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Fibro Pain in Hands?

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Posted 2/3/2010 4:09 PM (GMT 0)
Hello everyone. I'm new to the forum and was diagnosed with fibromyalgia in August with 16/18 pressure points. While I have the muscle pain in my legs and arms, the worst pain is in my hands and fingers. I have read a lot of topics here and haven't seen any other posts about this. This pain radiates out from my palm and shoots through my fingers. My wrists also often have sharp pains. I originally thought that this was carpal tunnel syndrome, but that has been ruled out with the EMG test.

Does anyone else have this problem? If so, how do you cope with it. I have an internet business and this obviously has put my company in jeopardy. I have had to hire a full-time employee.
Posted 2/3/2010 5:14 PM (GMT 0)
Hi Susan!

And I'm glad you've joined our family! I also have a lot of hand pain. I believe some is from fibro but I also have some arthritis in my hands. One other thing that I have problems with is my hands jerking once in a while. What I mean by that is like when I'm using the computer mouse, all of a sudden my hand will jerk and the cursor will go flying across the screen. It's frustrating when I'm doing some photograph restoration or doing something that take accuracy. Thank goodness for the 'undo' function.

I also have problems dropping things and it frustrates the crackers out of me. On Sunday I was giving hubby a haircut. It's an easy and quick job as he wears a very short buzz. But while clipping away all of a sudden my hand must have just let go of the clippers and they bonked hubby right on the top of his head! I felt so awful and ended up in tears...part for hurting him and part for losing control of what I was holding on to.

Has the doc considered arthritis in your hands? Probably so, but it's just a thought. That would most likely be more intense around a particular joint though. Is this nerve or muscle pain? That can make a difference in diagnosing. It is possible that it's nothing more than fibro and we all know how frustrating that is. Keep your hands warm! at all times. Cold muscles are much more painful. Things like Icy Hot can be helpful. Use gloves if you're going outside in cold weather. Once your hands get chilled the pain that produces can last for a long time.

So you got my 'brain dump'...lol and for someone with fibro that's not much some days. I hope something helps. I do hope you keep posting. By sharing our experiences we help others...just as you found out that there were not posts on painful hands. Now there is because you took the time to share.

Warm welcoming hugs!
Chutz
Posted 2/3/2010 5:55 PM (GMT 0)
Hi Chutz,

Thanks so much for your reply. We have ruled out arthritis in my hands. Sometimes the pain is burning nerve pain; sometimes it's shooting sharp pains; almost always, there's an underlying ache. While everyone here swears by heat, I have found that my pain is worse when the overall temperature is warmer. I'm much more comfortable in cold. I know that this is partly due to the fact that chemotherapy pushed me into early menopause and I have constant "personal summers." I also think that it was the mastectomy that triggered the fibro. I sleep with the window open and my DH is sleeping downstairs until the warmer weather comes. He's tried so hard to sleep with me but, even with the covers over his head, he says it's too cold. At the same time, I'm only using portions of the blanket to keep parts of my body from touching because it hurts so much.

I'm seeing all of my doctors on Monday and I'm going to look into Savella. I'm concerned about taking Lyrica because of the potential weight gain. I'm already very overweight and don't need anything that could make that any worse. My mother got me a Wii for my birthday last month and I've been using that as much as possible (at least every other day.) I'm trying to exercise as much as possible and I think that's helped with the rest of the pain.

I have been reading posts on this forum since last July and I hope that I will be able to help others as much as I've been helped.

Thank you again for your kind response. It's so good to know that I'm not alone. :-)
Posted 2/3/2010 7:15 PM (GMT 0)
Hi Susan and welcome to the forum! :)

I too have fibro pain in my hands. I have RA as well, but that's been well controlled with prednisone and Imuran so far. For me the fibro pain is worst where the thumb joins the hand...it can really be bad at times. It's not in the joint, but in the soft tissues there so I know it's fibro. There's always an achey feeling there, but sometimes it becomes intense and stabbing.

Like Chutz, I tend to drop things too, especially when I'm trying to cook.

I'm on Lyrica and Cymbalta....I understand your concern about weight gain but it's also important to control the pain. My pain level has definitely decreased since I started the Lyrica. I've already gained a lot of weight on prednisone, but I haven't gained any more on the Lyrica, which is a good thing!

Best wishes.....I'm glad you found this forum!
JoAnn
Posted 2/3/2010 7:45 PM (GMT 0)

Hi Susan,

Congratulations on your 5 year mark as a breast cancer survivor.  What a battle that must have been.  Poor you, now you're on to the next battle.   I also have pain in my hands and fingers but lately I'm just chalking everything up to Fibro pain.  I feel like a hypochondriac going to the doctors just to be told they can't find anything.  This is a good place to be.  At least here people can tell you whether or not they too have the pain.  Makes you feel a bit more sane.  Again, congratulations on your 5 years honey.  It's all downhill now. :)

Posted 2/3/2010 8:00 PM (GMT 0)
Thanks to all of you. I also drop things all of the time. Everything will seem fine and then it's like my hands just stop working and whatever I was holding is gone. It's quite a challenge working with collectible coins all day. I just have to make sure that I have something soft on my desk and that I'm holding the coins far away from the edge.

JoAnn, the feeling that you describe in your thumb is in all of my fingers and it's definitely not the joints, it's the soft tissue. The RA has been pretty much under control since I started using the Elations drink every day. That stuff is awesome! It can still get bad when the weather is damp, but overall, my joints feel pretty good. I think that the other pain meds (percocet, gabapentin, naproxen sodium) I'm on take care of any other RA pain I might have.

I do feel very fortunate that, except for the fibro pain, my life really is awesome. I have 6 cats that all take turns laying with me on very bad days and one of them is constantly on my desk while I'm working. I've found that petting them helps the pain in my hands quite a bit. I know that sounds strange, but it's true. There are days that I wouldn't have been able to deal with it if it weren't for them. My DH and two teenage boys have been very helpful and we have a happy, peaceful home. I am so grateful that everyone here tries to keep stress at a minimum. That makes a huge difference. I can't even remember the last time anyone raised their voice here. Sometimes I feel like I really shouldn't complain about the fibro since everything else is so perfect.

I'm glad to be making friends here. I have done pretty well learning how to stay positive. This might be the one area where I can contribute to others. I really hope so. Happiness and peace are so important when trying to deal with this (or any) illness.
Posted 2/4/2010 3:11 AM (GMT 0)
I also suffer from lots of pain in myhands and fingers. I used to be a church pianist, but had to give it up due to the pain of pressing the keys. I have trouble clutching the steering wheel many times during flares.

I do not do a tight grip on the steering wheel, but my hands are in constant pain during those times. My hands and fingers feel as if someone has caned or used a ruler and brused them (ala old stern school masterwhacking hands with the rod)

I have been with my daughter in Germany for 3 months now taking care of the newborn and the 18 month old. I have started a flare last week and it hurts so badly to pick up the new baby with my hands.

I also have no strength anymore to be able to open bags of food........I have to use scissors. Even on potato chip bags. Let's not even mention how I had to give up ketchup on my fries because those little packages are horrible to deal with.

Sometimes I just want to cuddle them on something soft. I can never tell if heat or cold will make it better........if one hurts one time, then the next it will feel good.

I sit and lightly hold mywrists all the time. My cake decorating has had to stop because of the hands pain.

Flares are the pits!
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