New Development: Carpal Tunnel Syndrome

It appears that all my computer time, writing for school and this blog, crocheting, bread dough kneading, etc., has led to my having carpal tunnel syndrome. A couple months ago, I was noticing that as I would write or knead bread dough, my right wrist would seem really weak and would hurt at times. I didn't think anything of it, as I thought it would go away. When I was in Indiana, however, I made a batch of my wheat bread, and after kneading it for 24 minutes!!(due to the weather and atmosphere, I suppose), I looked down and noticed that there was a bump on my hand, just above the left side of my wrist. I felt it and noticed it felt fleshy. Later that night however, it felt hard. I then knew something was up! I have since been doing research on the computer(I'm very thankful for Google, I must say! :)), and have come to the conclusion that I'm now suffering from carpal tunnel syndrome. I read that when someone has carpal tunnel, they always suffer from swollen soft tissue in the wrist or hand near the wrist. I also have most of the symptoms and there is also a history of carpal tunnel in my extended family. I didn't even know teens could suffer from carpal tunnel(I always thought adults were the only ones who got it), but discovered I was wrong when my dear friend Jasmine did a blog post about her CTS. I also read online that CTS can be caused by a previous wrist injury(such as a fracture) followed by a whole lot of activity with that hand. About 5 years ago while I was in Indiana, I was pushed down by the daughter of one of my mom's childhood friends, and this resulted in my falling on my right wrist. It hurt pretty badly, but I thought it was probably just a sprain or strain. It turns out that may have indeed been all it was, or it could have been a minor fracture. Either way, we're pretty sure I have CTS. We bought a wrist brace while in Indiana, but it's not one specifically for CTS, so we'll be purchasing a new one soon. In the mean time, I will be taking a break(about a week long unless I notify you otherwise) from the computer and my blog. This will be really hard for me to do, but it's important that I take care of my wrist at this time, to prevent it from getting worse(I don't fancy the idea of wrist surjury at all, but especially seeing as how I'm right handed!). Therefore, adieu for this week, dear readers!!

I'll miss you all greatly.