[juliad]

I do not know where to begin here, except to say that I have a fairly extensive medical background, some psych issues that might bear discussion in this community, and have been trying to dust off and brush up on my long-neglected piano skills. As recently as two months ago, I thought that I'd been progressing sufficiently rapidly to justify considering it a way to make a buck and have fun. However, the last couple of weeks have seen a bothersome but ignorable tingling/numbness in the little finger of my left hand become hard to dismiss as a glitch. It does not go away, and becomes worse at night.

I'm over forty-five, and have done some physical jobs. May have injured my back, b/c I have intractable lower back pain (60 mgs. Cymbalta and acetominophen, 500 mgs as needed), left-sided neck pain of long-standing, and cannot presently afford to see an MD. Would prefer not to take narcotics, as there is a predisposition to become addicted to almost anything. Have lost almost an inch in height--perimenopausal, with some DJD.

Have wondered if fish oil supplementation might work until I can see a doc. Working on that. Fish oil, or anything else that has been used to relieve the numbness and clumsiness--in addition to the parasthesias, I feel as though the fourth and fifth digits are encased in cement--would be looked into and discussed further with interest.

[boogirl85]

have you been tested for b12?

[Susanne C.]

My son has inherited neuropathy from me and is an accomplished pianist. he is 28. Recently he told me that he is having trouble playing the piano. Our disorder, axonal CMT, definitely causes muscle loss, weakness, and the tingling that you describe. In our case it is irreversible and progressive.

Another son, who does not have CMT, was injured in a car accident with the symptoms of tingling and numbness in the last two fingers on his right hand. It was completely corrected by surgery, and he is fine now.

I do not see how fish oil could help with this symptom, and pain killers are not always effective with nerve pain. You really need to find out what is causing the symptoms, because as the two examples above show, there are very different outcomes based on the cause.

If it is just one hand, rather than both, I would take that as a hopeful sign that something mechanical and therefore fixable is going on.