I have de Quervain's tenosynovitis. I had my arm injured on the job in '07 and it never really got fully better after physical therapy and the like. The thing that helped me the most was laser therapy, but i can't afford to really do that. Also, an anti-inflammatory herb called Inflazyme worked wonders, but, like laser therapy, I can't afford to do that all the time either.
http://www.natratech.com/Products/InflaZyme.htmI'm scared of surgery, but I've recently met an attorney (who is also a doctor) who had it. He has a tiny L shaped scar on his hand that was hard to see until he pointed it out. He said he's feeling 100% better after surgery, like it was never injured.
He said that's the case with most surgeries, they are usually completely successful. This gives me a lot of hope, and I probably will go through with it.