Help painful arms

[bernese1225]

Has anyone had these symptoms? I’ve been waking up with no feeling in either one of my arms since November. At first I thought it was the way I was laying in bed. I’m a side sleeper and tend to cross my arms, bending my wrists. I wear wrists straps to stop this as my hands were going numb. I noticed my full arm going numb even when I hadn’t been laying on it. I changed my pillows numerous times hoping it would help.

I woke up one morning in February and both arms were numb. I couldn’t get out of bed and struggled to sit up. It takes around 50 minutes to a hour to get feeling back and when it starts to come back it’s so painful I cry. My GP sent me to musculoskeletal and I had an urgent MRI scan at the beginning of March. My appointment to get the results was yesterday but was cancelled due to Coronavirus. I rang my GP and she gave me my results over the phone...Cervical disc prolapse with radiculopathy. Results show disc changes in neck, osteo stenosis and no compression. Osteophytes at 3 points have caused narrowing, trapping nerves - this is causing the pain in my arms. She said it’s really bad timing because I need physio on my neck, stretching exercises but I’ve got no chance of being treated. The physio I saw at the musculoskeletal clinic rang me to say he’s sending a letter to my GP and requesting an MRI of my head. I told him my GP said I needed physio and he said he’s not convinced it would help.

My GP gave me amitriptyline to see if they help. Any advice on how to ease the pain would be very much appreciated guys.

[Hidden]

bernese1225 I had bad arms from shoulder to wrists for about 3months I felt like I was a beached seal every morning. It did go away but this was once I was on RA meds not general stuff ie pregablin and amtriplyne etc. I think many on here had the nmb and painful arm part too x

[bernese1225 in reply to Hidden]

Thank you for replying, it would be lovely if this just goes away. I’ve been on Baracitinib for 2 years and it’s been brilliant for my RA x

[helixhelix]

That’s great news that no compression or stenosis! The drugs can help alleviate the symptoms, but you need to do what you can at home to help. In most cases the disc will adjust itself in time - but without an MRI no way of telling.

I do stretching and strengthening exercises on my neck first thing in the morning as I sit on side of bed. Very slow gentle rotations in both directions, bending head to left and right, and then with shoulder blades down & sitting very straight I push my chin forward. 5 to 10 of each. And then a nice warm wheat pillow while I eat breakfast. Helps me....

[bernese1225 in reply to helixhelix]

Hi HH, I’ve amended my post as it read wrong, I do have stenosis. Thank you for replying, I spoke to another physio and they’re sending me some flossing exercises to do. Apparently, nerve exercises differ from muscular as nerves can’t be stretched, I didn’t know that.

[helixhelix in reply to bernese1225]

Bugger....

Flossing exercises? Like the dance? The mind boggles...

[allanah]

Hello, yep know the feeling , so I'm just making sure you dont wear your wrist supports too long or in bed .

You do need to take them off every so often . she told me wear them when you are doing something physical but gave me a " resting splint" for when I wasnt actively doing something physical, if you see what I mean .

in the words of my physio she said " turn them wrists gently " , im not sure if you can but gentle comfortable movement helped me.

Same when I woke up in the morning just to slowly mobilise . Obviously only in a gentle way . But yes physio did help and amytryptalline did to as it relaxed my arm spasms .

Good luck with it but rather bad timing eh??

[bernese1225 in reply to allanah]

Thank you Allanah, I have been sleeping in them 😕 I’ll stop now. Timing really couldn’t be worse.

[allanah in reply to bernese1225]

Ah that will make them too stiff and compromise your circulation, so I was told no sleeping in them . Take them off every hour and I found hot pads a great alternative whilst resting them xxx 🤗

[Hidden]

I have these symptoms quite a bit lately, my chiropractor said my neck was out of alignment, that makes your extremities go numb. After she adjusted my neck it went away for about three weeks but is coming back. I do notice it is always worse in the morning, so moving around gets the lymph fluid moving and helps.

[bernese1225 in reply to Hidden]

Thank you for replying. Musculoskeletal have referred my for nerve tests but with being in islolation everything is on hold. As soon as it’s safe to go out again I’ll make an appointment with a chiropractor.