hougtimo

Hi,

I am a 19yr old male.

Bit of Background : Generally healthy (not seen a doctor in 8 yrs), active, get the flu every year (last week in feburary usually), have had instability in the knee before but i doubt that is related. I do work at the computer a lot and do have a habit of letting my wrists trail on the edge of the desk.

Last night, i wasn't feeling too well (think i've got a bit of a cold - hayfever and all) and I noticed my left arm was really warm when compared to my right. I panic a lot (sometimes have the odd panic attack - linked to my Asperger's) so immediately thought it was a blood clot of some kind. I soon realised that it probably wasn't as there was no pain, skin discolouration or swelling. Soon after I got a burning / tingly sensation from where my wrist meets my hand round towards the base of my thumb. It has been there ever since - goes away if I hold my arm vertical for a couple of minutes but is soon back when I bring it down.

Now, this evening I have noticed a bit of swelling exactly where the burning is coming from just where my wrist meets my hand on the underside. The swelling isn't overly noticable, and not very big. No excessive redness around it, although the top is quite white-ish.

Over the past few months I have had shooting pains in that forearm which sometimes go through to my thumb & 4th finger. I have also had pains down the right side of my neck, these do not get worse with swallowing etc... but feel like they are on the inside. Again a burning/tingly feeling. I also get very localised pains around the right side of my chest (and sometimes back) (last 1-2 seconds, and is the same sort of pain). I don't really get these enough for them to cause any sort of inconvenience.

I'm beginning to think the cause may be my weekend job, which includes filling up newspapers with all the inserts. I use my left hand to lift the papers one-by-one to the main pile. I often get the pains in the underside of my arm after I've been doing that (bearing in mind I shift between 800-1000 papers a morning, not suprising!)ybut they never seem to last that long. It does strain that area though.

The burning is there at the moment in my hand, and a slight achy feeling in my wrist. The ache has shot up my wrist a couple of times too. Oooh, it just went into my thumb! LoL. Also the whole area feels warm in itself, but when you touch it it is the same heat as the other side... Doesn't hurt to touch it or anything.

So far it isn't restricting my use of that hand / arm. Sometimes when I curl my hand into a fist it feels weak...but I can still grip things no problems.

So, does this sound like CTS?

Cheers,

Tim