hand/wrist pain from work, cts?

[percshelp]

Hello,
I have a major health condition that will cause problems/pain whenever I want to try my favourite hobbies: bodybuilding, playing my guitar and computers.

I will try to briefly state what happened:
My job is industrial/labour and requires repetitive movement and the physical nature has damaged my wrists/hands. I tried to move to a different job and had something different for a little while but now I've been moved back. I resumed the job for a while but finally insisted on workman's comp. and now I do lighter work there. But, it is probably too late.

I want to quit but if the company can be proven to have been negligent, perhaps, I might need legal advice/assistance.

Can anyone advise me here?

The other question regards the physical/medical condition itself. I had an E.M.G. done and the symptoms/results did point to CTS. In both wrists but the left one showed to a greater extent. This was about a year ago. I think it has gotten worse and I now requested from my physician, to do the test again. I am waiting for the appointment to be scheduled. I am worried how bad it is. I wish I quit a while ago but I'm not sure of the legal implications if I did. I was wondering if I can request for the company to lay me off so that I don't have to any more physical work. Even if I do lighter work, anything that requires lifting or physical stress to the wrists/hands hurts. I think I need to rest them.

I never had these problems before with other physical jobs and I could go to the gym no problem before. Any injuries I might have received from overworking at the gym would heal naturally. But, I cannot go to the gym with the condition my hand/wrists are in now. :-(

The pain is in the wrists and now extends to the back of the hand but is mostly surrounding the wrist area so I think the cts has been aggravated.

Can anyone advise me what to do? If you ever had to deal with a similar problem, then that would particularly help out. If you just have advice, that would be appreciated, too.

I want to switch jobs/careers anyway but it will be stressful to do so. I would have to deal with lower payments (through E.I - i.e. unemployment insurance) and looking for work again. I also want to know whether there is any chance at legal retribution. I feel cheated and neglected. I think I am justified in seeking compensation but I hate the hassle and the possibility is that my pain continues makes even that trivial. I'm now becoming more depressed because I am afraid that I won't be able to pursue my hobbies because of the pain and condition. I know there is surgery but I'm afraid of that. I hear there are just as many instances where it doesn't help as the alleged success stories.

What should I do? :-(

Thanks for any advice.

[Thexile]

Your best bet would be first to see a doctor, and tell him what youve been through have him write a letter and consult a lawyer about any possible suit/whatever. thats the only advice i can offer u.

my mother has a bad knee so she asked her doctor to write a letter to her employer (the army) to have her parking space in front of the building which is what she wanted, cause the walk was causing pain in her knee.

[percshelp]

What kind of letter?

I already had my doctor write a letter virtually demanding that I be switched to a different job. This was ignored.

I'm trying to 'find' a lawyer, currently.

Btw, my mother had a knee replacement done and has to undergo the other one in an operation 6 months from now. This is not related to a work injury, though. I am just mentioning it because I can understand and sympathize.

Thanks for your reply.

[Thexile]

the letter should outline your problem, and should tell the your employer that it is the nature of your work thats responsible for this problem and that you should be assigned something else. but you've said you've done that

so right now if i were u i would be focusing on finding a lawyer since they are blatantly ignoring you. no paycheck is worth not being able to use your hands man.

[kingfisher]

Dude, carpal tunnel can be treated pretty effectively. I know a guy who had surgery for it and is doing 100% now, although he doesn't lift, but has a job with a decent amount of lifting. You'll be able to get past this, although it may take some time.

Take a deep breath and try to take it one step at a time. It seems like right now you're feeling like life is over, no more hobbies, maybe no more career. I understand, because I herniated a disc in my low back and I felt the same way at the time. I will almost certainly never be able to clean, jerk, dead, squat, or bent row ever again. But I've figured out how to work around that. You'll survive this as well.

It sucks that your employer is not understanding at all. Do you have the option to go out on disability for a while while you treat this? Have you tried any medication or physical therapy? I feel like if you could take two weeks off to heal and look for other jobs you'd be in a completely different place as far as your symptoms and mindset.

Is there any way you could work with splints on your wrists to restrict movement and add support? A splint that would still let you bend your fingers and grasp stuff?