i had a horrible night last night. when i take a sleeping pill i sleep thru the night but i kept waking up with this extremely painful feeling in both my hands. it felt like they were frostbitten. or when you stick your hand in a cooler of ice for too long. it's 90+ degrees here and i don't know what to think.

last week i was really sick and had to have my blood drawn. the nurse couldn't find a vein in my arm so she went to my right hand (RSD side) and poked and poked me until i swear she hit bone. then went to my left hand and finally got some blood, but now my hand is purple, red, green...

the day after this happened i felt my arm throbbing and burning again, but that pain went away. now i don't know what to do because my hands hurt so bad i can't STAND IT. my strength is waning. as i sit and type the burning is traveling up my wrist.

what the heck is this? is my RSD spreading?

Good Morning...

The "Cold Burning" feeling you are describing is how I feel all over... I keep telling my doc it feels like i've been outside in the freezing cold for hours and then come in and try to warm up under hot water.

I can't say if it's the RSD spreading or not. I wish I knew...

My suggestion is....you need to get to a doctor and have it checked ASAP as the nurse may have knicked a nerve when trying to draw blood. There is also the possibility of having a small vein puncture that isn't healing properly.


Take care hun... wish I could offer more help or have more ideas for you of what's going on....


Abbie

now i think i have MS. i'm losing it

Don't panic! I have a theory that once you get anything (RSD or not) that sets the nerves off, they become much more sensitive in general to all kinds of things that we could tolerate just fine previously.And after all that poking and prodding and sticking....

So...if it isn't anything more serious, and Abbie's advice is good, my advice would be to rest your arms for a few days, really try to calm everything down as much as possible - if that's possible...(but I know that feeling too, it's scary). Sometimes, though, just rest will head the nerves off at the pass. Hope so,

all the best!

Know how you feel, sometimes, specially if I've been looking for medical info, I turn into the biggest cyberchondriac on the planet, I've got everything, from MS to ALS. lol!

But go get yourself checked out if you really think so (apparently eye problems are the big give-away with MS).

all the best

Ang, I can't believe they put the needle into your bad hand/arm!! My Dr. told me no IV's in your right hand, no needles.. ?? hmmmmmmmmmm.. Hope you find some relief soon sweetie. Love, Desi

Hey there! what makes ya think you have MS? Love,Desi

i just get so freaked out when strange things happen to my body that i go nuts on google. so i typed in my symptoms and here is why i came to that conclusion:

1. Jerky Eye Movements - sometimes
2. Blurred vision, eye pain - sometimes
3. Slurred speech and related speech problems - way too often
4. Involuntary contraction of muscles - very noticeable when i try to be still
5. Involuntary Leg Movements, especially bothersome at night - every night
6. Partial numbness, tingling, buzzing and vibration sensations - just recent
7. Pain without apparent cause, burning - probably RSD, but my hands were on fire this morning and all night last night
8. Shaking when performing fine movements - recent
9. Increase in severity of symptoms with heat - went on a bike ride in 100 degree heat yesterday and the pain started a few hours later. NOT a sunburn
10. Acid reflux - mega, mega, mega
11. Swallowing problems - had this for some time now, years
12. Impairments to speech comprehension and production - the worst thing for me because all i DO is talk


so you see, i read all of this and i automatically start wondering how long until i am in a wheelchair and when am i gonna kick the bucket and where will i be buried.

i am a freak. i'm sorry if i sound like a hypochondriac because i absolutely detest that. it just seems like everything is falling apart. i just got denied for financial aid because i have too many credit hours. i am poor as hell and want to go back to school, but now i can't get grants OR loans. the psychology class i am taking is WONDERFUL and i just LOVE researching things. but i go to take a practice test and i get a 57% for conceptual and a 53% for factual. i took 2 more practice tests and i did even worse!!!!!! i can't believe this! i am smart and none of this is making any sense to me - but if you ask me for a definition, i can tell you the right answer. however, i can't write my way out of a multiple choice test.

my arms are burning again - from my forearms to my finger tips. my knuckles are reddish, but the rest of my fingers are really discolored. they look so pale, almost white. my fingers are twitching. they are numb.

i just want to cry but i feel nothing. i feel stoned. i keep staring off at things and my husband keeps asking me "what's your problem?"

oh gosh. i am really sorry for boo-hooing

Hi there,

I've already responded to two other threads about this, this is the third thread!! Gotta remember that every time you start a thread you push someone else's off the page!!!!!

But it'll make much more sense as a continuous thread, perhaps you could ask a mod to combine them (just PM one of them - Jo is usually kind enough to make these kind of changes for us). A thread is like a story and keeps all the relevant pieces together. In a day or two the three threads will split apart and be all over the place, won't make much sense ....

Sorry you're still feeling worried; I do think you'll get more response with it all in a single thread though,

all the best.

Hi Desi,

I have a lot of the same problems u have and I am sure if we all wrote down all of our symptons, there would be a lot in common- You are not being paranoid- RSD is just bizarre and the symtoms- well you couldn't make this stuff up! Tell me a little about your swallowing problems= I am a speech therapist and I work with people who have swallowing problems (my speech and word finding skills are totally effected by the RSD so I have to hide it!) Just remember we know what u are going thru and you are not alone!

Debbie