Strangely symmetrical pain

March 26, 2007 9:01 PM

CarpalTunnelMysteryFilter: I have carpal tunnel syndrome, or something similar, but my hands don't generally hurt unless I work too much. Here's the weird thing:

Even if I only overuse my right hand (e.g. by drawing), the left hand will usually display the same symptoms (although to a lesser degree), whether it's tingling, a burning sensation in my wrist, pain around the knuckles, cold fingertips, twitching fingers, etc. Why would that happen?

(It would be more understandable if the problems originated from my neck - but as far as I can tell, I get the symptoms when I use my hands, not from doing anything with my neck).

posted by martinrebas to Health & Fitness (13 answers total)

Chances are the symptoms in your hands *do* stem in part from pressure on nerves and blood vessels in the neck and shoulder (from hunching forward to read small fonts, or poor sitting posture, e.g.). That would tend to affect both hands.

On a deeper level, if you're having burning pain in your wrists and tingling on a daily basis, you should see a doctor. It will only get worse unless you take care of it now - more frequent breaks, braces, exercises, medication to reduce swelling, whatever. I had it bad for a while when I was a technical writer at a small software company and playing lots of Doom II at night. It didn't go away until I drastically changed my work and play habits and started regular exercise; at one point the pain was constant and throbbing 24 hours a day. Don't get to that point.
posted by mediareport at 9:23 PM on March 26, 2007

Not a doctor, but if it's carpal tunnel syndrome, your pain/numbness/tingling should be confined to your thumb, index and middle finger. To explain for why it occurs in both hands, it could be something else you are oding that is irritating the nerve, for example, do you bend your wrists when you sleep?
posted by alex3005 at 9:25 PM on March 26, 2007

Response by poster: Chances are the symptoms in your hands *do* stem in part from pressure on nerves and blood vessels in the neck and shoulder

you should see a doctor

I've seen about ten. Many of them were offensively ignorant -- "I've never heard of anyone having computer-related hand pain for more than a week or two. Just go back to work". I think I've found a good one now -- he's the one who suggested that it's CTS after I initially discarded it -- and I've been wearing splints while sleeping and doing stretching exercises for over a year now. It's helped a little.

I plan to check in with the doctor again in a few weeks, but I wanted to see what the MeFites had to say about this particular mystery.

Here's why I don't think it's neck-related:
Just sitting in front of a computer doesn't give me any symptoms. Using my hands gives me symptoms, whether it's in front of a computer or not. An x-ray showed nothing unusual.

OTOH: My neck constantly feels a bit uncomfortable.

do you bend your wrists when you sleep?

Not since 2005. :-|
posted by martinrebas at 10:10 PM on March 26, 2007

Do you drive? Take a look at the way your hands rest upon the steering wheel, the angles of your arms, shoulders, wrists.

Do you lean your hands on your desk, or support your weight with your hands in any way?

There are a lot of nerves that pass through the wrist, so pay attention to them. I noticed that my hands hurt all the time, so I started looking at what I was doing with them, and the two areas I mentioned contributed a lot to the stress I was putting on my hands.
posted by lekvar at 10:17 PM on March 26, 2007

I started doing rock climbing when I was experiencing this, and the strengthening of my muscles reduced the pain. I also found out that chairs with armrests really make my life painful by inflaming the nerves in my elbows, so I took all the armrests off of my chairs -- even going so far as to grind one set off with an angle-grinder. :D
posted by SpecialK at 10:18 PM on March 26, 2007

See a neurologist and get tested, it's the only sure thing. I had BOTH hands done about 14 years ago and it fixed it.
My symptoms were hands falling asleep at niight and splints allowed me to sleep and realize what I had.
posted by raildr at 10:45 PM on March 26, 2007

I was a computer programmer and experienced similar problems. No doctor diagnosed it as CTS, just as a possibility, and the only treatment prescribed was advil or some anti-inflammatory to make any swelling go down. Well I never took the advil but I quit programming (it was that bad) and I went to laying carpet instead. My hands got better within about a month or so and I'm now back at the computer and they don't give me any problems. I realize that part of my problem was very likely that my desk and computer chair were not compatible, in that they were causing me to bend my wrists while I typed.
posted by farmersckn at 11:18 PM on March 26, 2007

My friend just went through a similar problem. She'd be going to bed at night and discover that both hands were tingly and numb. Both hands were constantly affected, even though she works primarily with a mouse. Her doctor discovered it was a medicine she was taking for migraines, which caused her to retain a lot of fluids. The fluids in turn caused pressure on the nerve centers in both wrists. This was aggravated by both computer work and tension at her job. The doctor took her off the medicine and within a week or two the pain was gone.

But this is a long shot. I do hope you find a solution.

Do you use a lot of keyboard shortcuts? I find that using them always forces my wrist to bend in ways that seem to strain them.
posted by bristolcat at 4:36 AM on March 27, 2007

Response by poster: the strengthening of my muscles reduced the pain.

For me, it seems to make it worse. My doctor actually warned me not to exercise my arms.

I quit programming (it was that bad) and I went to laying carpet instead. My hands got better within about a month. I realize that part of my problem was very likely that my desk and computer chair were not compatible

I quit programming, too. So far, it's been five years. I've also switched desks and chairs. Hasn't helped.
posted by martinrebas at 4:41 AM on March 27, 2007

My doctor actually warned me not to exercise my arms.

Does he encourage you to stretch them? Regularly and often? If not, that sounds like a strange doctor.
posted by mediareport at 5:01 AM on March 27, 2007

Response by poster: Does he encourage you to stretch them?

Yes. I meant muscle building exercises.
posted by martinrebas at 5:08 AM on March 27, 2007

I'm not a doctor, and I know that throwing out conditions on Ask is rather obnoxious, but the symptoms plus the symmetry of it sounds a little like a Raynaud's phenomenon attack. Has your doctor talked to you about this possibility?
posted by penchant at 8:24 AM on March 27, 2007

The fact that you have pain on the opposite side when you overuse one side could mean your immune system is causing most of the problem. In other words, your 'carpal tunnel' may actually be a manifestation of an autoimmune issue of some sort.

The opposite side phenomenon is caused, in my opinion, by very similar immune system 'addresses' for corresponding parts of the two sides of the body, so that when the immune system is attacking tissues on one side of the body, there can be at least an echo of that attack on the other side. Many people have experienced this, I think, in acne outbreaks; a bad pimple on one side of the face can be followed by redness and swelling in nearly the exact same place on the other side in the absence of any obvious cause there.

I have no idea how the referral process in Sweden works, but it sounds as if you may have enough of a medical history with this problem to expect to get to see a rheumatologist without undue difficulty.

Problems similar to what you describe can be precipitated in some people by an infection, as with reactive arthritis.
posted by jamjam at 8:49 AM on March 27, 2007