HT induced Carpal Tunnel,De Quervain's, Trigger Finger

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exercise_guru
exercise_guru Member Posts: 716
edited December 2016 in Hormonal Therapy - Before, During, and After

Please share if you have Hormone Therapy induced/aggravated Carpal Tunnel,De Quervain's, Trigger Finger

I am having Carpal Tunnel/ Trigger finger surgery in my right hand tomorrow and De'quervains Surgery in my left hand. This all came on 8 weeks after I started Arimidex and hasn't totally subsided 6 months later after switching to Tamoxifen. Initially both hands would go screaming numb and painful all night but over time that diminished. For the last 6 months I have tried Splints at night, hand physical therapy etc. My right hand still just randomly goes numbe 4-5 times a day. Not painful intense numb like when I was on arimidex but it still goes numb. They did the nerve test and they said it was moderate to sever CTS with some deterioration in my palm muscle. This surprised me because compared to Neulasta its not as painful as I would have expected. A part of me really wanted to wait another year but my insurance covers it now and well I am really going to need my hands when I go back to work. My right hand still goes numb a large portion of the day and I can't lift anything with my left hand without pain along my thumb. I looked it up and when you combine breast cancer, Hormone Therapy and an oophrectomy it really increased my risk of these problems. Its a scary thing for me because I really worry about making my dominant hand worse.


Here is what concerns me the worst. My symptoms improved over the last 6 months on Tamoxifen but didn't resolve. I am one year out from Chemo. So now that I am off Tamoxifen for a different surgery the symptoms decreased but didn't completely abait I will go back on Tamoxifen in January and at some point I will probably have to revisit AI but I do need to work and like most people have a hand intensive occupation.

I have an experienced surgeon but if anyone has any advice, suggestions, experience? I would welcome it. The internet has me very worried about the outcome and recovery for this.

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  • KBeee
    KBeee Member Posts: 5,109
    edited December 2016

    I got carpal tunnel and cubital tunnel while on Tamoxifen and had surgery for both (and a trigger thumb). I just returned from the and surgeon an hour ago because my pinky and ring fingers are again numb. Sigh. EMG and NCV showed neuropathy of muscles along the ulnar nerve, but not through the cubital tunnel, so the surgery is still working. They think it's from radiation or surgery. She wanted to prescribe gabapentin, but I politely declined because I already have too many side effects from too many medications. So basically, it will be permanent. Sigh.

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  • exercise_guru
    exercise_guru Member Posts: 716
    edited December 2016

    Kbee thank you for responding. That is the pits about your ulnar nerve. The placed me on Gabapentin for a few months and If you can avoid it I personally would. It caused me horrible memory problems and I gained a ton of weight on it.


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  • farmerlucy
    farmerlucy Member Posts: 3,985
    edited December 2016

    guru - we restarted T after an AI about the same time. I started glucosamine and chrondroitin about sixty days ago. and it seems all my joints have improved in that time. Not sure if I'm getting over the AI or what, but you might consider G/C if you're not taking it . I still can't make a fist. I saw a osteo doc a couple weeks and he thought the fist issue was still the effect of the AI.

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