I've had similar problems. And the same thing worked for me. Seeing that it worked for this person as well, reaffirms that this might be a permanent solution. Whenever I code without long sleeves, I start to feel pain again. I haven't tried hand warmers; I might have to try that too. It makes sense though. Carpal tunnel and other repetitive stress syndromes come down to low blood flow. I've also used aspirin to beneficial effect, when the carpal tunnel starts flaring up. And the aspirin helped as well. At the end of the day it seems like it's all about blood flow. Doctors wanted to do surgery and I turned it down, and just keeping the blood flowing, by staying warm has helped quite a bit. (Of course, along with regular breaks too.)