Recently I have the constant feeling of numbness on my left hand. My thumb and the index finger feel a lot of pins and needles in them. My index finger starts to get similar feeling too. Less of strength as compare to my right hand.
Has anyone similar feeling and can provide any advice?
Hi quite often at night I'll wake up with my hands numb and pins and needles and also get it in the mornings sometimes as well
What do you do about that? Do you see your doctor about it? I had that occasionally about half a year ago, I told my rheumatologist about it, she said nothing hence I ignored it too. However, these one month, the feeling is throughout the whole day, it should be something wrong then, therefore I started to search for a solution. Not sure if any other RA patients has the same feeling?
After I posted here and I found this link of similar symptoms which I should not ignore.
webmd.com/pain-management/c...
Sorry to here this i get that feeling in my hands too but don't last too long ive been told it could be due to a pinch never or some thing Similar if it didn't get better hun go see doctor. I wish you well.
Thank you Jaclyn11305, I am seeing my rheumatologist on coming 24/08, I hope I will know by then what is going on with my left hand.
My husband has that once in awhile. He was told that it is a pinch nerve in his neck. I think he has it when he works to hard.
Dear sharoncookie,
From the link that I read through, I think your husband should also check with the GP to ensure no problem in future. It can be serious and the nerve can be damaged eventually.
I also have this symptom that comes & goes. I told my dr. & he wanted to do a nerve conduction test. I told him I wasn't interested in doing that. Another RA friend of mine said she has it also & that it was a common symptom of RA. So I've just accepted it & live with it.
Yes, I've had the same thing happen to me. My RA doc wanted to do a nerve conduction test. I've had other RA friends that have told me that it's a symptom of RA. Not much you can do about it. I'm on Neurontin but that doesn't help a whole lot. Mines better than it was though.
How is your condition now? How long has that been? I believe something can be done and we must trust ourselves. Read the link for better understanding and see if it helps.
webmd.com/pain-management/c...
I was talking with my Humira nurse advocate & she told me that tingling & numbness is a side effect of Humira but to watch & make sure it doesn't get worse & if it causes weakness to tell my doctor.
What kind of work do you do? I was a checker in a grocery store with lots of repetitive movement. Mine started as numbness, tingling....then progressed to excruciating pain and the feeling of my hand being frozen cold that would never go away. I couldn't move my fingers. I finally, after about 6 months of hell, had carpal tunnel release surgery and my pain was immediately gone, never to return. I never went back to my job. I have RA. I hope you don't have what I had, but at least there was relief. And the surgery was a cake walk, after going thru that. Good luck and God bless us all.
I have RA too. I believe I have similar problem that you have and I believe I am at the early stage. I work in the finance department and I use a lot of computer. However, this problem only happen to my left hand, the thumb and the index fingers.
I hope my problem can be solved with medication. I hope I do not have to go for the surgery. How is your condition now? Are you hand and fingers fully recover? Are they move as normal after the surgery?
Really like to find out more from those who have gone through similar problem before, that will give me a good confident to decide what next to do.
You should see a neurologist.
Hi Amy_Lee. I've experienced these types of symptoms, usually in my right hand, but sometimes in my left hand. I spend almost my whole work day, working with computers. My doctor had told me it was most likely carpal tunnel and some types may require surgery, but others can heal with time on their own. As I am afraid of surgery in general, I took the other route, which takes more time. The main thing was to wear the splint (goes from below your wrist up to the base of your fingers.) It takes quite some time.. I wore mine for 3-months continuously, day and night. And it did the job. Now, whenever I start to feel this tingling and numbness again, I put the splint back on for a few days or weeks and then I'm back to normal.
I'm totally wishing that just 'the splint' will work for you and you will not need surgery. You can find them at your local pharmacy. You may want to get one and give it a try even before your appointment.
Wishing you the very best! Let us know how it goes.
Take care, Karen
Dear Karen,
Thanks for the great advice. I have the splints for both of my hands from above my wrists to my fingers, I believe that was what you mentioned here. Because of uncomfortable wearing them when I sleep, hence I didn't wear them though I were given them 2 years ago. I can't work if I wear them during the day hence I didn't wear them at all after trying for a few weeks long ago.
I will try to put the left one on at night to see if there will be any improvement.
Hi Amy_Lee,
I know that there are many types of these splints. The ones I used were pretty much like the one shown here: carpal-tunnel.net/treatment...
It has the metal support underneath the wrist and leaves most of the fingers out, so that I could work with it on. Not pretty, but I think they may have them in different colors now.
Are these the kind you are using? They may be uncomfortable to wear at night, but I was told that it was important to do so, because we tend to get our wrists and fingers in all kinds of strange positions when we're sleeping that could further the injury.
Of course, your doctor would know best, but I just thought I'd share my experience and hope that it might help you.
Hope it works! Karen
Dear Karen,
Thank you so much on the link to the splint, it indeed very much different from what I have. Mine cover all my fingers hence I cannot move my fingers when I use the splints. I will be seen my rheumatologist on 24/08, I will check with her again before I proceed to get the new splint like what you have shown me in the link. I think I can wear them also during office hours.
Thank you so much on the suggestion.
I have this problem. Especially on my fingertips. There is numbness and tingling sensation. I consulted a neurologist, as I also have the same problem with other extremities. He ran several tests and prescribed ropinerole. It does help alleviate the problem but does not completely control it all the time. Hope you can find some answers and feel better soon.
Dear Momof446,
Thank you for the information. I will ask my rheumatologist to see if she can refer me to the neurologist for further investigation.
I would like to if the sensation that you have will occasionally cramp all the way up to the muscle after the shoulder? I have this occasional cramp these few days, hence I am not sure if the problem is getting worse?
It does cramp from my fingertips to my shoulder at times. Usually by then I can tell I'm headed for an RA flare up. My rheumatologist also suggested I wear braces on my wrists when I have these problems. Like the ones people with carpel tunnal use. That gives some overall relief. Hope this helps.
It certainly help me to prepare more questions to ask my rheumatologist when I see her on 24/08. However, beside the feeling of numbness and tingling at my thumb and index finger and the occasional cramp all the way up to my whole left hand to the muscle around my chest, I do feel normal, nothing like flare up and so on. I hope it is not flare up really.
I hope it's not a flare either! They are miserable. I also have the cramping feeling in my chest, usually accompanied by a headache that is a crushing feeling. And some shoulder pain. I find if I push on pressure points at my jaw line it alleviates the pressure /pain feeling. I have mentioned this to my rheumatologist but have not gotten a definitive answer. Planning to peruse that further. If you find new info hope you will share!
Yes, I will certainly share the info here. Sometimes the rheumatologist is just too careless to overlook symptom that a RA patient tells him or her. I had the tingling feeling occasionally about 6 months ago and I told my rheumatologist but she said nothing about that. Now the problem is getting more serious and the numbness and tingling feeling just there the whole day long. These few days the cramp started. I will certainly pursue the case.
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