In the past, I have had two ulnar nerve compression surgeries. Both were medial epicondylectomy with decompression. After a long period of time between each surgery, my symptoms came back. My second surgery he discovered my ulnar nerve was curling up and crushed under heavy scar tissue near the funny bone.
I recently went through my third surgery which was ulnar transposition surgery along with decompression of my right elbow almost two weeks ago. Once again, my ulnar nerve was curled up and crushed under heavy scar tissue near the funny bone. He decompressed it and moved the nerve underneath fat. I think it's called subcutaneous transposition?
With all my surgeries, I experienced post op pain that eventually became better. However, this time I'm not sure if what I am experiencing is normal with the transposition surgery. When I woke up in the recovery room I had intense pins n' needles in my little, ring finger and palm of hand below these two fingers. I figured this was due to the fact I just had surgery and due to the type of surgery, I had. Over several days these pins n' needles slowly became more intense. I also had a heavy or dead type feeling on top of my hand near the little and ring finger, worse at night.
I'm also experiencing a crushing type sensation, pain in my elbow. Almost like someone is squeezing the life out of my elbow or a large animal is stepping on it. This sensation comes and goes but several days ago it became so intense that I almost fell over. I have a high pain tolerance but this literally made me cry. It is now almost constant.
I did see the plastic surgeon for a follow up last week.He said this shouldn't be occuring since he moved the nerve and plans on referring me to a pain clinic and physiotherapy. Pain clinic wait time is a year, hopefully will get in sooner.
Is this crushing sensation normal after this type of surgery? Is it a typical sensation with nerves after surgery? Thanks for your help!