Wifey and I both suffer, I'm a mechanic and she does secritarial stuff. She had the surgery ten years ago and is much better, my insurance would cover the surgery, but I'd be off for two months healing up and don't have disability like the wife did.

I can't afford to lose two months of income...
The main symptom that's a dead giveaway is your middle three fingers going numb. Those are fed via the nerve in the carpal tunnel. Your thumb and pinky nerves go a different route and aren't affected. If I have to work up over my head for very long or hold my hand / arm in one position for very long (like talking on the phone for long times) I get the pins-n-needles then my middle three fingers go numb soon thereafter. Rarely is there any pain, except when the feeling comes back, then it's pins-n-needles all over again, usually worse.
My wife wore hand braces at night and did some stretching excersizes for a month or two, but it didn't help much. Se got scheduled for the surgery soon thereafter, and has been fine ever since.
If you have access to occupational medicine thru work go see the doc, there are things that can be done to slow down the progression. Dunno if this helps, but I hope you get some relief...
