sivyaleah

I've been diagnosed with ulnar nerve entrapment, and a pinched nerve in my neck. Both are causing numbness in the pinkies and ring fingers, the ulnar is my right, the pinch my left. Just kind of a coincidence that two different things are causing the same problem. Leave it to me LOL.

Anyway, my orthopedist whom I trust completely (he got me through some serious back issues and recently did arthroscopic surgery on my knee) is thankfully not surgery-happy and we've been trying some low-tech ways to help me such as bracing, keeping the neck more stable while sleeping, being hyperaware of where I'm leaning my elbows, etc.

I saw him for a 2nd follow-up last week to assess how I'm doing. Not great, I can say. My biggest problem is the numbness is worst at night, while sleeping and causes me to wake up numerous times during the night. So, he put me on Ambien, to at least help me sleep, because it isn't good to be so sleep deprived either. In my Ambien haze tho, evidently I pull off the elbow support every night and always wind up with my head buried in my pillow (which is at least a good one - Temperpedic). But, I don't feel the constant numbness at least and I'm sleeping much better.

He brought up a point - that even tho my case during the daytime isn't as severe as many people, that there comes a point where making too many accommodations can become an annoyance and that for that reason alone the surgery may be called for.

I'm contemplating getting a second opinion. I called the doctor who performed my EMG and ECT (is that right) to get copies sent to me directly.

I know many people have had difficulties with the surgery and my job depends on me using my hands all day long (computer work). I also know that most people who have successful surgeries are NOT frequenting health boards in general, so it's hard for me to get an accurate take on what percentage of surgeries are successful as opposed to a failure.



Any comments? Opinions?
Thanks!