Hi everyone, sorry to pick your brains again but I keep getting a cold left arm especially in comparison with my right arm, I’ve also woken up with my left arm numb & tingling 3 times in the last week. I’ve had a severe burning sensation in my left arm from my elbow to my wrist since just before Christmas & prescribed gabapentin by the consultant who said it sounded like nerve pain, this helps to take the edge off the pain in that I don’t have to sit with an ice pack on it as long as I don’t use my arm too much, I’ve just done the cardinal sin of googling a cold arm & numbness where a few conditions were mentioned, one of which is nerve damage, I’ve got an appointment with the consultant on Tuesday but does or has anyone else experienced this or similar? I’m worried now that if I’ve now got nerve damage this can’t be reversed (I know I shouldn’t google) 🙄
Left arm cold & waking up numb: Hi everyone, sorry to... - NRAS
Left arm cold & waking up numb
I have this with my left leg from the knee down but especially at the foot/toes. It’s on and off constant. They think it all ties to the RD. Hope it disappears when they get the meds that work for me. I’m sorry I can’t be of great help.
Hi thank you for replying, it’s comforting & is helpful to know someone else experiences it so I’m not just weird 😂 I was just worried that I may now have actual nerve damage from not seeing anyone f2f to discuss it x
Ulna nerve sensations possibly? I carried a very heavy bag over my arm and did this a few years back, and I already had a bone spur making things congested there so things weren’t ideal in that elbow. It never felt cold but had tingling and nerve sensations right down the arm to my finger ends and thumb. It didn’t need any intervention as my physio helped. I wonder if you are laying heavy on it overnight? Hope you can get some relief and hope it calms down. 🙏
Thank you, I think pulling a small wheeled suitcase a few years back initially started it all off, it was from then that the pain started in my elbow, at the ultrasound guided cortisone injection I had in November they said I had a spur on my elbow as well as a calcium buildup but it’s only since December that the burning sensation started & the last week with the numbness & tingling as well as the coldness in my left arm. X
Makes sense what you say about the spur as I was told that was a factor on the pain and sensation I had. Does the stop in temperatures make your RA worse. X
Yes I’ve noticed that the pain in my forefinger & knuckles really hurts in the cold & am making sure I’ve got my gloves with me if I go out especially for my left hand, I’ve always been a hot person but the last 3 months been feeling extremely cold, when I’m in work my colleague has the fire right by her & I have the window open but the last time I was in, beginning of December I had the thickest jumper on & couldn’t get warm x
Could be draughts in the office? You could take a wool warm wrap/shawl and put that round you. Roll on warmer days. x
Yes, I get altered sensation and numbness down both arms but mainly in my left. It wakens me in the middle of the night. I sometimes wonder if it is coming from my neck, I have cervical spondylosis.I would be very interested to hear what your consultant says on Tuesday.
Thanks for replying, mine is my left arm which is the arm or mainly elbow that’s caused me the most pain, it’s only this arm that I experience the burning sensation too, it only occurred to me tonight when I noticed again how cold my arm & hand is & remembered the numbness & tingling I’d had in the last week. Will definitely ask & come back to let you know what he says x
Hi. When you say numb and tingling, do you mean like arm fell asleep? I’ve had this happen to me on and off over the years. When it flares up, I wear wrist splints to bed and it helps a lot.
Yes just like it’s gone asleep, perhaps wrist splints will help. I did order some compression gloves over Christmas as I’d read these help & can be used for driving or using a keyboard, I found I couldn’t drive with them & ended up throwing them off whilst using the keyboard as they weren't helpful at all, perhaps I should try wearing these to bed x
Have you had any scans or an ultrasound on your shoulders? I’ve had those symptoms and I have bursitis from exercise across the year. However it’s my Lupus and RA that really made this worse. I’m getting a steroid shot in my shoulder next week which I hope will finally help.
Hi I’ve had an X-ray of my elbow & an ultrasound guided cortisone injection where they said I had a spur & calcium deposit but this was before the burning & numbness sensation, I did have bursitis about 2 years ago but this was in my right elbow. From the suggestions & comments above I’m hoping the consultant will be able to advise & either change my meds or worse case scenario give me another cortisone injection in the outer side of my left elbow (I had one on the inner side in November). I hope your steroid injection eases your pain next week x
Ask if any of your doctors think it could be a neck problem.....
There could be pinching anywhere along the path of the nerves that can cause burning, tingling, weakness or numbness....neck, shoulder, elbow and/or wrist.
Can be temporary, short lived, or permanent depending on cause. If you have spurs/calcium deposits in shoulder then this is most likely area of nerve pinching. And I think you might need to work on your sleeping position. Body pillows can help stop you rolling onto that shoulder.
I have osteoarthritic damage in several vertebrae in neck and back, and have had both arms and legs affected. With the help of a physio most is under some sort of control, and also some of the herniated discs have actually healed. But a couple of vertebrae have permanent stenosis, which is more permanent (although possibility of operation, but not there yet!).
Osteoarthritis can be primary, or secondary (caused for example by cycles of RA inflammation). I no longer care which it is, since makes no difference to how much it hurts (or doesn’t). Try to keep things moving and as flexible as you can.
Thank you, as the spur & calcium deposit is on my elbow perhaps that’s where the nerves could be pinching as the burning sensation starts from my elbow down to my wrist, I’ll have to remember when the numbness happens again to check if it’s from my shoulder down or elbow down, the coldness is from my shoulder to my hand though, nothings ever straight forward 🙄
Yes, I've had this kind of problem in the past, but caused by the RA. For a while it was just a case of waking up or being woken by my lower arm and hand completely numb and tingling. I had a nerve conduction test which showed a severe trapped ulnar nerve. I was offered an op, but declined at the time as I have had lots of ops and had other things on the horizon at that time. It stayed like that for quite some time and then unfortunately, deteriorated. I had almost constant numbness and tingling in my little and ring finger, incredibly strong shooting pains down my arm and a regular sensation that warm water was running down my arm. I was given Gabapentin for a few months, but it didn't help much.
In the end, I was due to have an operation to repair a badly torn rotator cuff on my shoulder, and I got in touch with the surgeon (who'd operated on me previously), explained the situation and how awful the pain was, and he agreed to do a nerve decompression at the same time as the shoulder op (both on left arm). Can't tell you how grateful I was!!
Thankfully, it worked very well, and the only real remaining symptom is a very small patch of permanent numbness on my little finger tip!
Apparently, I have the same problem in the right arm too. It's been there for many years. It's never yet progressed any further than numbness and tingling sometimes at night. I hope that if it does turn out to be a problem with your ulnar nerve, that it stays like that for you too.
I hope that helps 😊
Thank you, with Hidden explanation below and yours above, the descriptions sound very similar to what I'm having, fingers crossed the consultant will be able to explain tomorrow exactly what's going on, I'll let you all know what he says x
With the usual caveat that I’m not remotely medically qualified, I have a separate diagnosis of Cubital Tunnel Syndrome in both elbows that’s always worse when my arthritis is flaring due to how both conditions work. Cubital tunnel is essentially the forearm equivalent of carpal tunnel, whereby the ulnar nerve is being compressed at the elbow, causing pins and needles, peripheral neuropathy and symptoms very similar to what you’re describing from the elbow downwards. It’s quite often positional i.e. certain things will exacerbate it due to the nerve being more compressed, like holding a book (or phone/tablet) up, holding the steering wheel when driving, putting pressure on your elbows at all, even by resting them on your legs or a table, and it’s not uncommon to wake with numb hands and arms as a result of sleeping in a position that aggravates the nerve. I took both gabapentin and pregabalin for another condition I was dealing with about a decade ago, and found little to no benefit for the CTS, but then it wouldn’t do much because the issue isn’t spontaneous nerve pain, there is very much a physiological cause. It’s a bit like breaking your toe, taking painkillers that take the edge off, then starting to kick something: you’re not actually going to get a lot of benefit. If you’ve got some degree of nerve impingement anywhere, add in joint inflammation, and it’s a recipe for worsening symptoms, because the inflammation reduces the space around the nerves, making the compression even tighter than it was to begin with, but active arthritis in a joint can cause temporary/intermittent cubital and carpal tunnel on its own, along with sciatica and similar nerve issues in other limbs depending on where the inflammation is.
Do the symptoms you have effect your fingers, and if so, does it effect all of your fingers, or just some of them? With Cubital tunnel, it’s often (but not always) the last 3 fingers that are the worst, whereas carpal tunnel tends to effect the middle 3 and/or occasionally the thumb. It’s not uncommon for people with cubital to be able to ‘draw a line’ down their middle finger, with one side of the digit feeling normal to touch in terms of sensation, the other feeling reduced or tingly when something is stroked along it.
Hi thank you, your description fits so well with what I'm experiencing, I get the burning sensation down the outerside of my left arm and the inner side, it can either be one or the other or both from my elbow to my wrist, and exactly as you describe even if I'm resting my hand on a table (whilst eating food which I'm now having to cut up as quick as I can and eat with just my right hand or get my son or husband to cut it up for me) or using the tablet or resting on a desk using a keyboard, I've now got an extending desktop in work so I can elevate the computer and keyboard as I also have RD in my hamstring so can't sit for any length of time but been on sick leave since the 11th December, the burning sensation started after then so I've no idea if standing with my arms elevated would make this worse, however, I think by standing with my arms elevated using the keyboard has made the RD in my arm worse. When I spoke to the consultant over the phone and told him of this new burning sensation that was absolute agony he said it sounded like nerve pain and gave me gabapentin, whilst this takes the edge off slightly it doesn't go away especially if I use my arm for any length of time so everything you've mentioned fits, gabapentin & co-codamol are just masking it. Hopefully when I see the consultant tomorrow he'll be able to confirm or investigate it further and fingers crossed be able to help with some sort of relief.
With regard to the symptoms affecting my fingers, at this moment in time I'm not sure if it's the burning or the RD spreading to my fingers & knuckles, my left forefinger at the knuckle to the middle of my finger really hurt and the middle bit of my index finger hurts, this is also something that's started in the last month.
Thank you for sharing the above x
Tbh, if the issue is the ulnar nerve, from my own experiences using any keyboard is enough to aggravate it due to the natural bend at the elbows required to type - in my case, even a very slight bend is sufficient to trigger symptoms these days, but it’s not caused by my arthritis, it’s standalone, I’ve had it since I was 24 (37 now), and it has worsened over time. If I lie on my back, even the pressure of my elbows resting on the mattress or against my own side is horrific. If it’s purely the arthritis triggering it, getting that properly under control should help if not resolve it fully. If it’s standalone cubital tunnel, or a mixture of both, you can have the nerve surgically released, which has a very good success rate. I wasn’t able to have a release initially due to awaiting intracranial surgery and my neurosurgeon saying there was a chance I might need crutches after that (crutches and elbow operations don’t mix well), and then my personal circumstances have been such since then that having two slightly duffer arms than usual even for a couple of weeks just hasn’t been feasible, but it’s firmly on the medical to do list, now.
The best test for this kind of thing is usually a nerve conduction study, and I would raise the possibility of nerve compression like cubital tunnel with the consultant and see what he says, particularly in light of the fact you know you have deformity/spurs in your elbow in addition to arthritis. In the shorter term, elbow braces can be helpful for ulnar nerve issues, but make functioning a nightmare as they hold the elbow in a fixed, almost straight position, so tend to only really be practical over night unless it’s your non-dominant arm and you can manage one handed.
Thanks, yes I've moved on the settee so I'm using my other arm on the rest as I think it was aggravating it, and the same when I go to bed and try and sit up, have to use my other arm. It's funny as I'm right handed and it's my left arm and have noticed since it all started how many times I use my left hand, especially if I try to extend it and I've noticed that I need to keep my arm slightly bent to stop the pain and burning.
Hi Everyone, I had my consultants appointment this morning, he said its definitely psoriatic arthritis and that as I've only increased the MTX to 20mg in the last 2 weeks to give it another 4 weeks (I will have then been taking it for 14 weeks), if there is still no improvement I will have to go back to him, he said as many of you have said it's a trial and error situation finding what does or doesn't work.
Regarding the burning, numbness, pins & needles and cold arm, he said it could be due to the inflammation pinching a nerve, I asked about pregabalin instead of gabapentin, he said they're more or less the same but to increase one of the doses a day of gabapentin from 300mg to 600mg, if after 2 weeks there's no change to increase two of the doses a day and then again in 3 weeks. He also gave me a cortisone injection in the outerpart of my elbow which to be honest I was half anticipating and also dreading as the last time I was in so much pain for a number of days, however, whilst my elbow is very sore and my whole arm is aching (& already a lovely blue bruise coming out) the pain at the moment is nowhere near as bad as last time thank goodness, I have taken a couple of co-codamol to help mind.
I also asked if it was better for me to take the etoricoxib in the evening as was mentioned on here and he said he should have told me this especially if I'm really stiff in the morning so thank you nomoreheels for your advice.
The other good news for me is he's now passing my care to my gp who will be prescribing the MTX from now on so I won't have to pay the private prescription costs which seem to vary from chemist to chemist and also adding me to the NHS list who should also take over my care, apparently the list is at least a year! but, regarding the fortnightly blood tests I've had to have and pay for myself at £191 each, the gp will now arrange these and they will be monthly.
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