DEAR DR. DONOHUE: I read your column every day and have never seen anything on carpal tunnel syndrome. I am 82, and I have it in both hands. My fingers hurt all the time. Can you help me out? My doctor tells me nothing. — R.T.

ANSWER: And I thought I was overdoing carpal tunnel syndrome.

A large nerve in the forearm passes into the hand through a wrist tunnel, the carpal tunnel. The base and sides of the tunnel are wrist bones; its top is a sturdy ligament. This nerve serves the thumb, the index, middle and adjacent side of the ring fingers.

Narrowing of the tunnel compresses the nerve, and that’s when trouble starts. The involved fingers become numb or hurt. They often weaken. Symptoms are worse at night. Several unrelated conditions bring about tunnel narrowing: pregnancy, gout, rheumatoid arthritis, the infiltration of the tunnel with a protein called amyloid, overproduction of growth hormone and wrist injury are examples. Frequently, a reason cannot be found; the narrowing just happened.

You can do many things to relieve the nerve pressure. One is wearing wrist splints, found in many drugstores and all medical-supply stores. You couldn’t function too well wearing splints on both wrists during the day, so do so at night. Nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs like Advil, Aleve and Motrin reduce tunnel swelling and give the nerve more free space. Check with your doctor to see if these medicines are safe for you. With this program, don’t expect sudden success. It can take six weeks to three months before you’re free of pain.

If these remedies don’t bring you relief, your doctor can inject cortisone into the area where the tunnel lies. It’s almost always successful in getting rid of tunnel inflammation and providing room for the wrist nerve. Should it not work, then surgically enlarging the tunnel is an option.

DEAR DR. DONOHUE: I am 60, married and have two grown children. My doctor noticed I have an umbilical hernia. She said if it bothers me or gives me pain, I should have it repaired. What kind of pain? I don’t want surgery if I don’t need it. — J.R.

ANSWER: “Umbilicus” is the bellybutton’s official name. It’s the place where the umbilical cord was attached during fetal life. A hernia is a protrusion of the abdominal lining and sometimes parts of the intestines through a weakness in the abdominal wall. In adults, an umbilical hernia comes about from a weakening of the scar tissue that filled in the space occupied by the umbilical cord. A small umbilical hernia doesn’t require attention. If a section of intestine protrudes through the weak spot, and if its blood supply is cut off, you will have severe pain, and you will seek immediate attention. Don’t sit around all day and wonder if this is the day your umbilical hernia will blossom into a catastrophe. Odds are, it never will.

DEAR DR. DONOHUE: My eyes are colored dark brown. I am a 57-year-old female. Around the edges of my brown eyes is a blue border — something new. The eye doctor said it means my cholesterol is high. My family doctor said it is fine, and it happens with age. Have you heard of this? What causes it? — D.E.

ANSWER: I believe you’re describing an arcus senilis. It’s an off-white (bluish or gray) circle looping around the colored iris. Actually it’s a deposit of fat and cholesterol in the cornea, the clear covering that lies over the iris and pupil. At one time, it was thought to indicate high blood cholesterol; it doesn’t.

It’s one of those many adornments of aging that come for no good reason. If you start looking at the eyes of older people, you’ll find that you are far from the only one with arcus senilis.

Dr. Donohue regrets that he is unable to answer individual letters, but he will incorporate them in his column whenever possible. Readers may write him or request an order form of available health newsletters at P.O. Box 536475, Orlando, FL 32853-6475. Readers may also order health newsletters from www.rbmamall.com.