Stiff,weak fingers on waking, any ideas?

[pesha]

Whenever i wake up my fingers are very stiff and weak, i have trouble clenching my fists and cannot really grip or squeeze no matter how hard i try. It doesnt last long, im normally fine by the time ive got dressed and gone downstairs. Have had this for some time but has got worse over last year or so. I have on ocassion had very bad pains in my right hand for a couple of days but then it goes. I also seem to get pins and needles in little fingers and ring fingers and up the side of my hands quite often, get quite cold numb fingers and across knuckles on hand usually looks quite red. And knuckles in middle of fingers seem to me to be slightly bigger than they used to be, little fingers have bump on inside of knuckle i dont remember being there say a year or so ago. Have had pains in both wrists every now and then since about the age of 15 (am 26 now) that last a few days then go. Also around the age of 17 18 i had raynauds disease/syndrome/phenomenon (cant remember which is which but the one that you just get, not the one caused by vibrations!), this has gone now but dont know if that might have any significance? Also have bad back (top, middle and bottom of back) often stiff neck, aches in knees and hips. All come and go, apart from back but have learnt to live with this so only really notice when its very bad.

Saw my dr a few months ago who did some blood tests, 1 for rheumatoid (sp) levels and 1 to check for any signs of inflammation, both were normal so was pretty much told oh well!! It has got worse since then and now often i cannot even bring fingers to touch my palm when trying to make a fist on right hand. I went back to (different) dr on friday and had a blood test again for signs of inflammation but she said if thats normal then should just wait and if it doesnt go away then return to original dr who knows the history but original dr was quite dismissive of it. Have also seen her and other drs over the years about my aches and pains but they do the same tests which come back negative and im told its "just one of those things"

It may well be "just one of those things" and i really hope it is and not anything serious but i have never known anyone else with the same problem with fingers, cannot find anything on internet, so dont know if i should just accept this or push for them to do more. Does anyone else have the same thing or any ideas what it could be?

Sorry this is so long! The aches and pains may have nothing to do with fingers, i know lots of people with general aches and pains so that could well be nothing but thought i would mention everything just in case it was relevant.

Always feel like an old lady moaning about my hips and things, xp tells me i am, hes one year younger!

Could it be carpal tunnel syndrome? Cured with small operation.

Dont think its carpal tunnel as from what ive read that is index finger and inside half of hand whereas any numbness i get is outside half of the hand. And my dd is 4, 5 in november and ds was 2 at start of this month

my dp had this will try and remember what it was and post back

Ive got carpal tunnel syndrome and have the numbness and pins and needles in my little finger and ring finger. I have had several operations to help try and ease the pain I get (transportation of the ulner nerve)

You could try a wrist brace to see if that helps with easing the pins and needles.

Thanks everyone. will ask my dr more about cts, id ruled it out in my head after reading it was the wrong fingers but did see a test you can do on internet few months ago where you bend your wrist for a minute and if your hand starts to feel at all numb (which mine did) then could be cts and if you have it in all fingers jayzmummy then ill definately mention it.

And thanks trefusi, my ds does weigh almost as much as dd (she's very little, he's very big) and keeps me very busy, im forever chasing after him picking him up etc so that could explain why its got worse over last year or so and it really could be just one of those things then!

Anyone else have any suggestions?

This morning about 10 minutes after getting up i tried to take a sticker off something and i just couldnt do it my hands were to weak and stiff and awkward i just couldnt get them to work properly. In fact they still feel a little bit puffy and weak now, not very much but a bit and ive been up just over an hour

Anyone....?

DO you have any other symptoms?? Dry skin, hair loss and tiredness for example. It could be your Thyroid - Hypothyroidism is quite common after childbirth

Have excema (i know ive spelt that wrong i have a total mental blank for it!) on my arms since having him and hadnt had it since i was a kid and very dry itchy legs. And yeah always very tired but ive been like that since i was a teenager, kinda put it down to depression. Ive had really bad pmt since having him only it seems to last for 3 out of the 4 weeks so dont know, dr said it was just me getting older

I had the exact same symptoms even the exzema and then started to feel really down and exhausted - book a vblood test immediately. Mine dropped down to 10 per cent efficient which is dangerously low and I wasn't allowed to drive until the levels were back up. Also, you put on weight despite eating healthily, give or take the odd chccy bickie!!! Do have that blood test and let me know. It is amazing how many new mums put the tiredness down to looking after a new baby. More needs to be communicated that these post partum symptoms are quite often the Thyroid - good luck.

Pesha.. your post JUMPED off the page at me. Do you have psoriasis at all? You mention eczema.. are you sure it's not psoriasis which can be misdiagnosed at eczema and is not all that different sometimes? Reason I ask.. DH developed psoriatic arthritis some years ago now. Only 5% of people with psoriasis will go onto the develop the associated arthritis. And sometimes the arthritis element can develop BEFORE the psoriasis symptoms!

Your symptoms sounds very similar to my DH's. PA particularly affects the hands although other joints as well. Other possible symptoms are red, sore eyes quite often (conjunctivitis) and pitting of the finger/toes nails (looks like little dents been made with a pin). You don't have to have the skin condition very badly to develop PA.. you would never know DH had it.. he has just a few small patches around his head/body which don't cause him too much trouble at all.

Oh and significantly, the rheumatoid factor of PA does NOT show up in blood tests.. DH's blood tests for this have always been 'normal'.

There are a variety of different drugs that can keep this condition under control.

There is quite a lot of info on net about this but for some reason my browser bar has disappeared and I can't make a proper link! Try www.psoriasis-assoication.org.artritis. The stats seem to be different to what I have told you above on this site.. the 5% thing is what we were told when DH was diagnosed.. which was indidentally 2 years after being palmed off by doctors who thought that there was nothing much wrong or that DH was faking it! (His came on after an initial back injury.) One day I looked it up on the net and there was a check list of 8 symptoms.. and if you had 5 of them it said you should ask your GP for a referall to a rheumatologist.. DH had all 8 of them!! We printed it out.. took it back to the GP.. and got an immediate referall!

Anyway, hope you find out what's wrong. And hope this helps even if only to elliminate something else.

SJ x

It could be psoriasis ive never been told it was exzema i just assumed. Ive just looked at a few sites about pa although cant find the one you recommend. As far as my eyes are concerned i thought i had hayfever at the start of the summer because my eyes would really start to water when out and also my nose slightly and ive never had that before, it stopped about mid july but i dont think that really fits with pa does it? My eyes also seem to be really sensitive to bright light this year and taking a long time to adjust coming in from bright sunlight into dark house but again dont think this really fits?
I will definately mention this to my dr though, hopefully my results will be back friday and ill see her then. Do you remember where the check list was that your dh used, i think this could be really useful?

And pupness ill also mention hyperthyroidism to my dr and ask her to do a test. Ive looked this up too and i do have a few of the symptoms, definately decreased concentration!! Ive also had slight palpitations twice this week whilst doing nothing, i had palpitations and tachycardia whilst pg both times due to stress but never when not pg and i dont feel like ive been particularly stressed lately, not compared to the last 3 years of my life anyway!

I really am falling apart I can kinda see why the dr would think im a hyperchondriac (sp) with all these different problems but im not, honest!

One of the most obvious symptoms of Hypothyroidism is memory loss. It really is quite amazing - I used to have to write down everything and carry a little book around with me until the Thyroxin started to work. Usually your heart just idles and can be very low as far as bpm, but if you say yours races your thyroid may be overactive. Don't worry though, all these things are treatable and you have made the first steps already by just talking about it. Take care and you feel better soon. Keep us posted re your results.

My memory is shocking i have to put reminders in my phone for everything and write lists all the time. I turned up for dds parents evening a day early cos id forgotten to check, better than late though i guess! But i do that sort of thing all the time and it had started to worry me but my mum said she thought it was just having so much on my mind looking after 2 kids. I did it today too, dd went to a friends and i couldnt remember if we'd agreed id go pick her up or she'd bring her back so i went to get her and turned out she was going to bring her back and i do things like that all the time. Ive never mentioned it to my dr but i will now.
Thanks for your help pupness and thanks everyone now i know what sort of things to ask about and can hopefully get some answers, even if its just ruling things out. Ill let you know friday what dr says

just managed to find out what it was. reynauds syndrome easily treatable. might not be this but doc can do simple blood test. dp has it

I've had similar and did a set of exercises with each hand each morning (the hand and wrist were too painful otherwise). I'll see if I can describe them.

1. spread fingers out wide (really stretch)
2. cross thumb over to little finger and press in with other hand
3. spread out fingers again and pull thumb awayfrom hand 4)clutch hands (like in prayer but fingers down IYSWIM), then describe a cirle clockwise and anti clockwise 5)Straigthen out arm with hand face up and flat, oush hand back and down with other hand so you have an L shape with hand on your fingers then do the same but hand pushing down on just thumb

I used to do all these before getting up in the morning! Took about 5 minutes. It does sound as tho you have bad posture in your back, which will affect you all the way to fingers and toes. Could you try Yoga or Pilates to correct this (half these exercises are yoga ones)

HTH, Mia

Id love to do something like yoga but dont have someone to look after kids for me on a regular basis and dont get chance in daytime and then when they in bed i just wanna collapse so dont think id stick to it at home either. I saw a few chiropractors for my back in my teens and they would always help for a while and then it would come back. Back has been particularly bad lately though.

Will try your exercises though, thank you. No.5, is that palm up and bend whole hand down from the wrist cos just tried this and it hurt in arm and backs of fingers started to feel a bit kind of numb, am i doing it wrong or is that normal?

Yep, you are bending the hand backwards. Make sure the hand is straight and you press on the 4 fingers equally and then the thumb separately and that you arm is also straight out. I found that some of the exercises were painful to start with (so do this gradually) but after a week or so my wrists and hands felt alot better.

I can understand where you coming from with the yoga, I've had back and shoulder problems for about 20 yrs (I'm only 34) and my arms and legs still go numb occasionally but finally a physio said I must do something like yoga and it's been a godsend - what with carrying my son aroound, I would literally be in pain all day if it wasn't for yoga

Did you get your results back from the Doctor???

Hi pupness thanks for asking, i went to dr today, was amazing she was like a different dr, listened fully, explained things, very understanding...nothing to do with there being a student dr in the room and trying to make herself look good!!

Anyway my blood tests were all normal but she has referred me for an x-ray of my hands which i think is good, that should show if theres been any changes or anything. She didnt think it could be hyperthyroidism, she didnt see where fingers fitted into it and thought my memory was just down to stress but im just happy to have the x-ray for now and then take it from there. Its nice that she seems to be doing something and someone is actually taking me seriously now so hopefully we can find out what it is.

I suffer exactly as you describe. I also have an under active thyroid. I've been to the doctors about my fingers. Had Xrays st the hospital and blood tests at the doctors, and all they can say. Is it's not arthritis, it's just "wear and tear". I believe that my thyroid problem has caused this, and every other joint pain I've had.

Your symptoms sound very similar to mine and I have psoriatic arthritis. I was told by the gp my psoriasis was just eczema and I only have two tiny patches.
The problems with your wrists could be due to tendonitis which occurs as part of the arthritis. However, I had negative blood tests too