NUMB FINGERS WITH RHEUMATOID ARTHRITIS.

[Pam49]

Has anyone got any ideas on how to use a hand that has the thumb and first two fingers numb and have rheumatoid arthritis in it? My dad is having great difficulty in using his left hand due to the above. I have told him the numbness will go eventually but I can't give him a time as we know that it can stay numb for weeks, months. Everything my dad has regards our disease I have too but on the opposite side!! strange but true.

He also has to go for an x-ray on his right hip/groin as the pain he gets in it goes to his foot and makes it all numb, he reckons its our disease as I have exactly the same but in my LEFT leg! We do need some advice of how to try and use our hands that are numb without dropping everything and still thinking it is in our hands as we can't feel it, (Thank goodness for our eyes) We carry on doing what we can because this disease will never beat us, we will always try to stay one step ahead of it(even with a numb foot!) LOL!!

[ian49]

Hi i have cmt (hmsn) and i also have the same in my left hand I've been to the neurologist and the hand specialist and they both have said i have carpal tunnel as well and i'm waiting now to have the operation i sympathise with your dad as i know how awkward it is to use the hand with it being numb i am forever dropping things with it i used to play football for many years and this disease has never been a problem well i have always had problems with my knees but told it was cartilage but know we know different.

My father had this but never diagnosed, i've only been diagnosed a year and that's through my granddaughter having it which we have since found out my youngest daughter who has had many knee dislocations from 8 years old and never been diagnosed with anything she has now been confirmed as having cmt but her knee problems isn't down to cmt we have now seen a reconstruction doctor and she has no knee tracks hence the dislocation my youngest son also has the same problem as my daughter with no knee tracks.

I also have another 2 daughters that also have cmt and one has recently had her feet reconstructed and toes straightened.

Good luck to your dad and i hope once i've had the surgery i don't still have numbness i know i won't get my wasted muscles in the hand back or the thumb joint back working but as long as i can feel things that will be a huge improvement.

[Pam49]

Thanks Ian for your response, first can I say sorry to you for all your family having different things wrong with them. I have mentioned to my dad about carpal tunnel surgery as I have had it done. It may help my dad and you, but it did nothing for me! Before I was diagnosed with this disease HNPP I had 4 needless operations for nerve release and upon diagnosis in 1999 my neurologist DR Bajalan from Hull Royal actually stated in a letter that I was SAVED by my pregnancy(I was in Jimmy's in Leeds for my cervical rib removing and after a test, was found to be pregnant so no operation) He states that surgery can make it worse! There is a letter on the HNPP website to print off to give to your surgeon that states what they must do whilst you are asleep if you care to view it. My numbness in the same three digits of the opposite hand to my dad is present now and we know it eventually returns but when? Good luck with your surgery Ian and best wishes to your family, let me know how your hand is after surgery won't you?

Regards Pam