I also have issuse in my rt elbow (needs surgery, not going there), rt shoulder, neck, and back. They are generally relatively mild compared to my rt hand. I have flare ups in other areas as well, but every day, week, month, are different. Usually there is a cause attached and I'm proactive about all those little alarm bells nowadays.

I started having back spasms after travelling a few weeks ago, that I'm 95% sure was a result of my locking my arm as my pain escalated throughout the day. The Lidoderm patches did nada this time. Three trigger injections later, 7hours of massage and I'm back to baseline back pain--insignificant compared to the HAND.

I had an IV line put in my "good" hand twice in the same spot, a week apart, during a series of blocks, the pain was as severe as the right has ever been and completely freaked me out. I used Lidocaine patches nonstop for a few days and it went away. This is part of my fear of the SCS. Everytime I've been in the head space to try it, WC throws up roadblocks anyway.

I should say my while my left hand is generally pain free, it is just as hyper sensitive to cold now as the right, and with the cold there is burning pain, and the fingers stay colder than normal. Actually, there is zero chance I could tolerate an ice pack on my hands or feet at this point. Even holding a piece of cheese from the fridge in either hand causes burning pain from the cold.

It seems when my stomach gets irritated from the meds, if I don't get it under control quickly enough, fabric touching my stomach starts bothering me... I feel like an old car that needs to be constantly monitored for fear of breaking a part that will send me to the junkyard... But, then I'm thankful none of my other parts have really broken down, ya know?