14 replies to this topic

[Soryfam]

Hi all. For the past week my hands have been tingling. kind of like pins and needles, but just annoying, not painful. Up til now I have just had tingling in my small finger on my right hand, although my hands have been weaker since my SCI. Do any of you have thoughts on what might be causing this? I haven't had any recent falls or anything. It just started happening out of the blue. Thanks!

Sandy

[greybeard]

Soryfam, on 09 November 2010 - 12:23 AM, said:

Hi all. For the past week my hands have been tingling. kind of like pins and needles, but just annoying, not painful. Up til now I have just had tingling in my small finger on my right hand, although my hands have been weaker since my SCI. Do any of you have thoughts on what might be causing this? I haven't had any recent falls or anything. It just started happening out of the blue. Thanks!

Sandy

I've recently had sort of tingling and numbness in my left little finger. When I mentioned it to the doc, she said it was probably a trapped nerve through sleeping awkwardly. Don't know whether to believe her or not, but I suppose it's possible. I keep meaning to get a chiropractor to check out my neck. I'll let you know how it turns out if I ever make it.

[Trinity]

I get a lot of numbness, tingling and nerve pain down my left arm, it has been diagnosed as thoracic outlet syndrome and I am seeing a physio to try and help.
My spinal consultant has, however, booked me in for a mri just to rule out anything else as I don't think he's entirely convinced

[barbara9999]

I have spasticity on my right side and the most irritating is the zone from my elbow down my hand, stiff palm and three fingers, i can bend them but they are so stiff. My PT has me doing exercises all the time and I wear a brace at night and also a different one, less confining during the day. The tips of three of the fingers, small finger to middle finger always tingle. I asked my dr if this would ever go away and he said "probably not" I find it very irritating but if it will never go away then maybe I will just get used to it and it will eventually seem "normal."

[S&W Winger]

I've also experienced numbness and tingling in both hands/fingers...had a CT scan with contrast ( as I cannot have MRI's) along with an EMG...to track the nerve issues...mine is mostly foraminal narrowing due to pre-existing DDD and arthritis...but I also had a C6 fracture with cord compression, so this is something that I watch...therefore, tingling has many causes and should be examined before a potential issue becomes a major problem...pursue a cause and receive specific reasons...get MRI's and/or CT scans with contrast...also EMG's...sometimes therapy helps, as in my case, my PT added some message therapy of my neck to my routine, and this has helped with local pain and the peripheral issues...


Good luck with your's, Soryfam, and get at the cause, especially since it is an acute problem with a certain onset of just this week...please update and let us know how it goes...

[wiggy]

Yeah, me too. in both hands. bad enough that i could not use either of my hands first thing in the morning. i'm talking pain in the region of am 8 on the 10 scale every morning. My OT built up some braces for me to wear at night which helped a bit, but not enough.

But I have some good news on how to make this better over time !!!

There is a mystical substance called "kinesio tape" which can be purchased from your friendly neighborhood online retailer (eg Amazon for teh cheap). So, you cut about 2-4 inches (depending on size of wrist) from the roll for each wrist, it is best to cut the ends so they look like a "Band-Aid". Split the paper in the center of the peice and only pull 1/2 of the paper from the center towards the ends. Stretch this wonderful stuff in the middle but not the ends, and place the stretched part right over the carpal tunnel on each wrist. Depending on how careful you are, you may be able to keep a peice on your wrist for 2-3 days, but no longer than a week. This will basically pull the skin up at the tunnel, hence releiving nerve pain from the fingers. I still use this about once a week for 2 days, but the rest of the week is totally livable.

The first time you do this, you *will* notice a huge difference in a matter of minutes, no joke.

Y'all can also Google "carpal tunnel" and many of the first hits connect this syndrome with paraplegia and tetraplegia.

-w-

Edited by wiggy, 09 November 2010 - 05:21 PM.

[edlee]

If you are having carpel tunnel issues,, why not have them treated? Even if you don't choose to have the surgery, your doc can give you a shot containing cortocosteroids, directly into the carpel space. It temporarily reduces the swelling that causes the problem.

On the plus side,, it is a pretty good indicator as to whether surgery will help at all. If the shot doesn't relieve at least some of your symptoms,, then neither will the cutting.

Or at leasr, so said my orthopedist.
ed

[Soryfam]

Thanks for the replies everyone. I had carpal tunnel surgery in both hands years ago,so I know that's not the problem. I have an appointment with my doctor on Thursday. I'll let you know what he says. My guess will be a CT Scan (I cna't have MRIs). Hopefully it is just something minor.

Sandy

[wiggy]

edlee, on 09 November 2010 - 05:28 PM, said:

If you are having carpel tunnel issues,, why not have them treated? Even if you don't choose to have the surgery, your doc can give you a shot containing cortocosteroids, directly into the carpel space. It temporarily reduces the swelling that causes the problem.

On the plus side,, it is a pretty good indicator as to whether surgery will help at all. If the shot doesn't relieve at least some of your symptoms,, then neither will the cutting.

Or at leasr, so said my orthopedist.
ed

mostly because kinesio tape is 7 bucks a roll, a roll lasts me about 2 months, and I can still use my hands when I've got the tape on them

[JimG]

I'm having some thoracic outlet syndrome as well, and it's affecting my hands/arms the same way.

The numbness is affecting only my right fingers and only at night depending on my sleep position (right side is the worst), but the weakness is affecting everything to the point I'm having trouble playing my guitar, and raising my hands over my head while standing up is extremely difficult.

I think the pressure on my hands from using my walker around the house is as much to blame as the TOS on the finger strength.

[greybeard]

It might be worth trying the stretching exercises shown HERE .

Note the comment about posture.

Edited by greybeard, 09 November 2010 - 11:47 PM.

[The Black Sheep]

I've had tingling and numbness in my hands twice since my initial injury and they were both accompanied by blinding head aches. The first time it happened I was scared to death and took 3 asprins and then tried sleeping it off. I was so scared because this was actually how my injury initially started, but on my lower half. I have Transverse Myelitis and I've read about others who have gone through a recurrence, which is why I was so scared of it. About 2 years ago it happened again and, again, I was afraid it might be a recurrence at a higher level. After about 3 hours it faded, but my grip was really weak. I still have no idea what it may have been, and I'm a little comforted by what GB was told, that it may have been from sleeping in an abnormal position. I don't have insurance or the money to go to the ER for an MRI, so I never was able to get a doctor's opinion. If anyone has any more info on something like this, please, please keep us updated. I'm 12 years post injury, and from what I've read, most people who go through a recurrence, it's usually within the first couple years. Everytime I get a headache, I rush to the asprin bottle, which reduces swelling and lay as still as I can on my back. Has done the trick the last two times, but it scares the crap outta me every time.

[Soryfam]

This is interesting. I woke up in the middle of the night last night with one of the worst headaches I've ever had. I've bever been woken by a headache before. Took aspirin and laid still. Woke up a few hours later and headache was gone. I will be sure to bring this up with the doctor tomorrow, as well as the info and exercises concerning TOS.

Sandy

[FRANK6898]

Hi,

Having read the previous replies to this thread and as it is something that I also suffer from I thought that I would add my own story to it.

I am 5 years injured T11 complete, and over this time I have suffered from severe headaches, weakness in my hands/grip and also tingling in the hands/fingers.

I go to a Chiropractor as needed, normally once or twice a year and have work done on my Clavical and C3,4,5, area normally, and also have bones in my wrists manipulated back into place. All this is done as required and not always neccessary to have it all done at the same time.

The Clavical and Collar area causes headaches and sometimes the tingling hands, the collar area and the wrist work cause the weak grip and tingling hands.

I was at the Chiropractor yesterday and had the above mentioned work carried out and as a result I am as expected a bit sore today but by tomorrow the pain will have settled and I will have lasting results.

My Chiropractor says that it is because of the action that is used to push against the pushrims that over time moves the bones in your wrist causing similair symptons to RSI or Crapal tunnel.

Although I have never experienced it I am told the wrist bones being out of place can also cause pain to travel up to your elbow and can often be misdiagnosed as tennis elbow.

I hope this goes someway to help in answering you question and from my experience I would recommend consulting a good Chiropractor.

Frank.

Edited by FRANK6898, 11 November 2010 - 08:30 PM.

[Soryfam]

Hi. My doctor did a very thorough check up today. He thinks it could be coming from my cervical area, but my neck hasn't been hurting me. We are going to go a few weeks and see if there are any changes. At that point we'll do some electric muscle/conduction tests. I like the idea of a chiropractor, but not too sure my spinal surgeon will go for. But I'm going to check!

Thanks everyone.

Sandy