What can I do to relieve the symptoms of carpal tunnel?

Question

I have a doctor appointment in 4 days, but I need relief NOW!

Answer 1

Try ice packs. Leave ice on wrist for about 15 minutes about once an hour. Advil (if you are not allergic) may give some relief...be sure to take it with food. Also, try this: hold your hurt hand up with the palm facing your good hand. Put the palm of your good hand against the fingers of the other hand and push the hurt hand back as far as you can. Hold for a few seconds. Release and then do it again. I have found this relieves the tightness of the muscles. Also, a wrist band (or ace bandage) wrapped around the affected wrist will give some relief. See link for additional exercises. Hope you are better soon!
http://rehabengineer.homestead.com/files/carpal/carpal.html

Answer 2

Go to a medical supply store. Buy a brace for carpal tunnel.

There is not much else you can do before the doctor's visit.

Answer 3

Cold Laser (low level laser) therapy to the median nerve at the carpal tunnel has provided some success and is now FDA approved.

http://www.a-body-for-living.com/laser-therapy-melbourne.html

I would also suggest the right kind of massage/bodywork to address any tightness in the wrist/finger flexor muscles which may be putting undue tension on their tendons, perhaps causing inflammation/swelling at the carpal tunnel level.

http://www.a-body-for-living.com/neuromuscular-therapy-melbourne.html

Answer 4

Place ice packs on your wrists for ten minutes at a time, several times a day. Rest your hands as much as possible. That is going to help them get a little recovery time. Advil soft gel capsules work quickly to help relieve pain. Take these four times daily. You can purchase wrist supports at your drugstore. This will help the muscles not have to work so hard.

Answer 5

Wear a supportive wrist brace and take motrin. Also soaking your wrists in warm water with epsoms salts helps. Also use a heating pad and wrap your wrists in that for 20 mins. and then ice for 20 mins. Also you should talk to your docs about trying a good arthritis med such as celebrex or naproxin.

Answer 6

Anti-Inflammatory Diet

To supplement anti-inflammatory nutrients while continuing to ingest pro-inflammatory substances is counter-productive. These dietary guidelines help reduce inflammation for most people.

1. Decrease or eliminate red meat and dairy products. Some arthritis patients also seem to react to poultry.
2. Decrease or eliminate refined sugar.
3. Eliminate caffeine (including coffee, black tea, cola drinks, and chocolate).
4. Eliminate any likely food allergens during the initial three or four weeks such as gluten grains, citrus fruit, and night shade vegetables (tomatoes, white potatoes, red and green peppers, eggplant, paprika, and tobacco). These foods can be added back into the diet one at a time (one new food every third day) while carefully observing the effect. Forms are available to make it easier to monitor the effect of these foods.
5. Drink plenty of pure water. Chlorine is an antibiotic and can diminish our friendly gut flora. Studies have associated chlorine in drinking water with increased risk of some types of cancer. It is probably best to drink at least a half hour before the meal and no sooner than a hour after so the digestive juices won't be diluted.
6. Increase your consumption of fresh, raw or lightly steamed fruits and vegetables. Good fruit choices include apples, bananas, grapes, mangoes, papayas, peaches, pears, prunes, kiwis, and other sub-acid fruits. Use discretion if the patient has blood sugar problems although fruit often does not cause a problem if the diet is low fat and high fiber. Good vegetables include asparagus, spinach, zucchini, parsley, artichoke (without the butter), kelp and other sea-veggies, okra, snow peas and many more. Cruciferous vegetables such as cabbage, broccoli, cauliflower as well as onions, chives, and peppers are very nutritious but may create digestive difficulties for some people. The solution is often simply chewing the food better and possibly adding supplemental digestive enzymes such as Metazyme or Beano. Spices such as garlic, tumeric, etc. are also very healthy and should be used regularly if well tolerated.
7. For snacks, consider raw vegetables, fruit, nuts and seeds. The fruits and veggies contain lots of enzymes, bioflavonoids, and other phytochemicals, while the raw nuts and seeds are rich in essential fatty acids, especially flax seed, pumpkin and sunflower seed, walnuts and almonds (almonds can be allergenic to some people). Raw seeds like sesame and flax need to be ground for proper digestion. An electric coffee grinder works well.
These healthy snacks can be combined e.g. raw vegetable sticks dipped in tahini (ground sesame seeds) or almond butter.

These suggestions are very helpful for most people with inflammatory conditions such as sprains, strains, bursitis, tendonitis, arthritis, etc. and can be used in conjunction with supplementation. Most people find that eating this way also often lowers blood lipids, smoothes out blood sugar variations, helps with weight management, reduces digestive problems, increases energy, and more. It is important to note that fats digest more slowly so when fat is reduced in the diet, we may become hungry sooner and be tempted to eat M&M's, corn chips, snack crackers, cookies, etc. This hunger is not a problem if we have prepared plenty of healthy snacks as mentioned above.
http://www.dcdoctor.com/pages/brimhall/pdf/antiinflammatorydiet.pdf (need adobe reader)

http://nutrition.about.com/od/dietsformedicaldisorders/a/antiinflamfood.htm
http://www.cidpusa.org/diet.html
http://www.drweil.com/drw/u/QA/QA252779/

Answer 7

listen not alot you can do but stop doing what your doing make since right its how you are working the wrist dont let them cut on you that will not stop the pain it will just make it worse ware a brace

Answer 8

Wear those braces on your wrists that keep them straight.