Relief From The Pain Of Carpal Tunnel Syndrome

It’s always a choice. Do we accept the opinion of the “experts” or do we look for a different answer? I’m the kind of person who looks for another way around a problem or challenge. It shows up in my handwriting as a personality trait known as the “go to hell K” -- when I write a word that has the letter “k” in the middle of it, I always capitalize the letter. When I lived in Saskatoon, I wrote it like this: “SasKatoon.” If you tell me something is impossible, I’ll just have to prove you wrong! So, when my physician husband told me I’d just have to “live with it,” the pain of Carpal Tunnel syndrome, my “go to hell K” fired up big time!

Living With Carpal Tunnel Syndrome

I was six months pregnant with Sarah (child number 4), and I was not enjoying being awakened three or four times each night with pain in my hands and arms, burning and tingling and numbness all mixed together in my fingers, especially the middle and first fingers. I tried everything a pregnant woman is allowed to try to improve circulation and decrease the pain: propping my head and shoulders up with lots of pillows, getting out of bed and walk around while shake my arms. I even resorted to propping myself in a sitting position on the sofa so that gravity would help the circulation.

When I asked my husband, an obstetrician, what he thought was going on, he explained to me that it was Carpal Tunnel, a common issue for pregnant women that would go away three to six months after having the baby. There was no medicine that would fix this, nothing that would help with the pain (that was safe for a pregnant woman), and it would correct itself eventually. In his words, “You’ll just have to live with it.”

Seeking Relief Through Divine Intervention

I was looking at a bleak six to nine months of unrelenting pain. Furthermore, I had three other kids to take care of and I was exhausted already! That’s when my “go to hell K” kicked into gear. If there was nothing the doctors could do for me, then I knew there must be another solution because I’m pretty stubborn.

Now, I wasn’t a religious person, just a regular church-goer. We had recently moved to a new city and were attending a traditional church. However, I had heard that one of the ministers had experienced a miraculous recovery from two heart attacks. He certainly carried a heavy load at the church and was involved with ministry from early morning to late at night. I saw no sign of a weak heart in him. So I made up my mind to talk with him about my hands.

The minister was more than happy to pray for my hands. But nothing happened after he prayed. Not right away.

Asking For What I Wanted

When I got home, I sat down on the organ bench, determined to sing and lift my spirits through music. While unwrapping the bandages holding splints on my hands, this thought came to me, “If God could heal the minister of his heart attacks, these hands shouldn’t be too difficult.”

In that moment, all the pain left. All of it! It was amazing. And the pain never came back. I really had something to sing about!

Although I never again experienced the pain, I still had “the condition.” My fingers were still numb until long after Sarah was born, but I never again lost sleep due to pain from Carpal Tunnel syndrome.n