The tendons in my fingers in both hands have suddenly gone bad, causing trigger finger in the ring finger of my right hand. I am in a lot of pain, you can feel the swollen tendons at the base of all my fingers in my palms of BOTH hands, so they are both going. The Dr, pcp, said it is tendonitis due to repetitive motion and to not what I do that hurts. Well nothing of note hurts, I do not work, and does anyone have anything like this??? It is getting worse.
Something related - both thumbs are becoming stiff, inflexible, hurt to use. Pain along the backs of most of my fingers, fingertips are very sore when touching anything. Pain in wrists and back of hands. certain that hands swell at night
No, it is not carpal, it is tendonitis related and at the base of the fingers, you can see the swelling. My ring finger pops when it is bent and goes back into position, and sometimes, I cannot straighten it out unless I use my other hand. I am just perplexed with this as I do not have anything in my life that is a repetitive motion, I am not a clerical person, have not worked since 2006, I rescue parrots and clean their cages but do not experience pain when I clean them and the Dr said that whatever hurts when I do it is most likely the culprit. See, here is the thing. I developed thickening, darkening skin on the tops of both of my feet about ten years ago. The appearance was striated, like country ham, for lack of a better way to describe it. The dermatologist tested me for everything. When I stood, the skin looked like an elephant foot, it was not cute. Nothing related to hpv or warts, it was not acanthosis nigricans, which was hella seirous, nor many other things. Then the skin turned slick looking. Now there are these huge knots on the top of my foot, and on my knees, and this is happening to my hands. Also my feet are dry as a desert. Personally, I think that I have some odd, weird disorder that is rare or new. I also tested positive for two sweat tests which would normally be the gold standard to dx cystic fibrosis. The doc then sent in my dna and they did an in depth analysis to see if I had the genetic markers as I am 63 and if I have CF, which is possible to be dx this late, it is a mild strain, and they are doing extensive research with it, but no markers for CF were there. So now we are going for other tests and I just want Dr. House. This particular Dr. is heavy into genetics and is very intrigued with all my weird manifestations. I am just over it. I also have a nodule on my lung. Yay.
DazedandConfused said:
Hello, "numb".
I've had experience dealing in repetitive trauma injuries (as a career) and it's possible your doctor is right on the money.
Carpal tunnel syndrome can cause finger triggering, and the only way to know for certain (on top of a clinical exam) would be to go to a hand specialist and have that doctor perform EMG's to see if there are any nerve entrapments at or near the carpal tunnel, itself (the carpal tunnel is the actual "hole" in the bone of your wrist which allows several tendons and nerves to pass through to your hand from your arm).
There are treatments including occupational therapy, wrist splinting, rest, etc.. Rarely, surgery to enlarge the opening in the carpal tunnel itself is required, which would then decompress the nerves and tendons going through that opening.
If it were me, I'd find a good hand specialist in your area, and have a thorough exam, EMG's of your upper extremities, and also an MRI of both wrists to image any bone spurs or narrowing of the carpal tunnel(s) (one in each hand/wrist).
It IS possible with CIDP to have an "entrapment neuropathy" without having a narrowing of the carpal tunnel (I have entrapment neuropathies of both ulnar nerves without "benefit" of any narrowing or bone spurs, arthritis, etc.. so the sooner you get to a hand specialist and have bilateral upper extremity EMG's, the sooner you'll know what's going on with your hands.
And if it is :just" tendonitis, often times an injection of cortisone into the carpal tunnel area can reduce the inflammation enough to relieve the symptoms. Again, hand specialist time!
Be well and stay strong!