Stiffening hands, loss of hand control?

[SilverbladeTE]

I get bad muscle pain in hands (feels like I've been punching a wall), and upper arms but also odd nerve pain in back/side upper arms.

anyway, for few years my hands have been getting slowly getting stiffer, kind of odd
it's not the joints
and I still have strength in them
it's..difficulty of control of closing them, kind of, hard to explain
like they are closing against an opposing force

when it gets bad my ring and pinky fingers especially are bad and on left hand can almost spasm shut, can't open 'em out

and because of that I tend ot drop things
again not lost of actual strength of grip it's...difficulty in control

 

[August59]

I have symtoms that are very close to yours, but I do not know what to pin it on. I will unscrew a new jar ofpickles or something similar and it will feel fine, but them my fingers just do not want to let go and it takes a very concerted effort to straighten my hand back out. Once it is out it is fine! This is in addition to the other symptoms that you have listed. Glad you bought this up! Thanks!

 

[sela]

yes, handwriting going to hell. even typing is harder. can't play the piano anymore. clumsier in general, dropping things in the kitchen etc. i would love to know why. could it be postural? lying around a lot is bad for the alignment of the spine.

 

[WillowJ]

do you have positive ANA?

I have trouble with my hands, too. I was prescribed hydroxychloroquine (generic for Planquenil) for my ANA (it's a Lupus and RA medicine). It does help with handwriting, hand aches.

I'm not certain, theoretically, if immune suppression is right. I need to get to an ME specialist to ask this.

I also have Raynaud's, which contributes to stiff hands.

 

[SilverbladeTE]

Sorry, what is "Positive ANA" ?
my docs have been about as informative and helpful as a fart in a space suit...

regarding medicines I'm on
gabapentin 200mg (x4/day)
Tylex (two x4day not sure on dose)
Nebdio (testosterone, 1/3 months)

I do use my computer a LOT so I think that's why arms/hands hurt so much in general.
I made sure I have a great chair, supports the arms, etc.

 

[WillowJ]

ANA is a test they do to screen for rheumatologic diseases like Lupus, rheumatoid arthritis, scleroderma, etc. It can contribute to the diagnosis of those, but only if you also have other findings. Normal lab finding on ANA is negative (none found). If they find any, they will do additional tests.

ANA is for anti-nuclear antibodies. This means the body makes antibodies (immune cells to find and attack a specific thing like they would make for an infection) against something in your own cell nucleous, such as your own DNA.

If the ANA is fairly low, the doctor will simply have you follow up with a rheumatologist (American protocol) every year or so, to monitor for the development of Lupus or something like that. Some people have a low level of positive ANA and never develop a disease that a doctor can classify.

About half of people with ME have positive ANA.

 

[taniaaust1]

When i was very very sick with ME (but in my bedridden for 9mths days), I was loosing my ability to control/move my body at times... it actually at one point of things.. got to the stage where I was laying on my bed one day, unable to even make a finger move .. looking at it, trying to move it and willing it to move but it wouldnt (and I couldnt move anything else, I layed there for hrs paralysed before falling back to sleep).

Its a very strange feeling as we take it for granted that when we want to move a body part and try to move it, it will just move for us, that our brains will send the message to the body part and make it move (it was like the brain messages werent always getting throu).

At times things would go stiff (Im currently actually getting a lot of stiffness in my legs in the morning), this stiffness happened in various parts of my body. I'd also get spasming of my hands which could end up making my hot drink get thrown over another. Another thing which used to happen is Id find myself suddenly dropping my coffee and not know how I dropped it.. I wasnt aware of my hand letting go of it. (I embarrassing did that at one CFS/ME meeting I went too and coffee went everywhere.. my hand had let it go).

My hands would also go like umm I dont know what term to use so can only use the term spastic... like my fingers would go stiffly at odd angles at joints, not in a way someone could at all naturally hold their hands and fingers at for long periods. My hands went very weird.
Those neurological symptoms thou for me have now gone away so obviously that whatever CFS/ME does, it isnt usually permanent (thou I do know a CFS/ME person in which it was.. using her hand too much permanently neurologically damaged it but yeah.. that must be very very rare)

 

[Victoria]

I have had intermittent hand probs over the years. Two to three weeks of hand exercises (including squeeze ball exercises) have fixed them every time.

Initially, it was hard to squeeze even the softest rubber ball just once (when my hands were bad - stiff & no strength), but persevere & it really works.

I could never squeeze the hard balls, only the softest ball but I haven't dropped things for ages (maybe a year or more). Sometimes when I'm typing for a long time these days, I stop & have trouble straightening my right hand, so it still has the occasional problem. If I stretch my fingers out & squeeze them into a clench a few times, it fixes the spasm & loosens my hand up.

But it'a a long time since I've dropped things.

Chemists or sports stores sell these special squeeze balls - they're not ordinary rubber balls. These balls look more like firm jelly (or jello, I think you call it in the US).