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HELP: severe wrist/finger pain has me in tears

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Posted 11/27/2015 3:51 AM (GMT 0)
Happy Thanksgiving Everyone!

While I am thankful for so much, I am struggling to get thru the night.

I've had joint pain, worst in hands/fingers/wrists for about 18 months now. Over the past month or so, the pain has gotten 100 times worse, (or more). Doesn't really matter what I do or how I try to treat it (ice, heat, anti-inflammatory cream, pain meds, rest, movement, compression gloves).

***How can I treat nerve pain enough to get thru the weekend, no doc available?***

I do take MS-Contin and Hydrocodone for low back pain (from Spina Bifida). Works well for that pain. I also take Lyrica, 100mg, twice daily for the nerve pain, but it's just not working! Tonight is one of the worst "pain nights" I have had with this.

Don't have a clear diagnosis yet, but we (doc and I) know it's nerve pain. It's in all joints in my body, but by far the worst is in my fingers and wrists. I have some bulging discs in my neck, a pinched nerve on L. side causing tingling and numbness down my arm, into my thumb. Multiple chronic health conditions and on at least 15 Rx meds. Pain in my hands feels like electricity is shooting thru my fingers; building from the base of the finger up to the fingertip and then out. So painful!!!


HELP!!!

Thankful for you all and the support you offer.

Sunny13
Posted 11/27/2015 10:48 AM (GMT 0)
Sunny what kind of heat are you using? It truly makes a difference. Has your Dr tried going up on the lyrica? Maybe trying amitryp or switching to a different neuropathy med altogether but none of these things help in real time.

Are you using a laptop or desktop, phone, tablet? What I'm getting at is are you typing on a keyboard or touchscreen?

Take a few minutes to think about this pain and get to know it, this sounds crazy but it really helps me. Evaluate it so to speak. Is there a position that brings relief? First start with your hands and flex them, try different positions turning your wrists this way or that and if nothing changes move to your arms and shoulders, from there your back or neck. Use pillows, try sitting up in the bed at differing angles, laying on your side arm raised or down by your side, again use pillows to prop up arms or under the neck, you just have to seriously play around and find a place where your more comfortable and this takes time and patience but it would be worth it to get in a position that takes some pressure off the nerve or nerves in a bind or pinched.

Soaking your hands in warm or cool water may also help or standing under the water in the shower letting the water run down your back.

Soft hand and wrist braces help some, the ones that fit snuggly like ace bandage, all drugstores, Walmart and even the $store have them so no need to spend a lot of money here they don't have to be anything fancy.

Hopefully something there will help you.

Good luck
Posted 11/27/2015 11:44 AM (GMT 0)
Yikes! I get that pain in my leg and can't imagine it in my hand! It seems you've tried everything I would have suggested. I'm praying things improve for you.
Posted 11/27/2015 4:26 PM (GMT 0)
@ Vickie: I have tried lots of different positions with my hands/arms, but nothing is working. I don't type or write much (when i do it's very slow, over time), and i am at the point of only using speakerphone so I don't have to hold the phone at all. And writing with a big fat pen is even horrible. I got two words written before I felt excruciating pain and an electricity feeling in every finger.

I'm going to try the warm water kind of heat, rather than a heating pad, which just aggravates my hand pain and makes them itchy too!

@pitmom: Thanks for the prayers. Much appreciated! Sorry you have that pain in your leg. It sucks!!!

@Hrvoje: Magnets? Hadn't heard of that actually. How is that done?


Appreciate the responses. Feeling miserable and in pain is so much better when you aren't doing it alone.
Posted 11/27/2015 6:35 PM (GMT 0)
Magnets are a fad, alternative medicine type therapy. I've not tried it so I can't give a personal review.
Not telling you what to do, just encouraging you to hold onto your pocketbook. Hope you feel better.

Here's the official position of the National Institutes of Health (NIH), which is the medical research agency of the federal government:

"Preliminary scientific studies of magnets for pain have produced mixed results. Overall, there is no convincing scientific evidence to support claims that magnets can relieve pain of any type. Some studies, including a recent National Institutes of Health (NIH) clinical trial for back pain, suggest the possibility of a small benefit from using magnets for pain. However, the majority of rigorous studies have found no effect on pain. More research on magnets for pain is needed before reaching any firm conclusion."
Posted 11/28/2015 12:17 AM (GMT 0)
After having it done at PT, I purchased my own paraffin kit for home. It feels SOOOOOO good, plus your hands will look awesome, too :)

You can use paraffin wax (may be called either paraffin or wax) to apply moist heat to your hands or feet to ease, pain and stiffness. Paraffin especially helps to reduce pain and loosen up your hand and finger joints before exercise.

You should talk with your doctor before trying paraffin at home. And it's a good idea to have a physical therapist show you how to do it before you try it yourself.
Posted 11/28/2015 3:54 AM (GMT 0)
Sunny, I am with Cary on the magnets. I personally think its a fad too. They have made tons of money selling magnets no doubt. I think its one of those mind over matter type of things. We have pain & go out & buy a magnet bracelet to wear & because we want it to work so badly we can convince our self it helps. Just my take on them.
Posted 11/28/2015 4:30 AM (GMT 0)
I second Rocckyd's suggestion regarding a home paraffin bath unit.

Because wax/paraffin is heated to a viscous liquid state, paraffin is able to contour intimately to the contours of the hand/fingers.

After dipping your hand/fingers into the paraffin, the resulting glove of paraffin is wrapped in a layer of towel and remains place for 20-25 minutes. The heat retained by the paraffin gradually penetrates into the soft tissues and bones of the hand/fingers.

A home paraffin unit does not require an MD prescription.

I am a physical therapist by profession and find the home paraffin unit beneficial to those with both rheumatoid and degenerative arthritis as well as individuals with chemotherapy related neuropathy. It is nice because individuals can use the home unit when they need it in the comfort of their own home - as opposed to a scheduled therapy appointment in an impersonal clinical setting.
Posted 11/28/2015 8:12 AM (GMT 0)
Agreed with the wax it is a very old and useful tool. It's basically the same theory as warm water soaks but with the added benefit of encasing the hand in warm wax and holding the heat in longer allows for deep treating. I wish some time I could fill the hot tub in the wax, entire body mold would be great!!

I asked originally about type of heat because moist heats better for somethings and dry others. Moist heat would be like damp towel in microwave, some of the hot packs with gel in them, warm soaks, dry is heating pad, hot pack with the pellets or rice. I have used the gallon freezer bags and doubled them then filled with warm water, cheaper and easy and can freeze if I am going ice to heat. The arthritis in my hands has gotten progressively worse over the last year and I found using one of the swipe apps on the keyboard is much smoother than typing, don't have much luck with speech to text since I have such a profound hillbilly accent the thing never understands me.

The thing to remember here is all these are treating geared towards your hands themselves and If the pain is neuropathic in nature but stemming from spinal nerve damage or entrapment then none of its going to be of much use to you. In saying that if you don't find anything that works in this post I would go back to the beginning and gear it all towards the cervical spine issues, ie: positioning? Try sleeping and sitting props keeping in mind that this is a spinal problem and relieving the pressure at the spinal point is going to lessen the neuropathic pain peripherally. You also then have to think deep water therapy versus hand soaking and if you can access a hot tub or heated pool you will be pleasantly surprised at how much of a difference in pain you can get.

Magnetic field therapy? Well its not written in stone but some older generation arthritis sufferers swear by it and I think personally it probably has to do with the mind over matter theory. On a personal note I was having some bad edema issues a few summers ago and it was really hot here and I was working at the kids store on the weekends for my daughter and on my feet a lot add to the fact it's a common side effect of methadone and long running use so someone suggested using a magnetic ankle bracelet and I figured I had nothing to lose it was cute and day two I woke up to the swelling being down greatly. Who knows if it would have went down anyway since it was Tues and I hadn't worked since Sunday, the humidity broke, I took a diuretic? I still occasionally wear it not for treatment but it is cute! Lol
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