Question
H Dr. Biggs,
I noticed that I have been having intermittent issues with numbness in some of my finger tips on my right hand for the last few weeks. It started also with some weakness in my thumb I noticed when I was sending a text one day. This happened after a period of several days being on the computer for many hours a day. I haven't had the weakness since, but have had numbness in fingertips, some mild wrist and forearm soreness. I was assuming this is carpal tunnel syndrome, but I haven't had any issue at night while sleeping. I also noticed slight numbness in the thumb tip of my left hand today. Can you have carpal tunnel and no symptoms at nighttime?

Answer
Dear Josephine,

Numbness and tingling in the fingers can be the result of carpal tunnel syndrome, but it could be caused by several other things as well.  To answer your question specifically, "yes", you can have carpal tunnel syndrome without having night symptoms.

You might consider these posibilities as well:

1)Thoracic outlet syndrome
2)Periferal neuropathy, sometimes secondary to other disease processes, such as diabetes
3)Cervical Spine Radiculopathy
4)Myofacial/trigger point pain with referral of symptoms
5)Cervical rib
6)Ulnar nerve entrapment
7)Central nervous system pathology

The key is to find a physician/doctor that can help you to eliminate the possibilities of the more serious conditions, and then to treat the appropriate condition.

I hope that this gives you some ideas of things to look for.

Keith Biggs, DC
http://www.eastmesachiropractor.com