Dear Julie,
I just had to reply to your post about pain in your hands and wrists.
I endured years of suffering with pain in both hands and both wrists.
I also commonly experienced the swollen fluid filled half of the back of one or other hand. And swollen wrists.
For this, you need a bag of frozen peas, wrapped in a towel and not TOO frozen.
You must elevate your hand to the top of the back of the settee, resting it there, for as often as possible.
You need to REST the hand to enable the swelling to go down.
(The peas will help this.)
I have had the fluid drained off by syringe once, and there was loads of it!
I also had steroid injections into my Carpel tunnels several times, which would give
relief for a while and then it would all start again.
I wore splints on my hands and wrists day and night for years.
Eventually, I began to experience numbness in my hands and fingers and was sent for electrical
nerve testing to see if I was suffering from Carpel Tunnel problems in my wrists.
By this time in the mornings and sometimes in the evenings, I would have "clawing" towards the
palms of my hands of two fingers on each hand and it would take hours to get them anywhere near
back in line with the rest of my fingers.
It was Carpel Tunel and it was very advanced.
I was operated on one hand at a time and I now have two lovely splint free hands and no numbness,
or finger clawing! (My Rheumatologist had said that the op. would not correct this, but it did!).
I had a fabulous hand specialist surgeon and boy, did he do a great job!
It might be a good idea to request that they test you for Carpel Tunnel problems because if your pain is
due to this condition then you can have it put right.
P.S AlSO, this is an operation that can be performed more than once, if problems reoccur.
Best wishes,
Fiona

Thanks so much for the reply Fiona - sounds horribly similar to what's happening. I just wondered - were the Carpal Tunnel problems caused by the inflammation from the RA or is this something that could have happened anyway? I ask because this had all started before I had a depo jab and the swelling went down after the steroid.

I don't really know who to ask about this as I only saw my rheumy a couple of weeks ago. He had some x-rays done of my hands and feet but was too busy to look at them and just put my Metho up again and told me he would write to me if there was anything I needed to know . I take it that carpal tunnel wouldn't show up on x-ray anyway. Might see my GP.

I hope you can get some relief Barbara - I know that wearing the splints is not very practical in situations when we need them most.

Julie x

Dear Julie,
I honestly don't know whether the R.A was the cause of my Carpel Tunnel problems or if it would have happened anyway.
But I do understand the bit you wrote about feeling like someone was sticking a knife into the tendons in your hands
because I also experienced this horror!
Mine was caused by nodules on the tendons.
When my Carpel Tunnels were freed my tendons could move freely inside my wrists.
(This had been the cause of the clawing of my fingers that I described.)
I had explained all this to my surgeon and he said "well, once we're in their we will have a good look around."
It was my Rheumatologist who arranged for me to have a nerve conduction test when I began to experience
numbness in my fingers, prior to this I had the same X rays of hands and feet every year as you.
The pain was assumed to be from R.A, but a lot of it was not.
P.S for Barbara - I still have about 6 pairs of splints upstairs in my bedroom, every sort the N.H.S do I think!
I have kept them because I am still haunted by the pain that I was constantly enduring prior to my hand
operations and I hate each and every one of those splints! But, after my last wrist op. last May I have never needed to wear
them again.
I found them to be cumbersome, smelly and they made me feel visibly disabled. However, they did allow me to
do vacuuming, etc. I used to tighten and loosen them constantly during the day as my hands or wrists swelled.
At night the velcro was noisy and woke me up as well as the pain.
I think I was suffering from sleep deprivation!
My surgery was carried out under a local anaesthetic, which was great actually, because I could listen to my surgeon
explaining to the guy he was teaching exactly what he was finding once he had opened up my wrists!
My left wrist was so bad it had turned blue on the inside from the pressure and the surgeon told me after the
op. that he thought it was so bad that the op. might not work!
But he must have caught it just in time because it works just great now!
Good luck to all with hand and wrist problems. Surgery sounds grim, but when it really works it improves
your life no end!
Fiona

Thanks so much for all the information. I don't have any numbness or tingling in my fingers but my last 2 fingers on each hand often just don't co-operate and kind of curl up but hurt when I try to move them. I have heard of bursitis but didn't know how it affects the wrist. I never thought of an infection though - maybe I should get it checked out after all. I think I'll have to start with GP.

Julie

Eventually saw my GP about the lumpy painful wrist. He says that it's inflammation of the tendon sheath. Both wrists really painful and keeping me awake at night - hence not posting much but keep reading to see how you all are.

I have been feeling rubbish since increating MTX to 25mg (along with Hydroxy and Naproxyn - steroid jab has well and truly worn off and seem to feel worse for the increase - not better. I saw the OT yesterday and she said 'how bad do you have to be before they help you out? - I just don't know what to say to you'. Needless to say I couldn't answer her. Just said they have increased MTX and have the proverbial 'get lost for 6 months'. She was really nice but it made me feel worse. Then got letter today saying that they have put my rehumy appointment off for more than another month to the end of September - then people wonder why we struggle and get depressed. Have decided will give it a few more weeks and if no improvement will ring nurses. I know it doesn't have to be like this.

Sorry I sound miserable but I am.

Julie