When you think of something being numb you assume that you can't feel it, right? Like when the dentist gives you novacane (sp?).....you can't feel your face for a couple of hours.

Why then, if my hand is numb do my fingers and wrist ache so badly? Could I also have arthritis? I've been tested and it was negative. It's mainly my right hand but my left is slowly getting mildly numb, too. I've noticed it happening over the last several weeks. My right hand feels tight, like it's swollen but it's not. My ring finger and pinkie finger want to curl under. My index finder and thumb are what aches the most. It's moving up my arm - the area before the elbow aches mostly at night....when I'm trying to sleep. I've been taking Aleve but it's beginning to not work. I hate the thought of taking anything stronger.

Does anyone else have numbness along with pain?

Are you taking anything for spasms, Kell?

I have Baclofen.....but I haven't taken it for a while. I don't have spasticity or spasms on a regular basis that are bad enough to take it all the time. Or maybe I do & just don't realize it..... The achey feeling in my hands and arms feels like joint pain.....it's different from the spasms I get in my legs sometimes. But maybe it's just a different type? You think?

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

Thanks, Cherie. I have the hypersensitive skin, too. Especially on my left hand & arm. The area between the thumb and wrist itches like I have poison ivy.....it's maddening and I've scratched it so much that a blood blister formed! But....the strange thing is that scratching doesn't alleviate the itch. It's like an itch that cannot be scratched. I don't get that sensation on my right hand....but it's the numbest of the two.

Those phantom sensations are so irritating....I've gotten the ones that feels like something wet on your skin, the bugs crawling sensation and the sandpaper.

One thing I have noticed is that when this particular sx is acting up....whichever hand is affected.....the nails grow like crazy! It's so strange.....the little nail tech that gave me my pedicure asked me how I got my fingernails to grow so nice and strong. I told her that my method is an old family secret but she probably doesn't want to try it!

I get the itch too, especially when the warmer weather starts up. I used to get it only in one or two spots, but I get it in several more now.

Hydrocortisone 1% cream helps sometimes. A $ store freezer pack does too (but 8 of them on the various spots can be unrealistic ). I've even been known to pinch or slap the spot, just to confuse my brain.

The best thing, when you have lots of those neurological itches going on is to use Benadryl of Zyrtec. Maybe there are better antihistimines available for that (that don't cause drowsiness), but I haven't found Claritin or the usual a/h's helpful that way. Benadryl works every time.

Cherie

I may have to break down and try the Benadryl. It makes me sleepy but if I'm asleep then I won't feel the itch! I already take Zyrtec.....I take it each night before bed because it does tend to make me sleepy.

The fun never ends, does it??!!

Interesting to know that Zyrtec doesn't seem to help you. I haven't tried that myself for the itch, but someone else mentioned it helps them for it. Benadryl does work for me though.

Is it getting warm down there, Kelly?

Cherie

Yes, it's in the low 80's most days but we did get up to close to 90 one day last week. The heat seems to affect me more with each passing year. I'm pretty much a hermit during the daytime hours of the summer.

What's the weather like where you are?

Freakin' cold most of the time, still . . . I don't think we've gotten above 70. The good news is that my itching hasn't started up, yet.

The sun is shining most of the time, which is nice, but we had a rain storm last night like something from TX or Nevada. I've seen that on TV (or in person, down there), but not often here. It only lasted about 30 min, and our gardens needed it, but it was pretty rough. My youngest was outside in it, cause both my kids love when it rains like crazy.

With regard to the heat getting to be more of a problem, I think that is a generally consequence of "old" damage . . . kinda like atrophy going on. I had Uhthoff's in my eyes for the first time over the last year, but there was definitely NO new damage to the Optic nerve. She could see the old damage though, and she said it's just catching up with me. Fortunately that symptom went away for now, which I was kinda surprised about.

Cherie