This blog is going to be a diary of my experience using a new device I found called C.TRAC. I have a severe case of carpal tunnel syndrome, or "CTS". This diary will be painful. I mean literally painful, because typing aggravates my cts to the point of being unable to sleep and driving me insane. However, I think it's important to catalog my experience with C.TRAC. In the event that it really works, this may help others!
First, some background. I type for a living...a lot. I'm an eBay seller full-time, and spend many hours a day researching using my touch-screen phone and my laptop. I also spend a huge amount of time writing up descriptions. In short, using a mouse and keyboard are "what I do" and it's what makes me money.
About six months ago, I started noticing some tingling and "ticklish" feelings in my wrist, hand, and forearm. I began using a gel wrist pad and paying more attention to ergonomics, making sure my chair was high enough and my keyboard low enough so my wrist wasn't resting in an incorrect position. Unfortunately this didn't seem to help.
I then started using some stretching techniques for the hands and forearms that others had found helpful. This, for me, aggravated things further. At least it felt like it did...things only got worse and worse. I purchased special Ossur wrist braces to use while working...while it helped somewhat, my symptoms were not getting better. I used "Icy Hot" cream 1-2 times a day just to feel a little relief.
It eventually got to the point where I couldn't function on the computer, couldn't use my phone, couldn't even read a book. My wrists were very painful, tingly, and I had lost a good amount of feeling in my hands. You know that feeling when your arm or leg falls asleep, then hurts when you move it when it "wakes up"? That was a constant in my wrists and hands. I had maybe 25% feeling in my hands and couldn't pick things up, handle keys, or manipulate anything using my fingers. I wrapped both wrists in sports injury tape and wore my Ossur braces for almost two weeks without using any of my usual devices at all. I couldn't work and was in constant pain and thought just maybe my wrists would heal.
Over the course of those couple of weeks, my wrists did slowly start to feel a lot better. I was so relieved I could work again, and started back up on my computer. I had missed out on so much income and had bills to pay. I paid very careful attention to my seating position, used my gel wrist pad as well as the braces. Unfortunately, things got very bad and quickly.
The pain came back instantly, and got worse than ever before in about a month. At present, I have had to use the "Icy Hot" any time I needed to do work...which has been cut down to a minimum. The wrist braces are being worn every day, all day and all night. I'm in constant pain and need to "shake my hands out" a lot in order to not go nuts from the pain and numbness. The pain radiates all the way up to my shoulder now. My fingers don't work, I can't grab things...typing this is pretty much Hell. But again, I think this is very important. For me and for other people with Carpal Tunnel Syndrome...maybe we can start getting better! More to come on what C.TRAC is.
