Pronator Teres Syndrome perhaps

[Adulthood]

Well, the update to my last post is as follows:

Apparantly I very likely have PTS, a cousin of CTS, but the medial nerve is compressed by the pronator teres by the elbow, instead of by the wrist. I had acupuncture today and when she stuck the needle in by my elbow it felt like i had been struck by lightening---it went all the way through to my thumb and 3 gimpy fingers. My condition isn't any better yet, but she feels that it will improve with a few more days of rest and another session.
Has anyone had this? I have read online that it is pretty rare, unlike CTS. Unfortunately for some people, they are diagnosed with Carpal tunnel and have the surgery and later find out when it isn't better that it was really PTS all along.
I have also been advised to see a chiropractor. This could be costly for me as I am an independant contractor and don't have insurance. I only want to go if there's a decent chance that it would help. Any opinions on this?
Thanks a lot!

 

[canizzy_123]

I think I have PTS too

I was scheduled to have carpal tunnel release surgery on the 12th of Dec and I called and canceled the surgery today. I have been having a nagging feeling that I just don't have CTS. I went to a doc several years ago when I first had the symptoms and he said it didn't seem like I had CTS. But he never gave me a name for my problem. He sent me to a therapist that gave me a treatment of shocks on my forearm. I think it was TENS. It all seemed really kooky to me at the time and it was $100 a treatment so I only went once. Strangely enough that one treatment did help alot. The pain and tingling eventually came back and I lived with it for years. I finally got decent insurance and went to another doc. He did some tests on me including a nerve conduction study and said I had CTS and needed to have surgery. During one visit he noticed that the middle of forearm felt really tight and he had me do an MRI to "rule out a mass". No mass showed up. Now that I know about PTS I think that should have been a big clue to him. Hello!! My nerve is sore all the way down my forearm. And I have a really sore spot in the middle of my forearm, the same place where the doc felt the tightness. I'm not up for acupuncture, but I will look into seeing a chiropractor and a massage therapist. See if I can get a diagnosis for PTS now that the other doc milked my insurance for over $1000. I'm glad I found out about PTS in time to cancel the surgery.

 

[Johnny P]

Then there's the good old Double Crush Syndrome....

Double crush syndrome was first described in The Lancet in 1973. The term refers to a diagnosis of a compressed or trapped nerve in one area (e.g. the carpal tunnel in the wrist or Guyon's tunnel in the elbow), with a second entrapment in another location (e.g. the neck or shoulder), with both entrapments contributing to symptoms. Some researchers suggest that the presence of an undiagnosed entrapment in another location may explain why some people still experience symptoms after carpal tunnel surgery. Some also suggest that an examination of the hand alone is not sufficient when diagnosing and treating carpal tunnel syndrome, and that the nerves along the whole length of the arm should be examined from the hand to the neck.

True carpal tunnel syndrome stems from impingement or irritation of the median nerve in the wrist, usually affecting the thumb and first finger. Since some fibers of the median nerve are derived from the 6th and 7th cervical nerves, it's possible for the symptoms of carpal tunnel syndrome to be confused with nerve symptoms originating in the neck. When there is compression of the median nerve in the wrist as well as compression of the 6th or 7th cervical nerve in the neck, the overlapping symptoms are called "double crush syndrome," and require attention to both the wrist and the neck. A neurologist can determine whether the symptoms are originating in the wrist, the neck, or both, by using nerve conduction studies and needle electromyography to locate sites of damage and nerve root compression.