can you help me out with this?

I'm in a bad way lately. I can't stand this darned weather! I'm in Michigan and we can't decide whether to be warm or cold. Are you worse with this weather, too? My hands are freaking KILLING ME and this "restless body" is driving me bonkers. Plus, I forgot to change my patch this morning, so I'm sur tehat's part of the restlss body (withdrawal, probably). I can't stand how my body feels righg now.

I think one of my muscles in my right hand is ging whacko. What does rsd do to the muscles and tendons, etc? There is one, in the palm of my hand...the fatty part of the palm by the thumb, that hurts like heck most of the time now. You can usually feel that muscle whn you are twisting a cap off a bottle - and when I do, it throws me thru the roof. I cannot use that muscle or it spasms really bad. Sometimes it will spasm just cuz it fees like it. I will press n it to try and get it to calm down, but it just starts bak up again...or the left hand will spasm cuz I'm using it to stp the spasm in my right.

And...my thumb and forefinger on my rightg hand are going kinda numb...but in weird way. Almost like numb and sensitiv at te same time. Does that make any sense? I can't type for squat (as you can tell) cuz when I use thoe two fingers I either can't feel the keys or it hurts to feel the keys. I'm feeling BOTH sensations...numbness AND sensitivity.

Can you sehd any light on my weirdness? Is this an advancement to another stage perhaps?

Hope you had a good weekend.

Hugs
LisaM

and I am experiencing the hyper-sensitivity. I haven't had numbness feeling since a carpal tunnal surgery in 1997. My pain today, is burning like grabbing a hot muffler and I cannot stand even the slightest breeze. I would suggest you ask your doc about a trapped nerve in the wrist or just before the bend of your elbow. Warmth like a paraffin dip and wrap of towels really helped me then. I hope this helps a bit. I remember the two sensations being worse than just the burning that I have today.

Anyone else had carpal tunnal surgery?

Thanks Kathy...I'm SO AFRAID of any type of surgery though. That's what got me here in the FIRST place! I don't want anyone cutting me every again. I don't even want any more emgs. Aren't emg's dangerous to those of us with RSD?

Wouldn't a nerve entrapment be on only ONE side though? cuz this really is on both, it jus tonly happens "by itself" on the right. The left happens, too, but I have to actually DO SOEMTHIGN to make it happen...it doesn't come on by itself like the right does.
Hugs
LisaM

I had nerve entrapment on both hands following my car accident in 2000.

Piture it: Ford Ranger Pickup - Quite Small.

Me: Damm Good Looking and 6'5" - Quite Big

Yes I was wearing a seatbelt and no there was no air bag in the truck - I had already dropped her off!

I was hit head on and was gripping the steering wheel so hard that it broke and I put both of my hands through the windshield. I fractured both wrists and crushed the carpal tunnels in both wrists as well. I needed carpal tunnel release surgery to fix them. It was the surgery on the left wrist which started the RSD and got me into this hell I live in now!! But I have learned to cope with it, and with the help from some great drugs of course. Just hang in there and know that we are all in this with you. Chin up!!!

Mark

Hmmmm.....so if you have rsd FIRST, and the entrapment SECOND, what do you do about releasing the entrapment if you have one? I read your progression and I don't want that! Surgery is what got me here in the first place, but it was for TOS, so it was major. Still, I don't want to be "cut." And entrapment release means you are "cut." So if that's what this is, and I already have rsd, what do they do about the entrapment? My rsd is already in both hands, but in my right (surgical side) it goes up my arm, into my shoulder, neck and chest. I don't want it going any further.

Good question Lisa. And I have absolutely no idea how to answer your question. I do not think there is any other way to release a entrapped carpal than to do surgery. And I think it is 50/50 as to whether or not it will spread. Boy are you glad you asked me ha! Well this will get bumped back up so perhaps someone else can offer you better advise. Sorry! Chin Up!

Mark

It's really difficult when you're in pain to even think of something to add even more pain. Surgery is very risky alone and even more with RSD, and weighing the odds is even more difficult. Talking to your doctor is easy if he/she will listen to your concerns.

I had the surgery after I was diagnosed and it helped me. I am not recommending anything to do with surgery at all. What I am suggesting is, talk to your doctor, ask about what your options are. Maybe ask about a hand specialist, because it really sounds like a trapped nerve. But please remember I am not a health practicioner, and I only know what happened to me.

I hope I am helping.

My symptoms in my hands change like the weather .
And I live in a very nice climate

As I type this they are freezing and burning at the same time but give them some time, they will change.

I don't even try to open anything with a twist top anymore,my hands ,arms and shoulders are really just for show - and I save them for the neccessities- washing , getting ready ,and a few choice selections

My feet just get really cold and ache alot.I can't really take any walks anymore or I won't be walking for days but I can still do the eliptical trainer which makes me very happy!

Having said that most people don't know there is anything wrong with me.
I still haven't decided if that is good or bad

I too had TOS surgery bilaterally which gave me this condition.
.That was only in 2000 when TOS was still considered a garbage can diagnosis .
Now it is at the front of the repetititve strain line.
How far this disease has come !!!!!!!!!!!
That however is not the beginning or the end of how I arrived in this place

I think Kathy gave you very good advice.
I often have no idea what symptom is going to hit me next .
Or, if it is a symptom I have experienced before.
However if a symptom is that painful ,consistent and pervasisve I would certainly discuss my options with my doctor.

I recently had an acl repair in my knee.The docs gave me a block before the surgery and a week later and so far ( 6 months) and no spread(knock wood)so it is possible to have surgery again with RSD.(ok not especially happily but we are nothing if not survivors and some of the strongest people aroud!!!!)

I know there is someone on here who has had TOS surgery after RSD - daunting and scary for sure, but when the question of quality of life comes in to play we all have to grapple with those very difficult life altering decsions.

Good luck and much peace,

GnP

if you would like to further discuss RSD and hands and arms feel free to PM me.

I also have RSD right arm since 12/99. I think that everyone here has given you great information. My symptoms started with a very swollen pad, thumb, writst including forefinger. I couldn't move them at all w/o pain that would send me through the roof screaming and crying. My diagnosis came quickly as RSD. And I atrophied and couldn't move them. Very quickly a Frozen shoulder came out of all this and RSD move on up the arm. I started getting SGB's immediately after diagnosis. This is key w/ RSD. If they happen to work on the patient...it's a wonderful pain treatment.

You didn't mention current treatment? Are you receiving SGB's now for the pain? Stellate Gang. Blocks are given for upper extremity separately. Or epidurals are given to hit both right and left arms at the same time.

GnP hit it nail right on the head. If a RSD patient is given a block prior to surgery, you are at least doing all that you can to prevent further spread or increased pain.

Dana

PS.
I wake up with my hands completely numb and sensitive and dead every day- I am never sure if it is RSD or TOS as there is so much overlap between the two.
I do experience alot of the numbness you speak of on an ongoing basis.
I just don't use my arms/hands alot and have somehow become accustomed to it.

Dana brings up an excellent point.
When I get especially nervy and extremely hypersensitive to air I usually go in for a block as a treatment modality. Lower or upper body- right or left sides - depending on need.
I don't abuse the privilege as I want them to work for ever

However some of us are lucky enough to have health plans that cover blocks in our medical treatment while others are not.
I think it varies from program to program and state to state.

Good Luck
Breathe deep
It always works out in the end

GnP