I had what they said was severe carpal tunnel in both wrists 4 years ago. I was in agony for well over a year while they pissed about just fobbing me off with wrist splints to sleep in :( Eventually they did surgery on both wrists and it improved dramtically, but if i do heavy work that involves gripping tightly and pressing hard for a while ie scrubbing a floor i'm in pain for days and worry i've made it come back.. even carrying heavy bags is hard.. i still have daily pain in my hands, but i'm told that is more just from a tendons/arthritis problem nowadays :(
Carpal tunnel was numbness, pain, throbbing, and i would wake in the night with shooting pains in my arm that would only go off if i lept out of bed and stood with my arm hanging loose straight down. Sounds daft but it was official and the burning pain was just horrible. When they delayed the op for 3 months due to the consultant being "off sick" i remember i cried for hours, cos i just needed it to be over.
Like with anything, there's varying degrees of carpal tunnel, a relative says they had it but didn't have many of the symptoms i had.. a lot of people mistake rsi for it. And docs take bloody ages to diagnose you, and then make you try splints for ages before anything else. Burning, numbness, swollen wrists, pins and needles, have any or all of that then go to the docs, and be firm!
