Hand Gets Cold
 

My rsd hand and wrist get ice cold and stiff when I try to type with it too much. It also gets a tingly burning sensation. Does anyone else have this problem? I'm just wondering why this is happening. It's so weird. I have feet that burn and a hand that is freezing. I just don't get it. Thanks again for any input on this.:confused:

Posture, arthritis, cervical spine issues, TOS, Reynauds, diabetes and other things can cause this to happen along with CRPS/RSD.

Try sitting up straight concentrate on your breathing and gently roll your shoulders by making circles with them, then follow that with a few shoulder shrugs (holding it in the shrug for a second or two) and then relaxing. This usually helps with cervical tension and helps blood circulate.

Check also that your keyboard, mouse, chair and monitor are at proper ergonomic height as this can play havoc on already weakened muscles and blood flow.

Tingly/numbness that is positional rather than constant makes me wonder if you do not have something going on in your spine? This can easily be overlooked by medical professionals especially after being diagnosed with RSD.

Sometimes when I wake up in the morning I can't feel my hands for a few minutes. they are completely numb. Then the feeling comes back and I get pins and needles. Thanks for your advice. I'll check with dr. My husband is diabetic and I had him check my blood sugar with my finger on my good hand and it was normal. I wanted it checked because my wounds don't heal quickly if at all. I'll have to see what the drs think about my spine. I've had scoliosis since I was a teenager. Thanks again.

That is a very common symptom and not necessarily should alarm you.. I would try not to stress over it and maybe shift your sleeping to your back with a neck roll type pillow under your neck to see if that is the problem.

For your soars - have you ever tried doing a detox cleanse? This can be very beneficial for some people and it might just give your body the boost it needs to heal. Unfortunately if you aren't doing enough to circulate blood flow through your body by movement or massage this could very well be why you aren't healing normally. Can you use a stationary bike like a recumbent?

Renee, do you know if you have "cold" RSD/CRPS? I do, which means I don't swell much. Instead I get VERY cold limbs. It's all part of the RSD gig I'm afraid. :(

I've never heard of that but I've had coldness in my rsd hand since I got rsd, and when i have pain in other parts of my body they cold too. My skin feels cold and my bones do too sometimes. I get coldness on my stomach where I had my surgeries and on my right hip where I have osteopenia. It is followed by pain but not alot of swelling. I do get some swelling in my hands but not like when I first got rsd. My feet even get really cold and tingly like pins and needles sometimes. And then sometimes my feet get hot an burn like last night. sometimes my hands get all sweaty usually first thing in the morning but that doesn't happen alot. Anyway thanks for telling me about cold rsd. I think maybe that may be exactly what I have.

do you have CRPS I or II?

I have the one without nerve damage. I think that's CRPS I.

Coldness was one of my very first symptoms (other than the pain) that I got. My leg would get ICE cold from my knee down (RSD in my ankle). So cold to the point where I would walk on tile and the tile would feel cold to my good foot and HOT to my RSD one. It was also one of the key symptoms that tipped off the doctor who diagnosed me that it was RSD.

Now (my RSD has spread to my entire upper body since then) I still get the coldness...but not as often. It typically only comes with bad flares...which can be caused if I am using my RSD areas too much or they can come out of no where.

As always...you should definitely discuss this with your doctor to make sure there is nothing else causing the issue. You wouldn't want a circulation problem to go undiagnosed just because RSD COULD be the cause.

This is great advice!

Yep, I'm the same Vrae. When I had more burning in the early days with my knee, I had a lot more swelling. Now there is only small swelling, and predominantly it is cold and thin... I hate the cold pain. But I hate the burn too :rolleyes: My husband ask me which I preferred.....Hobsons Choice :eek: I told him, when it's really cold I think that's the worst - but when it burns up badly, I think that's the worst. It's all horrible.

With the spread of my CRPS, each area has started similarly, and the symptoms have been similar. The coldness is now in my left arm up to my neck, and up my leg to my hip. I get that tingling cold burn and numbness in my fingertips at times, I find stretching out my palms and fingers, and rotating my wrists helps. Doing some desensitization stuff with the pad part helps it too.

Renee, regarding the pins and needles and numbness, I get that sometimes in the mornings. My pain doc said its more likely to be part of the CRPS nerves playing up, especially as its after sleep, when you could have had your arm/wrist/hand in a position that stressed it a bit. Try not to panic. If its happening every morning, or regularly at other times, then definitely get it checked further - but as my doc said, the process of getting checked for other problems is very stressful, and so often it can end up fruitless and part of the CRPS. It's each our own decision as to whether each new symptom is serious enough (in our own opinion) for us to want to pursue every avenue...

I think calm thinking (as relaxing as we can get it lol :rolleyes:) and finding a way to live with the strange and worrying parts of this condition can save us a lot of heartache in the doctors room and hospitals. Of course some stuff is serious and warrants more investigation, and you dont want to overlook it. But we can also end up over thinking this thing to the extent that we are continually worrying about the many things that could be going on. It's a tricky judgement call that would be a lot easier if our general docs sung from the same sheet as us...:winky:

Take care Renee, and I hope you get some sleep tonight.

Bram.

Thanks Bram. The coldness I get is usually frequent or when I use my rsd hand or other parts too much so I guess that's the rsd. I do remember my pm dr years ago when I was first diagnosed with rsd saying that I would probably experience temp changes in my body and he always checked my hands to see if that was true. He said that he did notice that my rsd hand was colder than my left hand and more red or purple in color. I had forgotten about that. It just seems like the coldness is spreading and getting worse with my rsd hand (usually when I'm typing with it too much. My pm dr said it was good exercise to type a little to keep my fingers moving, but I think I'm overdoing it because my rsd hand is like ice and crampy after I type. I wish I had money to look into that dragon non typing computer. As for the numbness and pins and needles in the morning, I don't get that all the time, just sometimes like once a week. Thanks for your input on this too. Anyway thanks for your advice and comforting words. I'll try not to worry as much. I've always been a worry wort before having rsd, but since then it's been much worse. But I will try not to let it get to me as much. Stress doesn't help the pain. I just wish I had more control over my body. I do want to only see drs when really necessary or I would be going everyday! I know that after two years there is not much they can do with rsd (thats what my pm dr told me).I try to enjoy the good days as much as I can , because I know that a flare could always be just around the corner like last night. Thanks Bram for your caring and good advice. You are so smart. I always enjoy reading your comments. I hope I can help you too sometime. I know I've been indecisive in the past, but it's just because I react differently to things when I'm in pain as compared to when I'm not. I don't mean to sound like a nut like in my FEAR Thread. and I'm sorry if I did. I hope I can help all of you as much as you've helped me. Thanks again for caring. So far my feet are okay tonight (just a little burning on the top of them but not like yesterday)so I'm hoping I'll get a break tonight. I hope you all have a good night too and thanks to ALL of you for your support, great advice and constant compassion. You are all so knowledgeable and I've learned alot from your comments. I could NOT get through this rsd pain without you. From your forever friend, RSD RENEE.

LOL Renee :D you're not a nut job! This disease does some strange stuff to us and we all have bad days, over-worried days, stressed days, hopeless days, belligerently-bright-and-optimistic days....:winky: That's what's so fab about this forum - that we all 'get' that stuff too and can empathise.

In that sense, we're ALL a bit nutty....:p

Bram.

Without a doubt I am certifiable for sure! lol I am the five most interesting people you'll ever meet.

Coldness was also the first symptom I had along with pain. I still have coldness, but not 24/7 like I originally did.

Hi Vrae,
I double checked. My pm dr told me initally that had CRPS I. Without the nerve damage. I'm sorry you have CRPS II. That sounds alot worse. My thoughts are with you. I hope you're feeling okay today and that you didn't get too much snow last night.
From your friend Renee.:hug:

ThermaCare
 

I have CRPS type II on my right side from a venipuncture nerve injury 8 years ago to my right arm. My symptoms are worsened under cool or cold conditions, and my right hand often gets cold when I'm on the computer for long periods in a cool room.

One thing that helps me in situations where I need to warm up that arm/hand is to put a ThermaCare heat wrap thingy on my forearm just below the elbow. They react to air when opened and generate a lot of heat for about 8-10 hours. I usually have a stash of the arm/neck ones, which come in red boxes, and cost about $2 each (box of three for ~$6). I use a couple of them each week during the winter. They increase my overall body temp as well, not just my arm. I've never had a rash from the adhesive. Good product.

I've even used them with our boy scouts when they are camping outside in winter. I give them a few hand warmers to put in their pockets, then give them one of these to stick on their body somewhere to keep them warmer overnight.

Good luck!

Annie

I think any form of CRPS is no good, but it might prove helpful in the future knowing which one you have. I could be wrong but it seems like those of us with type II deal with a lot of cold type issue, which was why I asked. Again, I could be wrong on that. Might not be specific at all.

Thanks for asking and I wish I had better news to report, but I am still struggling with this darn sinus/bronchitis crap.... ug! :( Virus' seem to make my CRPS more profound or maybe my tolerance is just lower.

They forecasted snow, but only the mountains got any. HOWEVER it will be in the single digits tonight. :eek: I can hardly wait. :rolleyes:

I hope you're having a better day today! Take care hon.

This is a terrific idea Annie! Thanks for sharing!

I have a small plug-in heated pad - like a mini-electric blanket - that I use to wrap round my knee if it's feeling kind of mega-chilly-polar-bear-eating-Haagen-Dazs-sitting-on-an-iceberg....:D I find if I can bring it back to near normal temperatures fairly quickly (but gently) then it feels easier all round.

I feel I should get a small prize for the winner of Most Hyphens Used In A Fairly Short Post. Lol.

Feeling kind of silly this evening :cool::D:p

Hugs to all in need of one tonight :grouphug:

Bram.

I recently saw a hand specialist because of pain in my hand. (My crps is in my foot.) My fingers sometimes feel cold, but is not ice cold like my foot. Also no swelling in my hand. Anyway, the doc said he thinks it is more carpel tunnel and less crps. He is having me wear a wrist brace only at night. He said that would prevent me from sleeping with my wrist bent too far forward or backward, and help the nerve inflammation go down. He also said that carpel tunnel,could make my fingers cold. I am bring this up because maybe the numbness in your hand in the morning is because of the position of,your hand while you sleep, so could be helped with a brace. I know that immobilization isn't great for cprs, and he doesn't want me to use it other than at night, but it seems to be helping.

My had and arm are now cold in between nerve blocks. I go for one every 2-3 weeks. I'm trying now to go every 3 weeks just because I don't like getting them and I want to see what happens if I go longer.
Well, the last few times my RSD/CRPS arm is about 10 degrees colder than other arm. (I'm not exagerating). They measure the temps. right before the IV goes in. Just a couple of times I've gone just one week apart and temp. difference was only a couple of degrees.
I had rsd/CRPS for 3months before I started getting the nerve blocks so I don't know if the "cold" was always the case. My hand was greatly swollen before the nerve blocks as well.

cold hand
 

hi i am mike from NZ I too have the frozen hand mine gets that
cold that i have to put a glove or sock on it and its a stinking hot day
it sux big time i feel for you because i know what your going through hope it warms up soon.

Rock on Peace out.:)