Wrist pain is crippling
 

My spread to my left arm and hand is recent (6 months ish), and I get these bouts of wrist pain. I'm having one tonight. It feels like I've broken my wrist, so painful. Horrible sharp burning pains with the slightest movement, but worse if I hold it still for too long. All the skin on the inner side feels hyper sensitive, and the sprain type of pain extends down through to my palm and throu my fingers. I'm using my left hand as well to type this, but very gingerly and only my middle two fingers.

I know I haven't broken it, I know it's the CRPS, but omg the pain at time is excruciating, and very scary. My palm feels incredibly tight, like it wants to bend inwards. I keep flexing my palm out, and my palm tingles and burns every time.

Crumbs I'm fed up guys. We've got this massive storm on the way, a huge low pressure system coming in, and I can really feel it :(

I hope you're all doing ok, just wanted to share this scary stuff really, and reach out. I've got a tubigrip wrist support somewhere, I'll go and find it and get it on. It hurts to put on, but does help a bit overall.

Huge to everyone out there, and good luck if you're in the UK :rolleyes:

Bram.

Sorry you are having more pain tonight Bram, that really stinks! I am struggling also. I already have RSD in my face, feet, hands, shoulders, left leg and left arm...oh, and trunk. Now it feels as though it is spreading to my right hip/leg. It has really been bothering me a lot lately...ugh!

I hope you make it through the storm ok and that you can get some relief soon!

Hugs,
Nanc
:hug:

Bram, I'm sorry you are having so much pain now. Try to remember that the worst of it will pass. I hope it is feeling a bit better soon.

:hug:

I'm sorry to hear you're not doing well and that it's so painful to type :( Do the best you can - we would sure miss you if you couldn't type anymore!!

Can you play Edward at all? I really need to get back to my harp .. I haven't played for so long ...

That's so nice that you remembered SloRian! :) I've been playing Edward most days, but the last two he has been sulking in a corner while my arm has been bad. I'm trying to keep it up though, as I hope its going to help keep my arm and hand stronger...plus I love it ;)

Wrist is a bit better this morning but still fragile. Thanks so much you guys :hug:

Hope everyone is doing well today so far...

Bram.

rain, rain go away come again....uh err somewhere else!
 

Bram,

Like the others have said I am too sorry you are having a rough time right now!! I do hope the low pressure system moves through quickly and your pain subsides along with it. Keeping that epsom salt handy!! Warm soak, bit of chocolate and a warm cup of tea.. perhaps?

I'm struggling right along with you.. 3 days ago, I had what I tried to convince myself was just a fleeting feeling.. but after three days of burning in my arms, muscle spasms and that all to familiar lightning bolt pain, I now have given in to the realization that this beast has now spread to both arms simultaneously. The burn began on my drive home one afternoon which had already been a particularly rough day/drive.. after trying hard to convince myself, it was the sun shining through the windows or my heater was up to high.. the reality hit like a swarm of bee's. Tears poured down my face the rest of the way home. I do hope it subsides with the weather but, know that with spread the best we can do is treat it aggressively, just like it was a new diagnosis. My PM was going to start lidocaine infusion therapy this week already so I hope just that alone will help the arms pain subside. If he shares anything else with me worth sharing, I'll be sure to pass it along to you and the others!!

Bram - I can't remember without going back through the older posts if you also suffer from severe burning pain in your CRPS limbs? I'm really struggling with the burn especially at night throughout my body; do you have any comments or tips for dealing with that?

iHugs to you and the others struggling with increased pain right now!
Tessa

Thanks Tessa :)

I resorted to chocolate and whisky last night....certainly helped me get to sleep :rolleyes:

Sorry youve got spread to both arms, that must be horrible. I hope you have lower pain today and that things calm down a bit for you. I have symptoms coming in my right hand after my laundry incident a few days ago, but so far my arm itself is ok. I was driving today and wondering if I'd be able to cope at the wheel if my right arm were as bad as my left. I wouldn't want to not feel safe, but I'd hate to lose my independence. Safety would have to come first, but that would be a BAD day...

I do get horrible burning in the evening, but I go to bed late and usually find that a couple of hours of mainly elevating my leg reduce the burn enough for me to get to sleep. I don't really have many techniques to deal with it, apart from elevating the quilt to keep it off my lower legs (pillow at end of bed lol), and warming the bed a bit before I get in - now its colder I find that if I get into a cold bed it will start the burning off again within five minutes. Thank goodness for electric blankets! Mind you, I hate it if the blanket is on too long and the bed is too warm - that can feel as bad :rolleyes: Always such a fine line between comfort and pain...

Once I'm asleep I do tend to sleep through most nights at the moment, and tend to get 6-8 hours which is great compared to a few months ago. Finding some relaxation techniques that worked helped me so much with sleep. Thank you Bagpuss! :D

Take care and I hope you feel a little better soon. IHugs right back!

Bram.

Oh Bram, so sorry about your hand. That's where mine all started! That's why my posts are shorter than most folks because it takes me so long.

I use an electric heating pad on my hand when I'm sitting down and then I started sleeping with my hand under my pillow to encourage my fingers to straighten out somewhat. My P.T. gives me soft "sock" fabric to wear. It is basically a short sleeve with a slit cut in for my thumb. It helps so much when I go out, because cold air from air conditioning and refrigerators feels like acid mist on the bare skin.

You can cut the top off of a soft long sock and do pretty much the same thing.
If you can get a Ketamine cream R/X that helps with the surface burning. :hug:

[QUOTE=zookester;1025146]Bram,


I'm struggling right along with you.. 3 days ago, I had what I tried to convince myself was just a fleeting feeling.. but after three days of burning in my arms, muscle spasms and that all to familiar lightning bolt pain, I now have given in to the realization that this beast has now spread to both arms simultaneously. The burn began on my drive home one afternoon which had already been a particularly rough day/drive.. after trying hard to convince myself, it was the sun shining through the windows or my heater was up to high.. the reality hit like a swarm of bee's. Tears poured down my face the rest of the way home. I do hope it subsides with the weather but, know that with spread the best we can do is treat it aggressively, just like it was a new diagnosis. My PM was going to start lidocaine infusion therapy this week already so I hope just that alone will help the arms pain subside. If he shares anything else with me worth sharing, I'll be sure to pass it along to you and the others!!

Tessa,
Are you in Michigan? If so i REALLY do feel sorry for you. I spent 3 years there and that was before RSD/CRPS. That damp cold seems like it would magnify this monster disease 10 times!!
Bram,
sorry, never been to the U.K., maybe it's equally bad there too with the cold.

Quoted from AZ-Di:
...
Bram,
sorry, never been to the U.K., maybe it's equally bad there too with the cold.
...

AzDi, I could almost :rolleyes: laugh - yes it can be. The main problem with the UK is the constant dampness in the air - we get all that lovely warm(ish) gulf stream keeping our temperature higher than our location of the globe would suggest...BUT it carries loads of moisture in off the Atlantic, so we get a lot of damp in the autumn/winter chills. Ugh, it's horrible. Gets right in your bones anyway, without adding in the delights of CRPS!!

Take care and hope your day is going well :)

Bram.

My DH was complaining about the cold this weekend, said it it was so cold it burns. I wanted to slap him and tell him to shut up. We're in CA and it maybe got into the 40s overnight.

Good luck with the storm Bram.

We came through the storm fine thanks guys :) as I said earlier, it missed us by about ten miles.....close!

Chaos - LOL at your comment about your husband! One of my therapists early on told me its so important to try to remember how we used to feel about things like headaches, etc when we were 'normal' before our CRPS....she said its very common for patients dealing with chronic pain to lose sympathy with the ordinary ailments of other folk, and that then affects our relationships. It's very true, and when my husband was complaining about a headache the other day, lying about looking mournful :D I had to remind myself of that lesson a lot!

Sucks to be us :winky:

Have a good evening everyone (or whatever time of day you have going on there!)

Bram.

lol.. chocolate and Whiskey, never thought of that combo but hmmmm maybe I'll have to give it a shot ;) I've actually been making Cocoa w/RumpleMinze .. good but, I actually realized it was making things worse for me and not better. Better go back to the glass of Vino!

Az-Di - I am sorry you (and many others) are also struggling with spread/increased pain right now! Thinking of you.. and hope the acupuncture helps you. Just and FYI.. my SCS is still a Godsend in my opinion. It isn't 100% of course but, without it I would literally need a padded room and straight jacket. I actually turned it off for 15min last night because I wanted to try to reset its effectiveness and I was shocked at how much pain it truly was masking. It only took seconds for me to lose the ability to walk even a few steps, so even though I still depend of other things to control pain without it I would be in big trouble. I know you were considering it at one point.. might be worth a shot. PS., I live in the Mountains about 2 hrs SE of Seattle. Very similar to Michigan in terms of weather except that I think Michigan even with the lake effect is still drier :( Snow has already fallen here a few times in the past 3 weeks.. gonna be a long winter.

Bram - So glad the storm missed you and I hope those that were affected are warm and safe today.

My wife has worn a wrist-arm brace for nearly a decade now. Its the right wrist she broke that spawned her RSD. The docs never liked it but she never takes it off. I think I've seen her arm under the brace perhaps 3 times in a decade. A couple of devices I've purchased that may help RSD symptoms is a Hepa air filter for those barometer changes and a dehumidifier for those damp dark days.

Hi Bram, I hope you're feeling better today and that the weather is better there too. My thoughts are with you. Take care.

Thanks chaps :)

Happily, that horrific wrist pain has gone for now, and I'm just (ha, 'just') left with the cold, aching burn of the steady CRPS pain throughout my arm. It's nasty enough by itself, but I'm much much happier now my wrist feels a bit better...

One interesting thing I've noticed since its got colder here, and my arm pain is much more constant, is that there is a definite line where the symptoms end - right in the middle of my traps (the muscle between your shoulder and neck). It's really strange. I think it's the most obvious CRPS edge I've got!

Hope everyone out there is doing ok tonight.

Bram.