Tingling and numbness in arms and hands

[Momof3boyz]

I was wonder if anyone had chronic numbness and tingling in hands and arms. It’s getting worse. I can’t even blow dry my hair without having to get the blood circulating again. I did get my blood vessels tested. I was told possible Carpal tunnel. I don’t think that’s what it is. It goes all the way up my arms. I’m so frustrated with this symptom. My rheumatologist suggested I stop my leflunomide 20mg as this may be the culprit. I’ve been on leflunomide for a few years. He had me start meloxicam. I’ve only started this new medication for a few days now and don’t notice any difference. I hope someone can give me advice on how to manage this. Thanks in advance

 

[sunkacola]

Is there a reason you don't think it is carpal tunnel syndrome?

I have had the same problem you describe, and I found that it was largely caused by the position my hands and arms were in when I slept. If I slept with my wrists bent, as many people do, it exacerbated the problem. Once I trained myself to sleep with my wrists straight and my hands flat and not curled the problem went away. Give this a try and see if it makes a difference.

What I did was when i went to bed I started repeating to myself over and over "hands flat", and I put my arms and hands in a flat position. If I woke up in the night with my wrists curled up I would correct the position and start repeating it to myself again. It took about a month to completely cure myself of sleeping with my wrists and hands curled up but I have hardly ever had that problem again since I changed this and it has been several years now.

You can also sleep with wrist braces on, but I found that to be uncomfortable and preferred to retrain myself in how I slept.

 

[Momof3boyz]

Thank you so much for the suggestion. But it happens all day. Morning, noon and night. I was told to try the wrist braces. So I will do that as well. But i just don’t know why it happens so frequently all times of the day 🙁

 

[seniorzala]

Good Evening,
If you have the opportunity,ask for on ENG /electroneurography/,if rules out tunel syndrome
Senior

 

[sunkacola]

Thank you so much for the suggestion. But it happens all day. Morning, noon and night. I was told to try the wrist braces. So I will do that as well. But i just don’t know why it happens so frequently all times of the day 🙁

Yes, it will bother you all day long if it is carpal tunnel. It will also bother you all day if it is exacerbated by how you are sleeping. Remember, I said that I had the exact same problem you have. That doesn't mean it will be solved the same way but I think it is worth a try.

It happens all day long because this is not just your hands "falling asleep". The problem is bad enough that it doesn't just go away once you are out of bed. Which is what makes it probable that it is a carpal tunnel syndrome thing. You do not say why you doubt that it is carpal tunnel. From what you say, it sounds as if that is the most likely thing. With that syndrome, the space that the nerves pass through in our wrist is compressed, and this causes the numbness. When you sleep with your wrists bent it causes the space to be even more compressed for hours at a time, resulting in the lasting effect you experience all day. If you are not exacerbating it all ight by how you sleep, it doesn't mean the syndrome will vanish completely but I found that it made a huge difference for me.

 

[johnsalmon]

suggest you sleep with the wrist guard on - this will stop you bending your wrist which will but more pressure on the nerve

 

[Momof3boyz]

Thank you I’m going to try the wrist guard. Hopefully it helps !

 

[Artizane]

Hello Momof3Boys

I saw your post and just wanted to say I have the same symptoms almost constantly. No medical practitioner has been able to pinpoint why I might be experiencing this, but it is a reported symptom of many neurological and immunological diseases and disorders, including Fibro (and anxiety), and can be a side effect of medication. (It has taken consults with umpteen medicos and many hours of research to arrive at this conclusion).

I used to get very worried about this set of symptoms but I've realised that doesn't help. Nowadays I just manage it by just being careful about picking up anything (I drop things often) and when getting up or sitting down etc. (I get numbness, tingling and burning in my legs and feet as well and sometimes fall flat on my face when getting up from a sitting position or out of a car 😂).

My suggestion would be to certainly try all the helpful suggestions others have put forward and keep trying to find a diagnosis. If other more obvious things are ruled out, an MRI and nerve studies (usually ordered by a neurologist) may give you a picture of how well your nervous system is functioning and whether there are any deficits that are causing the symptoms. Your doctor will also certainly want to rule out the more insidious diseases that these symptoms sometimes reveal (and I imagine already has).

Similarly, there may be a link with rheumatoid arthritis - I am also on medication to lessen rheumatoid symptoms but in my case (e.g. not necessarily in yours) the numbness etc seems to be greater the more tired I am, so I treat it as a sign that I need rest, and manage it with very gentle physio (ankle and wrist turns etc.).

The other thing that is useful at the outset is to keep a diary of your symptoms and when and how often they occur. Its boring and tedious but if you do it for a few weeks/a month it gives you and your medical practitioners a really good picture of what is going on, and you may find some patterns emerge. (I found pain increased after eating meals with gluten in them, for example!) There are lots of symptom tracker apps available that will email report results to your doctors.

You may of course already be doing all that - so please ignore all these suggestions if so ... just thought they might be useful.

Best of luck 😊

 

[Amesalot]

@sunkacola and @Artizane thank you so much for your posts! I can’t even pick out the most helpful parts because I found both your posts so entirely insightful and informative.
I also suffer from this problem and it seems to be getting increasingly worse. Unfortunately with all my other health issues, I’ve kind of put this on the back burner to deal with “sometime later”. It does make me a bit nervous however, as I suffered from nerve palsy in my right hand a few years ago and I have to say, that was no fun 😂
I’m going to try all these tips you two talked about and see what helps. This site has been amazing and I’m so happy I found it! Thank you again for your help!