Numb hands 😞

[Auntbessy]

Hello, I have been suffering with numb hands at night and during the day for a while. They really hurt at night and wake me up. It seems that it's made worse by laying on my side and not so connected to the position of my wrists. Splints don't make much difference. Has anyone had anything similar and have you found a way of dealing with it? My thyroid is ok. Could have a slightly higher dose possibly but would have to take this up privately. My b12, ferritin and vit d are in range but on the low side. I'm 42 and possibly perimenopausal too.

[Buddy195 Administrator]

I was diagnosed with tarsal tunnel issues by my physio as I had numb hands/ pins and needles in arms, made worse if I fell asleep on my arm/ hand at night. I took the splints off in my sleep so these didn’t work well for me either. Gentle stretches helped (Pilates), as did optimising B12 and folate levels. I also got a larger ergonomic mouse for my pc and stopped resting my elbow on my desk (as this position made the issue worse for me) Since starting HRT I’ve not had a reoccurrence, so this may well have been linked to perimenopause in my case.

[SarahJane1471]

Carpal Tunnel. If the splints don’t work ask your GP to give you cortisol injections. I’ve had 5/6 in the last 4 years. I wear splints every night. The injections are not working so well for me now so will probably need the operation on both wrists but I’m getting by for now.

[SlowDragon Administrator]

Your post from 3 months ago suggests you are under medicated/poor conversion

healthunlocked.com/thyroidu...

Improving low Ft3 likely to help

And previous results show vitamin levels very poor

healthunlocked.com/thyroidu...

Retest after 8 weeks improving levels

[Auntbessy in reply to SlowDragon]

I am currently not in the position to be able to get T3 as I believe I would need to go private to do so and I can't afford this right now. It's quite frustrating 😕 at least I can improve my vitamins and minerals relatively easily.

[SlowDragon Administrator in reply to Auntbessy]

at least I can improve my vitamins and minerals relatively easily.

That’s always the first step

As a vegetarian it’s especially difficult/essential to keep close tabs on maintaining GOOD B12 and ferritin

Presumably you have now tested Vitamin D

what was result?

[Batty1]

sounds like a pinched nerve maybe from your neck or shoulder.

[gabkad in reply to Batty1]

That's what I had. I use a pillow that contains water in order to support my neck properly.

Mediflow. No idea if these are sold in the UK but they are made in Canada.

[kiefer]

Yes, I had this issue. Both hands would either be numb or so stiff that I could barely move them in the morning. This issue would wake me up during the night as well. It got so bad that I would have to position my body on a 45 degree angle using pillows; otherwise it was like grabbing a high power electric line if I side-slept properly.

In my case it was myofascial trigger points. The set of muscles that are usually involved in hand pain/numbness are the scalenes (anterior).

Since these muscles are located in the front/side of the neck, you'll want to become familiar with their anatomy prior to testing. Once you locate the anterior scalene (on either side), when pressed you will feel pain directly on the scalene muscle as well as an 'ache' in your front deltoid muscle. The treatment is to massage the scalene muscles until no more pain can be felt, either directly or referred.

These muscles (scalenes) refer pain down various parts of the arm all the way to the hand.

painwhisperer.com/trigger-p...

[Mixteca]

Good idea to post your blood test results for on the PAS forum as you may well be B12 deficient and have low absorption of other vitamins and minerals. Low ferritin/iron stores can result in symptoms, so good to have a full iron panel done for a complete picture.