Carpal tunnel like symptoms post COVID

I tested positive to covid for the first time in January 2022.

One month later, I first noticed my hair started to fall out. This was devastating- and chronic. A dermatologist confirmed it was hair loss and put it down to covid. I lost A LOT. It took 6 months to slow.

But also, about 4/5 weeks post infection at work one day I noticed pain in my right arm. From my elbow down to my wrist and middle finger. For the WHOLE of 2022, I saw orthopaedic surgeons, a neurologist, physio and OT’s. And not one could find anything wrong. An MRI of my middle finger showed inflammation but the ortho couldn’t tell me ‘why’ it’s there or how long until all this pain goes away. It has been SO awful. I’m right handed and any activity that requires gripping or lifting just aggravates it. Yet no answers?

It truly has made me think back and wonder if this is all due to covid and long covid? Strangely a nerve conduction study didn’t reveal anything - but they said there’s still a chance it could be nerve related but not showing.

I am at my wits end. The pain is so bad. It’s consuming. I’ve had blood tests with no answers. Simple pain killers do nothing, nor does one prescribed to me for arthritis.

I can’t believe this has been going on for 11 months now and nobody can help me. I feel you and see you. For someone who has NEVER had limb pain, it’s really debilitating.

Hello all,
I am a 56 year old male, non smoker, as fit as I can be and have a healthy diet.
I to have been experiencing Carpel tunnel like symptoms but my story is a little different as I have not had covid. I get tested twice weekly as a work requirement.
DEC 21, 2 Days after my second compulsory ( for work ) Pfizer shot in my left arm the lymph gland under left arm became swollen and painful; loss of strength in both hands, left worse; numbness and pins and needles with sore and swollen hands, couldn't remove my rings. my wrist and fore arm became painful.
1 week, chest pains, shortness of breath and fatigue and brain fog all set in.
1 Year on after blood work ups; stress test on heart and lungs and an angiogram that all came back 100% my chest pains have gone but my cardiologist said they may come and go but will be less intense each time as this seems to be the trend in the U.K.
My hands not so lucky. My right is better than my left with a mild to intense pain daily that appears to be random in it location, mostly wrist but can also occur in my forearm top or bottom and sometime in the elbow. When my hand swells my wrist will sometimes crack when ist rotated, not painful. Random pain in fingers as well as wrists, sometimes top or bottom of hand as well as the palm. Its not getting better. Sometimes I get random shooting pains down my left arm that last only for a few seconds.
As all this occurred 2 days after 2nd Pfizer shot I am convinced its the cause and convinced its a neruo inflammation thing but cant get it confirmed.
Doc have no answers. One said to me "its all to new to us"
I have heard the infra red de toxing can help so this is my next try. If I have any success I will report here.
Hope every one is gets the help and support you need.
Cheers Pretz.

Stay strong,
I hope help is not far off for us, every one is still learning about this, see my post. A my test came back clear a have others but I am convinced its joint and nerve inflammation ?????
Im still trying different things maybe one day we will have an answer. Your not alone in this fight. Im hoping the infa red de tox works.
Cheers.

I had huge reaction after shots and worse after booster. Ended up w lesions all over my face and diagnosed with Mast Cell Activation Syndrome…had to change just about every thing I ate and drank but had to work hard to do eliminations until I went on carnivore diet and finally had a break through…one of the biggest problems I had was my height oxalated foods were killing me. I had never heard of oxalates. Take a look at Toxic Superfoods, by Norton. Get the book on amazon . The swelling and inflammation decreased within days and I now live on that book. There is a lot of articles on oxalate overload in the states all of a sudden. Seems weird so my guess is there is a connection no one wants to admit. PC and all that garbage. I too couldn’t get a straight helpful answer from doctors. I would also encourage you to get on line for the muscle stimulators that use little electric shocks as it stimulates blood flow and thats important. I too had carpel tunnel before surgeries for it and in the forearm those little shocks are really helpful. Salon Pas pain patches , the small ones, would be helpful at getting swelling out of your fingers and hands…..wrap it around each finger and use on thumb base….super helpful at reducing all swelling. It’s been a year of hell for me and I am finally doing well but I had months of horrible shot , Moderna, reactions. I’m done with anything but a normal flu shot. Good luck to you!!

Wow, thx for the info,I will check out that book. I have just been reading about the electric stimulator as ive always had bad circulation in my feet. So glad your on the up. Pre covid here in Aus i saw a news article on toxic super foods but didnt think must of it as i was healthy and didnt have any food issues but i feel phizer has changed all that with me. I look it up. Thx again for the info. All the best.

I have exactly, and I mean exactly, the same issues. I am in Melbourne, Australia and have had zero professionals tell me this could be related to the Covid vaccine/Covid 19. Yesterday I had a brain MRI to see if I have MS.

I am not an anti-vaccine person. I had two AstraZeneca vaccines and absolutely no reaction (May and July 2021). Then in January 2022 I had the Pfizer Comirnaty vaccine. An hour after having the vaccine I started feeling like "when you go to the dentist and the anaesthetic starts wearing off and everything is numb and tingly". This started in my face and hands and progressed to my whole body.

In July 2022 I had what I would call a fairly mild case of Covid 19 (Omicron BA.4 or BA.5).

Now, a year on the symptoms are returning much stronger where I have the pins and needles almost constantly somewhere in my body.

Before the Pfizer vaccine/Covid 19, I would say I was a fit and healthy woman in her early 50s. I have suffered from menstrual migraines and have ADHD but manage both of these conditions really well.

Thanks so much for sharing your story. I feel so much better knowing that it's not just me. I hope maybe sharing my story it helps others too.

Greetings! Just chiming in post-Covid with numbness and tingling symptoms (no pain). I had Covid in Dec '22 and have been experiencing on and off parasthesia (numbness and tingling) that don't seem to follow any pattern. Usually it's the left side of my face/cheek and forearms but this week also one of my lower legs and feet feels 30% numb/tingling. I could go a few days with. nothing and then it's back. Have been to chiropractor and regular doctors. I had a similar short episode pre-Covid so am wondering if Covid just made a mystery-symptom worse.

Following here so I can hopefully find some answers or just particpate in the conversation:)

I had covid in dec of 2022. It was mild since I was vacinated, but i did have a fever and pains. I was the worst in my family. Flash forward to March 2023 of this year.. I started geting pains in my right hand then left hand then pins and needles in my feet , my right ankle and cramp in my right ankle that does not seem to go away. No balance issues.. but the right side of my face i got nerve pain for about a week. I am going for a MRI .. but my thoughts is this could be a rebout with covid.. i tested again and no covid - had many blood tests for everything including lyme and nothing.. not sure but -- seems strange to me. I have been very healthy my whole life so this is very out of the blue.

Hi, I have had these symptoms as well. It started right after I had the 1st booster in October of 2021. I started having numbness in my hands only at night, then ringing in my ears this was October, November 2021, time frame. By December, my hands were so bad I wore hand/wrists braces that you would wear for carpel tunnel. My hands would get so swollen through the night, and fall asleep or have that feeling of being fallen asleep that it started waking me up ever 15 min. It was awful... By January 2022, I started having every test under the sun done. Everything was coming back negative. I also started having every joint in my body hurt. I thought I was going to die... No one could figure out what was happening. I had nerve testing done one both arms/hands, nothing. I had x-rays of my lungs, CT scans, MRI's of my neck, head, and tons and tons of blood work. Went to every specialist there was. My symptoms were progressively getting worse, and I ended up in the ER in February 2022. They did a covid tested and I was positive. During this time I had seen arthritis dr. who was questioning me why I had not gotten the 2nd booster. He was pretty aggressive about this as I was petrified at the time know one knew what was wrong. Not that this has anything to do with my symptoms, but I did ask him how he treated individuals who did not even get the vaccine. I am in the mental health field and thought I was doing the right thing. I do in fact believe it was the BOOSTER that started this, and then covid on top of it. My body could not handle it. If I could turn back time I would have never gotten that Booster. Anyhow, this Dr. put me on a tapering dose of prednisone and then kept me on 5 mg for six months in hopes that it would kick this out of my system. I also had seen another specialist who had a more holistic approach and I started taking lots of vitamins, including, c, apple pectin, and d. The prednisone had helped with the severity of the inflammation but did not kick it out. I actually at the time had asked to get off the prednisone because I did not want to be on that for the rest of my life. This was in the spring of 2022. I just ended up with consistent inflammation in my right hand and it would go away about an hour after I woke up. NOW 2023, It is all getting worse again, my hand is swollen at night and I can not close my right hand, due to the inflammation, my left hand is starting to have the same symptoms, my knees are starting to hurt. I had heard that a Low Dose of Naltrexone could potentially over time cure this. Unfortunately, I had an adverse reaction to this. I went back to the arthritis Dr. to ask if I could try the prednisone again, only to have him start reading the report and say I would never put someone on prednisone for something like this... and continue saying I actually had you stop it. I stopped him and said, actually you are the one who put me on it and I asked to stop it. We are limited in my local area with arthritis Dr.'s so I felt I would try him again, even after the vaccine conversation over a year ago. I am scared that this is starting to spread in my body and no one can find out why. This Dr. then looked at me and said, "I don't know what to tell you, I can't do anything for you". I sat there and cried... he also said, "I could give you something for the pain, I guess". I said, that is not the problem, I have inflammation that is causing the problem that is not showing up in bloodwork or anything. I just had bloodwork drawn at the Wellness Center, they checked my rheumatoid factors, sjogren's antibody, centromere B antibody , ANA pattern, Tier 1 and 2, my uric acid, SED rate, and ANA IF A W/Reflexes, as well as a list of antibody test. Let's just say all the items he would be checking. I am not sure what they all are but Again, he said, "I don't know what to tell you, but I can draw some more blood to check again". I asked why since he just said, "I dont' know what to tell you". He stood there and said, "we can check what they didn't".
I since have called my PCP, who is and AMAZING Dr. I just yesterday had an MRI of my neck and CT scan of my head. I am dizzy as well. I am waiting for results as soon as he can rule out any other issue that may be causing this, he is going to refer me to Boston. My PCP said, "I am almost 100 percent sure you have long term Covid, but I want to rule out everything else". The other Dr. made me feel as though I have no hope. I have faith in GOD and know that I will find someone who can help. I am just reading the end of you message. I to have mild carpal tunnel in my left hand that's it. I posted a couple pictures of what my hand looks like when I first wake up. My hands fall asleep during the night as well. I forgot to mention that when this started, my body felt like it was burning from the inside out. My hands were burning when it woke me up. I am scared that this may continue to get worse, but I have to believe that we will find answers. I tried to upload a picture of my hands. It did not work. I hope and pray we all find answers.

Caught covid in February 2020. I believe this is causing my current symptoms. Prior to covid very healthy. Symptoms started early 2021 with numbness in feet. Since then I have bilateral carpal tunnel like symptoms as well. Had cubital tunnel syndrome non dominant arm. Two ulner nerve surgeries but still getting worsening numbness and pain in left hand. Second surgery surgeon noticed significant scar tissue. During night my back burns or I wake up and complete numbness face, arms, legs and throughout body. When I am sitting or laying on my back my back burns. Numbness in feet, ankles and calves. Episodes of whole body burning including face, torso, legs and feet. Will come and go. Have seen five different neurologists and rheumotologist and everything normal. Complete spine MRI normal. Three EMG's normal. Podiatrist noticed atrophy in large muscles in lower part of legs. Hopefully I can get diagnosis soon.