I was diagnosed with severe carpal tunnel in one hand, moderate carpal tunnel in the other. A hand specialist told me that I needed surgery, but I wanted to try to correct the condition myself.
The brace my doctor's office gave me was worthless; the nurse didn't even know which way it went on! I got braces from Walmart that have a metal strip running up the palm. These were great, and I still have them. I wore the braces every night, and most of every day. I was able to type with them on. Pretty much the only time I didn't wear them was when I had to get my hands wet.
There were other things I did. For one, I changed my computer setup to be more ergonomically correct. I'm sure that a major cause of my carpal tunnel was the amount of time I spent typing at an ergonomically incorrect computer station.
I cut the amount of typing I did in half.
I also started taking citrus bioflavanoids twice a day.
It took about 6 months to get rid of the inflammation. At that point I switched to wearing the braces only at night. After another 6 months or so, I quit the braces entirely. Now I wear them at night only if I suspect some inflammation might be coming back. I never did have the surgery, and I'm fine now.
The braces are really important if you want to reverse the inflammation. They keep your wrist in a neutral position so the nerve is not being aggravated.