect?

[Kassia]

I'm having carpal tunnel surgery next month and my doctor didn't say anything about recovery.  I was hoping to get some information here - can anyone share their experiences on what I can expect?  

Thank you!

[school17777]

I had my surgery on my dominant hand two months ago.  The recovery was more than I expected.  Before surgery, I know the dr said two-four weeks 5 lb restriction.  After surgery, it was 4-6 week restriction.  I was definitely 6 weeks- your wrist hurts if you lift more than 5lbs.

I was surprised at how hard it was to not be able to do things with my non-dominant hand.  Like cut fruit and vegetables, toilet hygiene.

The palm of my hand sometimes still feels bruised.  

A week ago, I sliced off the tip of my thumb while making a salad using a mandolin, so I’m back to not having full use of my hand.

If you are is stick, plan at least two weeks until you can drive it.  Even my automatic stick was hard to move with my right hand.  The first day I drove, I had to move the automatic stick with my left hand.

eta:   Hope everything goes well!

Edited December 15, 2018 by school17777

[Kassia]

Thank you.  My dominant hand will be done next month and my other hand will be done two weeks later.  I wish it were sooner but my surgeon is booked until then.  I can't sleep because of the pain and numbness.  

[Bootsie]

I had surgery carpal tunnel surgery on both hands at the same time.  I was in extreme pain before the surgery; It felt so good to be free from pain after the surgery that the recovery was a breeze.  I had lost a lot of strength in my hands from the carpal tunnel, so much of the recovery was getting that back.  The main thing after the surgery was keeping the area clean and dry. Other than that there were not many restrictions after a couple of days.  

[Kassia]

I wanted to have both hands done at the same time but was told insurance won't cover it anymore even though it's more cost-effective.  

[school17777]

Just now, Kassia said:

I wanted to have both hands done at the same time but was told insurance won't cover it anymore even though it's more cost-effective.  

 

It might be more cost effective, but recovery would be rough.  I think two weeks is too soon!

[Kassia]

2 minutes ago, school17777 said:

 

It might be more cost effective, but recovery would be rough.  I think two weeks is too soon!

 

Yes, recovery would be rough!  

[kbutton]

My mom had two done at a time way back when, but it was because she had to travel about 4 hours away to have the less invasive surgery that is now standard.

DH had his dominant hand done earlier this year, and he was back to new quite fast. He went from fairly subtle symptoms that he didn't realize were related to "can't sleep from pain and numbness" very fast. He recovered quickly, probably due to the fact that he got in and got it taken care of fairly quickly. He's had other outpatient procedures that were supposed to be easier that were much harder than carpal tunnel surgery, so we honestly thought it would be a slog. 

DH's surgeon said that some people swell more than others, and that people who swell more will have a bit of delay in how quickly they feel a decrease in the pain and numbness--basically if you swell, one kind of restriction is temporarily swapped with another until the swelling goes down. If the surgery center wraps it well, and you can keep it iced and elevated, that can help with the swelling.

The only people I know who didn't have fairly profound results in just a few weeks are people who were misdiagnosed for a long time due to confounding factors (severe osteoarthritis, car accident, etc.). Even those people are still happy to have had the surgery.

Best wishes!

[Bootsie]

11 hours ago, Kassia said:

I wanted to have both hands done at the same time but was told insurance won't cover it anymore even though it's more cost-effective.  

I had both done at one time three years ago.  My insurance covered it.  My doctor said it was not his preference to do both at one time but my case was so bad  (he said that it was in the top five worst cases he had ever seen) I was totally incapacitated before the surgery.  I could not use a fork or knife to cut anything and I could not hold a sandwich in my hands.  I could not sleep.   I was to the point that daily functioning was impossible.  

The bad thing about having both done is that you want to keep the incision area clean, so any activity that might expose you to nasty bacteria you have to use a hand that has an incision and then you can't thoroughly wash the area.  The other somewhat odd thing was they had to give me anesthesia in my foot rather than a hand or arm.

[Kassia]

On 12/15/2018 at 11:35 PM, Bootsie said:

I had both done at one time three years ago.  My insurance covered it.  My doctor said it was not his preference to do both at one time but my case was so bad  (he said that it was in the top five worst cases he had ever seen) I was totally incapacitated before the surgery.  I could not use a fork or knife to cut anything and I could not hold a sandwich in my hands.  I could not sleep.   I was to the point that daily functioning was impossible.  

The bad thing about having both done is that you want to keep the incision area clean, so any activity that might expose you to nasty bacteria you have to use a hand that has an incision and then you can't thoroughly wash the area.  The other somewhat odd thing was they had to give me anesthesia in my foot rather than a hand or arm.

 

That's awful how bad your condition was before surgery!  Did you find that your symptoms progressed quickly?  My first surgery is over a month away and my dominant hand is starting to go numb when I write or do anything with it (before it only bothered me at night and when I first got up).  I'm afraid I'm going to lose the use of my hand before surgery if it keeps getting worse.  

Hope you are all recovered now!  🙂

Edited December 18, 2018 by Kassia

[Bootsie]

4 hours ago, Kassia said:

 

That's awful how bad your condition was before surgery!  Did you find that your symptoms progressed quickly?  My first surgery is over a month away and my dominant hand is starting to go numb when I write or do anything with it (before it only bothered me at night and when I first got up).  I'm afraid I'm going to lose the use of my hand before surgery if it keeps getting worse.  

Hope you are all recovered now!  🙂

Looking back on it, I had some symptoms for quite a while.  I probably had some genetic predisposition; my mom had surgery in both hands in the mid 1970s,when she was in her mid 30s, and I have had a couple of cousins who have had problems.  I broke my ankle and was on crutches.  They told me to make sure that I didn't lean on the crutches with my underarms because it could cause nerve damage.  I made sure that I didn't lean on the crutches, but was having a horrible time using the crutches--I thought I just had weak arms, but it was the carpal tunnel making it so difficult (I hadn't realized until then how much strength I had lost in my hands).  The extreme pain came on suddenly.  I had some pain killers from the broken ankle that would generally knock me out, but they did nothing for the carpal tunnel pain and I couldn't sleep even when I took the pain killers.  The only thing that :"helped" was walking around shaking my hands.  

I started a new job 250 miles away one week after the surgery--I had shown up for the job interview on crutches and then for the first day of work with both hands bandaged!  My new coworkers thought I was crazy, I am sure.  The one thing I can remember being difficult (besides washing and blow drying my hair) was opening water bottle caps.  But, it was so much better after the surgery than before.  They told me to do things like type, move my fingers, and regain movement as much as possible as soon as possible.

Good luck!