Joint or nerve problem?

[emmalily]

Just wanted to bounce a question off all of you smart people.

 

When PANDAS all started for me around '05 I started to have some problems with my right pinky finger. Joint pain and trouble controlling it...like hard to bring it along when I make a fist. No one else notices but when I look at it I can see that it drifts away from the other fingers unlike my left pinky which stays straight. Also, if I try to hold it in tight and then release it does this little tremor thing (compressed nerve?) But it hasn't really been a big deal because it's just a pinky finger, you know? Except now, it seems like when my hands get cold it spreads into my right ring finger too and I'm starting to notice this while driving, typing and writing. Sometimes it hurts and sometimes it feels, not numb, but as if I have no control over either finger.

 

It's bizarre and not terrifically important in the scheme of everything, but it does annoy me and I was just wondering if anyone else was noticing this. If it's something that might spread further in my hand I'd like to catch it early rather than end up with serious hand problems (I am right-handed, wouldn't be good to have it get worse). While I was experiencing PANDAS symptoms, these finger problems coincided with my PANDAS handwriting problems...but now it seems more, like I said above, to be about things like getting cold. Inflamed joint or nerve problems?

 

Thanks for whatever input you've got!

 

(Also, I've tested negative for Lyme--I know joint problems can be associated with that).

[butterflymom]

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Edited February 3, 2016 by butterflymom

[emmalily]

This may not be related, but have you looked into Raynaud's Syndrome? I think that's how you spell it. Common circulation issue that affects fingers and toes, especially when cold.

 

Yeah, I have actually heard about it because my best friend has it, and I'm pretty sure I have something of that variety going on because my feet do the patriotic colors things (red, white and blue)...hadn't thought of connecting the two. I'll have to do a bit more reading. Thanks!

[MomWithOCDSon]

There's a new series on The Science Channel lately called "The Secret Life of the Brain." One episode a week or so ago was about people who had "alien limbs," arms or legs that either felt as though they didn't belong to the person, even though the person could control them just fine, or limbs (in this case, it was an arm) that acted almost entirely independently of the person. This lady had suffered epilepsy, had brain surgery to bring the epilepsy under control, and then from that point forward, her left arm began to "misbehave," waving without her "telling it to" in her mind, for instance. In all the cases, doctors did brain scans and found that two parts of the brain were failing to "talk" to one another in these people as they do in persons without the issue.

 

Maybe something on a much smaller scale is going on with you? Maybe some residual or ongoing minor inflammation is preventing two very tiny pieces of your brain from talking effectively with one another, leaving that finger with a mind of its own or an inability to communicate with the "group mind" in your brain that speaks to the rest of your hand?

[PhillyPA]

Have you checked to see if you have extra ribs? I have two extra ribs. This causes nerve pinching/numbness in my hands, arms and neck. The extra ribs would be at the top,closer to your neck. You can see mine but in some people you can only see them via x-ray. My were confirmed via x-ray. I get that pinky numbness too. If you push on the extra ribs, near your neck, you get a big, uncomfortable zinger like feeling.

[emmalily]

Have you checked to see if you have extra ribs? I have two extra ribs. This causes nerve pinching/numbness in my hands, arms and neck. The extra ribs would be at the top,closer to your neck. You can see mine but in some people you can only see them via x-ray. My were confirmed via x-ray. I get that pinky numbness too. If you push on the extra ribs, near your neck, you get a big, uncomfortable zinger like feeling.

 

Wow, really? I would never have thought of that but I'm definitely going to have someone count my ribs for me now!

[Worried_Dad]

Hi, emmalily:

 

Our ds (14) has also complained periodically of pain, tingling, numbness in his hands and fingers. We always chalked this up to the RF / reactive arthritis aspect of post-strep autoimmune disorders. When he 1st got sick, this was his most notable symptom: migratory polyarthritis, muscle weakness, etc.

 

Anyway, he still sometimes has mild issues with this, but it's almost disappeared as he's recovered over the past 18 months of "Saving Sammy" dose of aug XR. In the early days, chiropractic did seem to help his general joint / muscle issues (at the time, he had severe pain in his neck and back as well).

 

Good luck!