You?  What's the cause?  Get that diagnosed if you haven't done so yet, and work it from there.  I had Carpal Tunnel in both wrists from Graves Disease (thyroid disorder) and wore a special brace to minimize movement.  Docs typically prescribe drugs such as Motrin, etc to lesson the pain.  It was a drag to have it, but I'm all better now that my thyroid is under control.  I hope you get it healed.

Tom

I am a doctor/drummer.  Here are some things that might be helpful to you.
Carpal Tunnel Syndrome is a condition in which the median nerve (in your wrist) is compressed.  The nerve passes through a tunnel of bone called the carpal tunnel.  It is most commonly caused from repetitive hitting or tapping with the hands, such as using a hammer, typing, and of course, percussing anything.

It is mis-diagnosed 7 out of 10 times.  It is unlikely that you would have carpal tunnel in both hands, although possible.

Common characteristics are tingling or numbness in the first 3 fingers (not the fourth and fifth).

Light tapping on the underside of the wrist (just below the palm) will usually cause pain.  Also, pressing your palms together is likely to cause pain in in affected wrist (done with elbows at 90 degrees and pressing wrists at 90 degrees - fingers pointed up).

Often times irritated or compressed nerves in the lower neck can create the numbness in the fingers and is mis-diagnosed as carpal tunnel.  This can also be caused by systemic conditions such as diabetes.

Before surgery, more conservative measures, such as trigger point therapy to the muscles in the forearm, and other things should be attempted.  If the description above doesn't seem to fit I would recommend an exam by a good chiropractor.

Hope this helps!

I went to a Doctors because of pain in my left elbow.  I also mentioned the tingling and numbness in my fingers of my left hand (I'm left handed) that I thought was Carpal Tunnel.  He used electric impulses from the area near the elbow to my fingers to test for the syndrome.  The amount of degradation of that impulse was measured in a percentage and that number was used to measure the amount of damage (for lack of a better word) due to the syndrome.  The percentage of the injury I had was not high enough, in his opinion I guess, to recommend surgery.  He did give me a shot of cortisone/steroid in the wrist and the elbow that sort of lubricated the tunnel and reduced the inflammation that was causing the pain in my elbow.  He call the issue with my elbow golf elbow, which is the opposite motion from tennis elbow (I don't play golf). 

I think it would be worth it to talk to your Doctor about it or see a specialist.  It can be controlled without surgery.  When I play a lot or work with tools I have to grip the discomfort in my left hand can get extreme and getting the shot about once a year keeps the discomfort managable.  He also mentioned there might come a time I won't need the shot anymore.

Here's a link to my web page on carpal tunnel syndrome (as well as "tennis elbow" - more on that later).

http://www.doctor-harris.com/page5.html

The important thing to remember is that anything that causes swelling in the hand can result in carpal tunnel syndrome, as pressure is put on the median nerve in it's confined space at the wrist. So repetative, vibration inducing motion, such as drumming, can certainly cause this. Consequently, anything that can relieve that swelling may make your symptoms improve - including changing your drumming technique. Typically, CTS results in swelling and numbness at night (when you are horizontal instead of verticle, which increases the amount of fluid in your hands - while you are standing up that fluid is in your feet/legs). If you have a disease (like diabetes, thyroid disease, arthritis) that causes hand swelling, treating that disease may make your CTS improve.

I frequently see CTS problems with my drummer friends - I have them start out wearing a night time wrist cock-up splint that they can get from the drug store: this keeps them from flexing their wrists while they sleep and avoids putting further pressure on the median nerve at night. Anti-inflammatory medication such as Motrin has not provided long term relief very often in my experience. Steroid injections into the wrist for CTS are more likely to work on very acute (new onset) CTS, such as that associated with pregnancy or an injury like a fall. Long standing CTS only rarely permanently responds to steroid injections. I have seen many patients who have this problem with both hands.

CTS is primarily a problem with numbness of the thumb, index and middle fingers. Although it can cause pain, especially "electrical" type pain shooting up the arm, most pain problems are usually something else. CTS is primarily a tingeling/numbness problem - it's "pain" can feel like your leg does when it "goes to sleep" from sitting on it wrong for too long of a time.

Another problem drummers frequently share with me (especially percussionists) is "tennis-elbow", which is pain (and perhaps weakness with lifting) at the thumb side of the elbow. This, as opposed to CTS, usually responds well to steroid injections and/or therapy.

Pain in the small muscles of the hand, pain that you can elicite by pressing on a particular place in your hand, particularly around the base of the thumb, is more likely to be a sort of muscle cramp, which is also common among drummers. This usually responds best to massage and a change in stick holding techniques.

Pain at the very base of your thumb, where it plugs into your wrist, can be degenerative arthritis. This is painful when you are moving the thumb or putting pressure on the thumb, pushing it back into your wrist (grind test). Anti-inflammatory drugs (such as Motrin), splinting usually take care of this common problem, but sometimes it requires a fairly minor operation.

This are the causes of the vast majority of upper extremity pain that I see with drummers.