Hi all, I read all the responses to tingling in the hands and feet but I don't have tingling...just pain and swelling, particularly in the knuckles. It goes down when the pred kicks in, and I am able to close my fists. Until then, however, I have trouble unscrewing the top off a Pepsi bottle, or holding a teakettle. I've seen mentions of hand and wrist involvement in PMR, but haven't seen any mentions from y'all. My next rheumatologist visit is the 13th and I'm going to ask him for more blood tests and what he thinks about my hands. He seemed suspicious at an early visit that it might be RA. Any ideas?
Almost a year into my PMR, I started getting inflammation in my wrists & hands, but they were migrating pains. For example, my left wrist would start feeling a little sore, then it would get worse until it was so sore, I'd worry it was broken. It would swell up and turn red. The pain would last for 12 to 24 hours, then subside and start to feel normal again (although it sometimes turned a little yellow, as if it were bruised, after the swelling went away). Then a day or two later, it would be the same story with one of my fingers. Both hands were affected, but just one finger or wrist at a time, never lasting more than a day. At that point, I had to increase my prednisone back to 15 mg. again (I'd been as low as 4 mg. in the fall, but was up to 10 due to increased shoulder pain and a couple of brief episodes of frozen shoulders early in 2007). I haven't had a recurrence of wrist or finger inflammation since, and I'm now down to 9 mg.
However, if all of your fingers are affected at the same time, I guess RA is another possibility. I don't know much about RA.
Hi Bob!
I had PMR for 2 years(without hand involvement) It came back 3 years later in mild form but with hand involvement same symptoms as you mention . Doc though RA and put me on Plaquenel. 2 weeks into the plaquenel my hands were NORMAL!!!!! and my mild second time around PMR GONE!!!!! I stopped the plaquenel because it gave me headaches. This was 7 weeks ago and am still TOTALLY painfree/ drug free . I have never been so happy in my life! I would talk to your doc and see if he can put you on plaquenel for a few weeks. What have you got to loose?
oH and I forgot to mention my wrist were also involved I'd be walking with wrist tensors on a daily basis. I had hand and wrist pain for 1 year before I went to doc for second time and was told to take RA medication
Bob, check out this website it mentions the hands (somewhere)
http://pain.health.ivillage.com/common/articleprintfriendly. cfm?artid=1776
Hi Bob,
Be sure and let us know what the doc says on the 13th, I'm sure he will have a very good idea and probably take more tests. PMR and all the related issues can be frustrating. Thanks for sharing the details about your hands. Sharing our knowledge is our best defense.
Take care....Kathy
Margaret since you are only on 3.5 mg I URGE you to ask your doc for plaquenel. Try 1 pill per day for 2 weeks. Than stop .It may be the magic pil that it was for me!
Kathy and all,
Saw my rheumatologist Wednesday the 13th and had a lot of blood work done, partly to see what was going on with my hands. I asked the office to fax me the blood work and have spent a good deal of time using the reference Rose provided (labtestsonline.org) to understand many of them.
My rheumatoid factor RF was less than 20 and the reference value is less than 20, so I wrote the people who run the web for clarification. I hope that means I don't have RA. I'll also see what the Dr. has to say about the whole range of tests. My sed rate (if you use the lab test site, it's called ESR) is 19 with a reference value of 0-20, so I guess that's good. I don't have earlier results...guess I should get them to compare for changes.
The Dr. prescribed plaquinol twice a day for the hands and I think I'm seeing some relief but too early to tell for sure after five days on it. I was all set to mention the suggestions you made about the drug but he brought it up himself.
Someone mentioned a PMR sore butt (bum, bottom, rear, heinie, arse, etc.) syndrome and I really noticed it on a plane ride over the weekend...one of those connecting airlines with about 1/4 inch of padding on the seat, and I was squirming the whole flight trying to get comfortable. Must be related to the hips. Not too noticeable at home where you can get up and down and sit in softer chairs.
Down to 10 mg pred and seem to be holding well enough so I'll drop to nine tomorrow and see what happens.
Thank all you kind folks for info and hints and explanations and understanding. I apologize for calling PMR a "nuisance" in an earlier post. I forgot to think that many of you are youngsters and still at an age where you feel pretty darn good most of the time and then are hit with PMR. Us older folks are probably more used to aches and pains and pulled muscles and leg cramps and so on, and inclined to think of PMR as just another price for reaching and exceeding our three score and ten. And then us men don't have the complicated plumbing that the ladies do, and we're prone to underestimate that kind of added tribulation. So please don't think I was dismissing PMR lightly...I just am glad it's not one of the many worse autoimmune diseases around.
Bless you all,
Hi BobHi Y'all,
The Plaquivil seems to be helping with my hands. I've been on it for a month and other than first thing in the morning, I can close my right fist. The left hand is not as good, but has improved.
My rheumy x-rayed them today and sees no sign of arthritis, so that's good news, and in my opinion, adds more credence to the idea that PMR can affect hands as well as other jointed parts of us. I mentioned sore butt but he didn't react. I'd add that to PMR symptoms, since a few of us at least experience it. Guess we'll have to add padding to the rowers' benches.
Hi, Bob. Just thought I'd mention that I, too, have tingling and stiffness in my hands. No swelling. Also, numbness in both hands, sometimes to the point that when I pick something light up it just falls from my fingers. There have been so many symptoms to deal with that I haven't even mentioned this to my doctor, but will at the next visit in two weeks. By the way, she is very good and has called me no less than three time in the last three days about related tests, etc.
Best, Hugh
Hugh, Gla your dr is on top of things even if you don't have answers.