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Are painful swollen hands and fingers a PMR flare?
Polymyalgia Rheumatica (PMR) | Last Active: Jul 4 1:54pm | Replies (158)Comment receiving replies
I began having tingling in right hand in March. I still have that and since March that has progressed to sharp shooting pain in my fingers, it goes up into my forearm up into my elbow. I am unable to make a fist because of stiffness and pain which gets better in the afternoon, but then returns in the evening. nighttime has been horrible with pain in my hand and arm. I have not only had sharp pain on different areas of my hand. I have had burning pain in my hand that feels like it’s on fire at night when I’m trying to sleep. I was diagnosed with PMR a number of years ago. I was on prednisone and I went into remission, but I feel like I am back with full-blown PMR and will be seeing the rheumatologist I saw then this coming week. I have a little bit of this in my left hand, but not at all like my right hand. I have OA which runs in the maternal side of my family and I’ve had since it since my early twenties. I’ve had neuropathy in my feet which has gone away for the most part.
I’m wondering how anyone’s rheumatologist distinguished PMR in hands as opposed to carpal tunnel. Before the hand issues, I was having what I thought was a PM flare with aching arms and hips.. I have an appointment with a hand doc for what looks like Dupuytren’s Contracture which runs in my family on paternal side. As it happens that appt is day before appointment with Rheumatologist. Has anyone had this type of symptom/diagnosis issue? Thank you.
Replies to "I began having tingling in right hand in March. I still have that and since March..."
Here's a link to an article about swelling in wrists and hands with PMR. I hope you feel better soon. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/8546741/
I was diagnosed with PMR in 2018 and was put on a regiment of prednisone and then methotrexate. The prednisone helped greatly with the pain but the side effects were terrible. I then went on methotrexate which was supposed to suppress the immune system. I didn't like that idea so started to do research myself and try to find a way to treat this without using prescription drugs. My research led me towards cannabis and hemp products. I have been using cbd oil for the last 5 years and have had great success treating the symptoms associated with pmr. As far as I know I have had zero side effects from its use and have had more benefits such as relief from the pain of arthritic knees. CBD oil is not cheap so I looked for a way to reduce my costs. I started making my own using cbd isolate and mixing it with mct oil. This has worked for me for the last 5 years, until about 2 weeks ago. It seems I have had a pmr relapse. From what I understand there isn't a defined trigger that causes pmr flair ups or even what causes the disease. In my case I think flair up might have been caused by over doing it when I was doing all the spring clean up on my property. I went hard at it to get it done quickly instead of doing a little at a time. I am now paying the price. The symptoms are as bad if not worse than they have ever been. The thing that caught my attention about your symptoms is the burning hands at night time. I have the same thing. It seems whenever I lay flat my arms start to tingle and it works its way down to my hands and my hands tingle and then start to fall asleep. Shortly after that I get a very strong burning sensation in my hands and throbbing pain in some of my fingers. I find if I sit up for a few minutes the pain and tingling goes away but comes back shortly after laying down again. It makes for sleepless nights. Most of my pain is in my shoulders and I'm wondering if this inflammation is causing decreased blood flow to my arms thus causing the problems in my hands. Maybe sitting up uses the effect of gravity to help with blood flow. My symptoms are slowly getting better and I am taking a stronger mix of cbd oil in the meantime. Hopefully this is just a short term set back with this disease and I can get back to the pain free existence I was having living previously living with pmr.
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Hi @kmw24, Welcome to Connect. I have carpal tunnel in both hands but worse in my left non dominant hand. My PMR is currently in remission for the second time but I remember when my second flare up occurred it was similar to my first time with pain more in my shoulders and legs with some stiffness in the hands but no real pain. I've had 2 steroid injections in my left hand that helped a little but I still notice the carpal tunnel symptoms. I think it's great that you have an appointment with your hand doc before your appointment with your rheumatologist.
Can you provide an update after your appointments?