Hi Kelly,

My numbness is very seldom just "numb", it is usually accompanied by hypersensitive skin, tingling/prickles, a sandpaper (or worse) scrubbed by a steel wool pad sensation when I "touch", a swollen feeling, aching bones or muscles around the site, strangled sensation, a feel of lack of blood supply, .... etc.

Most of that is sensory, in that the sensations are phantom one's, like the "itch" that someone without their leg will get. That's why pain relief doesn't help that much.

When it comes to the wrists/numb hands, that is apparently caused by damage to the nerves or nerve roots that branch from the C-spine. There are three nerves; median, radial, ulnar that travel down the arm, and it seems most times with MS, all three are affected.

Basically the feeling is a lot like carpal tunnel (have a look on here for prior threads on that topic), but with CT, only one nerve (median) is affected. Most people with severe CT will complain about pain (and numbness) from their shoulders, right down to some of their fingers. With us, it's usually all of our fingers, because the damage is at the root level of those nerves.

I get that aching in my wrists, as well as a sensation of my tendons being pulled to the max from my wrists to my elbow. I also get worse "numbness" (or tingling) in my hands, and a feeling like they have been dipped in cement (stiffness), etc.

To me, it does feel like arthritis in the wrists, but I'm pretty sure it's not because it is intermittent. I always have numb hands, but the wrist/forearm sensations come on for days or weeks, then they just let up again.

I used to have to wear arm braces at night, because like carpal tunnel, I found that they got worse with use. At night I would inadvertantly bend my wrists in weird positions, and my hands/arms would be even more sore in the morning. I don't need braces any more, but I am very strategic about how I sleep at night so that I don't put more stress on them.

The more I do with my hands (typing, driving, gardening), the worse these sensations are. When they get bad, I take Naproxen 500mg X 2 per day, and REST them for a few days . . . that usually takes much of the pain away.

Cherie