swbluto

I've been having persistent wrist and forearm pains for about a year and half. I seemed to acquire it while folding papers for a newspaper route and with aspirations of programming and reading the literature on the longevity of this particuliar suspected diagnosis(Doctor suspects CT, but I don't have some of the "tell-tale signs" like tingling in the pinky and ring finger at night nor do I experience "numbness", but I do experience parasthesia/tingling-burning sensations.), I thought my future was destroyed. Combined with the fact I hadn't experienced this before and I don't remember hearing anyone experiencing this, I felt alone, extremely afraid and intensely angry. Zoom 1.5 years later, and here I am. After some adapting(like replaced my keyboard with an ergonomic, taking frequent brakes, etc.), it's calmed down QUITE a bit and while I can feel slight tingling throughout the day, it's NO where near as severe as it was a year ago. I've taken up exercising(By selling my car thus forcing me to use my bicycle to get everywhere) and eating 'healthy' in an effort to improve my long-term odds and health in general. But... yeah... there's an apparent correlation with extended computer use and the severity of my symptoms during the day, so physical use seems to have something to do with it.

Anyways, I was scrunched up against the computer desk at a library as close as I could go as I was, well, trying to ... uhh... conceal myself(I really wasn't supposed to be at the computer, you see.) and that caused my hand and arms to form at odd angle to the computer desk. I got up and walked around and browsed through several books and picked up a book and started reading it while sitting down. It was a "harder to hold open book"(If I try to hold open a "stiff" book for too long, my arm starts to become pained and it tends to last for a day or two or, if severe enough, for several weeks.) but not incredibly so and then I put it back. After putting it back, I left the library as it was closing and went to class and then noticed shortly that my right index finger's tip hurt whenever I touched it(or it touched something else), but at no other time. I wondered if maybe I touched some odd material that caused this(like perhaps fiberglass? Or a metal sliver?) but the pain seemed specific to the area of the tip of the finger instead of one-specific spot. Upon further examination, it was clear there wasn't a foreign object lodged in there. Even more oddly, if I flooded the finger with sensory input(i.e., rubbing it or continuously touching something else), this phenomena seemed to vanish momentarily but it'd come back after a while. After this has been happening for a day, it now seems this phenomena "oscillates" throughout the day where it seems perfectly fine one moment, but then it comes back the next moment.

I haven't seen ANYTHING about this in the Carpal Tunnel literature as far I recall. Is there another RSI or something related where this is a symptom? I would give anything in the world(realistically, probably around 10 years of my labor) to have this crap diagnosed and, probably for another 10 years of my labor, cured! But I'm not necessarily expecting a cure, I'd just like to have some insight so I can adapt as well I possibly could. I've already made substantial changes to my career plans to accomodate a possibly worsening, but ... not having "working hands" permeates all aspects of life in a not-so enjoyable way.

(The last time I intensely researched my RSI, diseases involving the Ulnar nerve were suspected. Carpal tunnel is also a candidate, but not entirely confirmed, and there might be some other unknown that I haven't eliminated by deduction.)

I'm a 21 year old male. It doesn't seem like this disease is common for my demographic, so I'm also a little bit more surprised by that.