I also have this condition and it is NOT pleasant. I inheritated this from my father who also suffered from it. I runs in our family because of our Finnish heritage. The Finnish diet, being in the northern climes, was high in grains, especially rye. Most doctors attribute this to being the primary cause. In additon to my heritage, my father and I were both carpenters in our working years. I've always felt that pounding nails for 50 years made this much worse on me.

In the Seattle area, USA) there are three medical treatments. Two different surgical procedures and one treatment using a new, and VERY expensive, medicine that is injected. I have friends who have had all three different prodecdures.

My hand surgeon recommends that I hold off until it gets so painfull that I can no longer play guitar. His advice has always been this: if I can place my hand(s) flat on the table an press down until all my palm in in touch with the table top, without too much pain, then do NOT do the suregy yet.

I have one musician friend who had to give up the guitar because of this condition. He recently had the injections and they seem to be working.

I wish you well and look forward to updates about your situation. bob(deckman)nelson