Intense hand pain

[Mrsfarge]

Intense pain on the back of hand with unexplained bruising..is this part of arthritis?

I have been diagnosed with sero negative arthritis for a few years. Recently I have been getting sudden very intense pain on the back of my hands lasts a few minutes then passes. But then a bruise will appear in the same spot...Does this happen to anyone else?

[tamnwill]

Hi, yes this happens to me about 3x a year. I get like a sudden itch that intensifies quickly to a sharp pain - causing me to grip the area, I don’t know if the gripping is what causes the bruise tbh. Happens mainly on my fingers. Only noticed it though in the last few years and have since been diagnosed with fibromyalgia- so I don’t know if it’s that or the RA.

[Mrsfarge in reply to tamnwill]

Many thanks, I have fibromyalgia too. The pain is travelling from the back of my hand to the middle two fingers...I can’t actually remember gripping it, but the pain was so bad I may have done...thankyou for your reply

[oldtimer]

I'd bet that when you get the pain it makes you hold your hand with the other one - and quite tightly? I know I do when I get those stabbing pains like a knife into me! And that can cause the bruise. We just don't realise we are doing it. I've sometimes ended up with finger marks on a bit of me that I've gripped tightly when the stab comes.

[Mrsfarge in reply to oldtimer]

Thankyou, I think your right

[Loobeyloo]

My sero negative RA started with intense pain in the top of my right hand. I remember it well. I was cooking the Sunday dinner and lifting the joint out the oven. Sudden intense pain that I thought I'd scalded or burnt my hand in the oven. But I hadnt. Within half an hour I couldn't hold my knife to eat my meal and then the pain radiated out to my right wrist, swelling up like a balloon immediately and travelled up my arm to my elbow.. Incredible pain all evening, tried bag frozen peas, got pad, painkillers and went to bed eventually to try to rest it and get sleep. By four thirty in the morning the pain was like nothing I'd ever experienced and my husband took me to A & E. .They thought I'd broken my wrist!! I hadn't. Now after finally getting my diagnosis some three years after that, back in 2013, and the correct treatment, it's finally ok. It does still happen a few times a year, no bruising but pain radiates into my knuckle of middle finger, but still like being burnt, a short sudden shock. I just rub it, give it hot and cold and it goes quickly as it comes. Very odd sensation though.