I am 24 years old and have been a welder for 5 years. I, too had been having trouble with BOTH my wrists/hands for about 3 years. I had no idea what it was and being stubborn, I never went to the doctor. It got so bad, I could hardly preform my job duties. Hanging in the air welding is not something you want to do when your hands hurt. I finally went to the ortho. and turns out, I have DeQuervain's in both wrists as well as torn TFCC in both wrists. Lemme tell you something, they were amazed that I hadn't had a bad fall but it was just aggrivated by the work I do. I took a big step and had surgery. I am still recovering although I have to do everything with my non dominant hand. I say, if you have insurance, get surgery. There is no use in living in pain, on and off. It just sucks. The success rate is very good compared to the thing I was doing earlier- shots and braces. There were mornings my husband had to tie my work boots *ha! I AM female* and I never want to go through that again. I'll tell you something else, those common worker's comp assholes will surely take your money, but good luck at getting them to pay anything out...I say go for it