Stiff Hands - Arthritis?

2

Comments

  • stephanie447
    stephanie447 Posts: 404 ✭✭✭

    Thanks for the suggestions! The neurologist has ordered a nerve conduction study to check for carpal tunnel syndrome. All the doctors have told me this is not an inflammatory condition based on my labs, so we'll see what the nerve study says. I've gone ahead and ordered a "hemp cream" that gets good reviews in the meantime.

  • dipat2005
    dipat2005 Posts: 1,289 ✭✭✭✭✭

    @stephanie447 I have been diagnosed with Pseudo -gout and yes I have had the gout test for Uric Acid. I don't have uric acid. I was told to stop eating legumes and nuts and it might help. Yes, it did help and at Christmas when someone gave me Nutella Fudge and I ate it and the Peanut Butter Chex Mix I had what seemed like a flare with no swelling. As soon as I stopped eating those things I stopped having pain.

    If you stop eating orange cheese it helps. I don't eat cheese most of the time. I switched to Nutritional Yeast which tastes like cheese.

    I do wear the compression gloves at night.

  • LaurieLovesLearning
    LaurieLovesLearning Posts: 7,573 admin

    I have carpal tunnel. The best thing that I could have had done for that was acupressure-deep muscle massage. I had a slightly altered form done. I am not an expert, so I am not sure how much it varied from the traditional form.

    Sadly, my worker developed carpal tunnel herself and can no longer practice...and my TCM acupressure/acupuncture guy moved to the west coast. :( I could certainly use that treatment again years later.

    I highly recommend it.

  • stephanie447
    stephanie447 Posts: 404 ✭✭✭

    Thanks. I have no idea what "pseudo-gout" was and just looked it up - it's a real thing, they need a new name for it!

    I have no redness or swelling so it's unlikely I have gout but you never know...we'll see what the nerve test days.

  • stephanie447
    stephanie447 Posts: 404 ✭✭✭

    I just got some "hemp cream" from Amazon today. It's basically what pops up first when you search for it. I have only tried it once so we'll see how it goes. It's oddly green...as one of the reviewers said, it's fluffy and green like a shamrock shake. :-)

  • dipat2005
    dipat2005 Posts: 1,289 ✭✭✭✭✭

    @stephanie447 that sounds very interesting. Do share how you are doing!

  • Monek Marie
    Monek Marie Posts: 3,539 ✭✭✭✭✭
    edited March 2021

    I had carpal Tunnel s bad in my right wrist I would drop car keys and could not turn the key in the ignition.

    I started taking anything that helped with inflammation and found two hand exercises you are supposed to do as much as possible. It worked. Once in a while my wrist will feel tight but if I do the exercises it goes away.

    It got so bad before I started working with inflammation and the exercises that I would have shooting pain up my arm all the way to the shoulder

    Good luck @stephanie447 I hope they can help you

  • stephanie447
    stephanie447 Posts: 404 ✭✭✭

    Well, did they did the nerve conduction test for carpal tunnel - it was negative. No-one knows what is going on!

  • Monek Marie
    Monek Marie Posts: 3,539 ✭✭✭✭✭
    edited March 2021

    @stephanie447

    Hold your hands out in front of you are stretch your finger out sideways like a fan. You can do this numerous times fast and sometimes I stretch them out hold, then release

    The other is you take one hand put on the underneath top of your fingers and gentley pull down towards the top of your wrist, hold and release. I used to do this many times during a day and it really helped. I was sure I was going to have an operation to fix the issue.

    Once in a while they will feel stiff again and I just do these a few times and every thing is fine.

    But it did take a bit to get the wrist and arm better.

    I took a lot of anti inflammitories too to help with inflammation.

    I have heard professional piano players do this to help with flexibility

  • SuperC
    SuperC Posts: 952 ✭✭✭✭

    @stephanie447 keep exercising the hands even if it hurts. I had a similar episode happen to my right leg, the whole leg was in massive pain, it even made me cry. Now it’s somewhat better. Keep stretching, and flexing, and doing physical therapy exercises. Doctors could not figure it out. I even had hydrotherapy.

  • stephanie447
    stephanie447 Posts: 404 ✭✭✭
  • stephanie447
    stephanie447 Posts: 404 ✭✭✭
    edited April 2021

    So the neurologist who checked me for carpal tunnel thought some of the pain might be hormonal. It got really bad this week and I wondered what was going on...and then boom, got my period again after not having it for 3 months (starting to hit menopause). Very odd. I had been taking cordyceps on alternating days before (for something completely different) and I just finally got around to ordering some more since it helps with osteoarthritis (if this is indeed part of what may be going on, even though I didn't have it show up on an x-ray).

    So far not much else helps too much, the hemp cream a little bit, I guess, but only very temporarily and not when I am sleeping.

  • Torey
    Torey Posts: 5,679 admin

    @stephanie447 Have you considered homeopathy? It is very good for resolving constitutional issues that are manifesting as symptomology that is not easily diagnosed by conventional medicine.

  • Kirsten Mortensen
    Kirsten Mortensen Posts: 4 ✭✭✭

    FWIW, I’ve had pretty bad hand and finger pain and stiffness in the past, but lately (knock on wood) it seems to have completely resolved. What I did: yay to tumeric and avoiding wheat, both helped to reduce inflammation. But another biggie for me was tracing the issue to “grip work,” I.e. repetitive work that involves gripping, which was activating trigger points in my forearms. Massaging those points, along with rest, was key to my healing process. I am also a believer in the benefit of building muscle and tendon strength. I’m pretty sure that as my hands and forearms have gotten stronger, that’s been protective against hand/finger pain.

  • frogvalley
    frogvalley Posts: 675 ✭✭✭✭
    edited April 2021

    @stephanie447 When did it start? Have you ever had it before? What makes it better? What makes it worse? What time of day does it occur? Only after sleeping? Do your hands change color?

    Do you have too many things to do right now? Juggling too much? Things you don't have enough hands for?

    Hands are for giving and sharing. Did you give to much? Share too much? Do you need a hand? A hug?

    Are you pushing yourself too hard and need to give yourself a pat on the back?

    Feel free to PM me or ignore me.

  • Sharie
    Sharie Posts: 276 ✭✭✭

    I eliminated carpal tunnel syndrome with 100mg of B6 3 times daily for about two weeks. Used to be common knowledge but no one seems to know this anymore and it's not always easy to buy depending on your location.

    I saw you're sensitive to dairy. Even one drop can cause a problem so please avoid it entirely. I had a friend who was super healthy except for arthritis with lumpy fingers. In two weeks of eliminating dairy the lumps vanished. She was a TCM doc so it was pretty embarrassing and she didn't work in her field because of not being able to cure herself.

    Maybe you need to get your Vit D levels checked. Even people who spend a lot of time in the sun can be deficient. I hope you're much better by now!

  • stephanie447
    stephanie447 Posts: 404 ✭✭✭

    I do tend to get trigger points. I type too much on the computer so that I'm sure is a factor. Will try massaging the forearms and see if that helps!

  • stephanie447
    stephanie447 Posts: 404 ✭✭✭

    I'm pretty wary of B6 supplementation as it can cause neuropathy (which I have)...50 mg per day for an extended period of time can do it, so be careful with it. My vitamin D levels were checked and are good...I supplement daily.

  • stephanie447
    stephanie447 Posts: 404 ✭✭✭

    PS I think the cordyceps are helping a little bit. Will report more later...still doing half the recommended daily dose. (I always work my way up.)

  • stephanie447
    stephanie447 Posts: 404 ✭✭✭

    Well, it turns out it might be gout - at least this is my latest theory. I rarely have a pastrami sandwich for dinner but had one the other night (with no salad or veggies) and woke up and my hands felt almost crunchy along with painful and stiff.

    I did some research. Gout occurs quite frequently in women as they enter into menopause. Most people think it's all about the big toe or getting big red swelling on the joints. Nope. With women, it tends to happen more in the upper part of the body like the hands, and there's less likely to be the redness and swelling.

    Also, you can have a normal uric acid test and still have gout. That's because the excess has already gone into the joint.

    However, nuts are OK for people with gout. Beans in moderation. It's generally certain types of meat that are really bad in excess as well as sugars and alcohol. But you can also just have it due to dropping estrogen levels.

  • dipat2005
    dipat2005 Posts: 1,289 ✭✭✭✭✭

    @stephanie447 I am unable to eat beans or nuts and I have seen the x-rays. Are you saying that cured meat like lunch meat also causes problems for some people. I had a flare the other day and it was because of something I ate but I couldn't figure out what it was.

  • stephanie447
    stephanie447 Posts: 404 ✭✭✭

    Well, I had more testing done, it's not gout. Doctor doesn't think it's pseudo-gout since they didn't see any crystal deposits in my X-rays. It could be "viral arthritis" - I guess that's a thing.

  • stephanie447
    stephanie447 Posts: 404 ✭✭✭

    PS I did also have the MMR vaccine in late December and it's a known side effect that some women get arthritis from the rubella portion of the vaccine. I did have some hand pain before that, though it did get a lot worse afterwards.

  • stephanie447
    stephanie447 Posts: 404 ✭✭✭

    Cured meat could certainly cause problems in some people, especially if it gout.

  • dipat2005
    dipat2005 Posts: 1,289 ✭✭✭✭✭

    @stephanie447 I have been tested for gout and the uric acid test came back negative. Very interesting.

  • dipat2005
    dipat2005 Posts: 1,289 ✭✭✭✭✭

    @stephanie447 that is very possible. I have been paying attention and I am sure you are correct. I have never been tested but go according to how foods make me feel.

  • stephanie447
    stephanie447 Posts: 404 ✭✭✭

    Well, I've decided that I probably had a reaction to the MMR vaccine causing the arthritis, with possibly some viral arthritis if it wasn't that. And a little bit of overuse. I'm starting to experiment with magnet therapy...so far so good. I started a separate thread on magnet therapy in the general health section.

  • marjstratton
    marjstratton Posts: 1,132 ✭✭✭✭

    I have a CBD liniment. It helps a bit. It also contains white willow and arnica, so what helps the most is not conclusive.