Sausage fingers

[Queencara78]

Does this look familiar to anyone please?

[Seaside88]

Yes they look very much like my sausage fingers. I have difficulty wearing my rings as one day they fit and the next they don't.

[Queencara78 in reply to Seaside88]

Okay and do you have an autoimmune disease?

[Seaside88 in reply to Queencara78]

I have severe Raynaud's, Limited Systemic Sclerosis CREST. I also have ME/CFS and Fibromyalgia along with other health problems.

[Queencara78 in reply to Seaside88]

Okay thank you for responding again. Which of those would you say causes these sausage like fingers?

[Seaside88 in reply to Queencara78]

I am not really sure but I had them long before the Systemic Sclerosis was diagnosed. I always blamed it on the ME/CFS but now I wonder if I had the S/S all along too.

[Queencara78 in reply to Seaside88]

I used to have negative ANA results when first diagnosed with Raynauds in 2014 but my last blood results in June this year showed positive 1/160 titer with a nucleolar pattern.

[Queencara78 in reply to Seaside88]

I am also diagnosed with Fibromyalgia and joint hypermobilty syndrome.

[Seaside88 in reply to Queencara78]

My Daughter in Law and Grandson have Hypermobility and they both have very long slender fingers.

[Queencara78 in reply to Seaside88]

This swelling is a very recent symptom i seem to have developed.

[Seaside88 in reply to Queencara78]

Have you started to take a different medication recently that may be the cause?

[Gwantwa in reply to Seaside88]

Just wear some warm gloves

[Seaside88 in reply to Gwantwa]

I have a drawer full of all different kinds of gloves and none of them help me. I even bought some silver gloves from The Raynaud's Society and they don't help at all. I have tried wearing more than one pair at a time and that was no good. I was told mittens are better and I tried them too.

What type of gloves has anyone found helpful?

[Seaside88]

I have had Raynaud's for at least 30 years but the last couple of years it got much worse and unbearable and affected my feet too. I asked the Doctor for the Anti Nuclear Antibody blood test at the beginning of last year and it was Positive. I was told I had Limited Variant Systemic Sclerosis CREST Scleroderma. I had a Lung Function test and Heart Scan and CT scan with dye. The Heart and lung test were repeated this year and will be every year.

[Gwantwa in reply to Seaside88]

Put your finger in warm water with salt

[Hidden]

YEP. Mine happened a couple of winters in a row and then went away - it was in the first couple of years

[Hidden in reply to Hidden]

Of SSc *

[marilynmcl]

I have swollen fingers ..worse on my right hand...they are painful at the joints ...my thumb is bent like a banana outwardly...trigger thumb...my ankles and other joints are also very sore but I was told it was down to the systemic sclerosis. I have not worn my wedding ring or other rings for years now due to the swelling. The puffiness of the fingers were the first symptom I recall for systemic sclerosis. The funny thing is, when I was admitted to hospital with pneumonia two years ago, the consultant who was called in to check out my swollen fingers had a look at them and then at my feet, she checked out my feet and said that I had sclerosis! Lord knows what she noticed there! Wish I had asked at the time but was too ill with pneumonia to do so. So, there you go! Just another symptom of what we have I am afraid.

[PJSammy in reply to marilynmcl]

I had sausage fingers and tight skin when first diagnosed with systemic scleroderma. That was 17 years ago and my fingers returned to normal (except for lack of fat at the balls, ulcers and fibrosis...ha).

Re gloves. I wear thrummed mittens for warmth. I make them myself from a kit. They get me through Toronto's winters along with a supply of disposable hot pads (which I don't like to use because they can't be reused or recycled)

[Alice1956]

Yes very familiar! It was my first recognisable symptom, along with extreme fatigue, which sent me to the GP. About 6 months later I was diagnosed with Diffuse Scleroderma. I ended up having my rings enlarged by 2 sizes so that I could still wear them. They are less puffy now, 3 years on - in fact they are bony with thickened joints.

[TJme]

Unfortunately Yes its a very familiar sight , you need to try to keep your hands warm wear gloves even when you are inside x

[cpns]

The shape of my hands & fingers used to be one of the things I liked about my appearance; elegant & delicate. I was diagnosed with Raynauds 37 years ago & scleroderma about 8 years ago - it is since the scleroderma that I have seen my hands change. Seeing the specialists never improves my attitude to my shovel like hands with hammer fingers, rhino hide skin & split fingertips, in no small part because they refer to my fingers as truncated, & swollen & sausage like. But, I can still do everything I want to, I simply use different approaches when they are really stiff, sore, or numb. I shop according to my skills, pumps on toothpaste, triggers on suncream, square lids on coffee jars etc., or I swallow my pride & ask for help from my workmates where I need to. The changes happened gradually for me & so I have had time to adjust. It is fine I am still me, I have plenty of skills & strength, fine motor dexterity is just not my top skill anymore!

[beaglab]

That looks like a circulatory problem. You might want to monitor your nutrition and your activity patterns. In addditioon, you might want to take Niacin, 500 mgs, with water and healthy carbs.

[beaglab in reply to beaglab]

I was getting sleepy when I replied. What I wanted to say is: take 500 mgs of Niacin about four to five times per day. I buy Twin Labs brand because it was recommended. Please read the book, Niacin the Real Story. Take care.