Hands waking me up at night!

I have had the displeasure of being awoken at about 3 or so too. And if I had had a knife sharp enough i may have cut off a hand or two ! it can be that bad ! Tight fingers/skin yep... do you mean swelling ? Don't know about the wrinkling but maybe to do w/ swelling too. As it changes in the fingers up or down that is.

I have FM, and what you are describing is how I started out. It started with the stiffness in my hands. Then i would wake from a nap and couldn't straighten my knees. From pain as well as stiffness. I would feel hotness like a fire poker under my knees then in my elbows it would radiate for awhile then stop. It has just gone on from there. i will tell you the same thing that many caring people here told me..if your Dr. is just blowing you off and you don't feel heard find a knew dr. Preferrably a RHuematologist. I am not saying it is anything but there is nothing worse than not being heard. I have had to change dr.'s a lot before i found one that would run the test and exams needed. I am still going through without a dx but he has me on meds for RA and wants to see where to go from there. My meds have helped and most of my test point in the direction of RA. You pay them, you hire them, they work for you. Fight to be heard. Good luck, we are here for you. Take care, Heather

Good morning. I am new to the site, but read your thread. I am not expert and do not even have a firm diagnosis myself yet, but the rheumy is leaning towards RA. I use cold to help my hands, esp at night. I buy these cold packs at Walmart for about $2/each. When I wake up at night with hand pain, I wrap a cold pack in a pillowcase and use it on my hands. It seems to cut the pain enough so I can get back to sleep (well, at least sometimes). Not sure this would help you, since I do not even know what I am dealing with yet. But just going by symptom relief, the cold has helped my hands. I use heat for my back (old problem or related to my fibro). I buy the Bed Buddy at Walgreens ($10) that you heat in the microwave. So in the middle of the night, when we are all probably up, I am heating up a Bed Buddy and wrapping up a cold pack to try and get back to sleep!

Hope you feel better soon.

I get bad hand pains in middle of night. I found that keeping my hands warm all night seemed to help a little. I homemade myself a pair of mittens. I found that normal mittens would feel way to tight about half way through the nite, so I started wearing a brand new pair of socks...they were less constricting but still felt tight. All I wanted was for them to be kept warm...so I made a pair of mittens out of soft warm material but made them the shape and size of oven mitts, and my mom helped me to make them long enough my wrists were covered too. She also knit the cuffs so they would be 'tight' enough to stay on hands but not choking. I can put my thumb in the thumbhole if I need to use hands like to grab covers etc but I can just leave hands altogether and they stay warm. I take them everywhere if I have to sleepover night my mittens come too. My boys know they are my special bedtime mittens, and will grab them for me if they see that I am rubbing my hands cause they are hurting or cold. I still wake up but get some relief a few hours at a time....this may not work for you but its just another idea. I wear them winter/spring/summer doesnt matter...my hands always seem to be outta the covers so I made sure they were always covered and warm. Good Luck.
Please see a Rhuematologist and tell them your symptoms, it may be more than just carpul tunnel.