Wow, been a long while since I visited! Quick update:
ENBREL ROCKS!
As long as I take it on time (which I, unfortunately, suck at), I'm basically "normal" on Enbrel. :D Pre-Enbrel I had a C1/C2 spinal fusion in 2005 which did wonders for my neck pain. W00t!
Anyway, on to my question. I perpetually have muscle pain in the soft part of my hands between thumbs and fingers. Before the arthritis I was, if not double jointed, at least able to stretch my thumb joints further than the average person. I can still pull my thumb back all the way to touch the inside of my wrists.
Today I started stretching my thumbs, even though the joins and particularly the skin said OUCH! but WOW, the muscle pain abated significantly!
Has anyone else encountered this particular pain related to double jointedness? Or just pain in the soft thumb muscles in general? I figured it was laptop use til now.I have pain there too. I figure its because i'm a musician and I stretch my hands every which way. I am not double jointed, so I can't help you there... but I have noticed that my hands are much stiffer than they used to be. Dang it.I have pain in my right hand from time to time. Usually after I have done something out of the ordinary. I was on enbrel for years and now Humira and methotrexate. Overall I am doing really well. I still have the ocassional stiffness in my hand and foot. Like I said, it usually occurs when I do something maybe I shouldn't.I have been having lots of pain "around" the joints, not always in the joints. Along my forearms, various parts of the hands. I just had another test today, I am sure everybody probably gets these, where they do a test of the joints by pressing on them to check for pain. There isn't much pain when the nurse does this, but still my hands, arms, just generally hurt especially while moving. The nurse said it is the tendons, I guess somehow the tendons get affected by this mess, maybe because I now have much diminished activity, and move in different ways now. She said the RA does not attack the tendons. Maybe the swelling causes the tendons to complain.
Not sure I helped answer the question, but it seemed related somehow.
Roland
My RD says RA can cause inflammation in the tendons. It's funny (or frustrating) how many different answers we can get.
Copyright ArthritisInsight.com