Severe Pain, Right Wrist and Hand
Dear Jeremy, I'm hoping you can help me as you have so effectively in the past. I've now had severe pain and weakness in my right wrist and hand for three days. This is on top of gout in my fingers and neck problem last December, one effect of which is a loss of feeling in the little and next-along fingers and the little finger side of my right hand. I can hardly use my right hand at all. A G.P. has prescribed Co-codamol but this has little or no effect on the extreme level of pain I'm experiencing. Help please! With kind regards. David
You had a vaguely similar episode of severe pain that seemed to settle by itself back in 2018. Those little finger symptoms might possibly be the nerve at the elbow rather than the neck. We are relatively quiet at the moment so far as actual neurophysiology is concerned because of COVID so if we need to see you we can do that easily. See how it evolves over the weekend and give me an update on Sunday. JB
Thank you Jeremy for your considerate and helpful reply. I'm pleased to say that the pain in my right wrist/forearm/hand has remained greatly reduced. I was intrigued by your comment regarding the discrete issue* of little/next fingers/hand-side numbness, as I have for a few years experienced right elbow stiffness/mild pain and pins/needles in my right arm on waking, overnight. *My G.P. has advised me that this is because of nerve pinch related to C8 (?) With kind regards. David
It could be C8 but it's probably just as likely to be the nerve at the elbow. In theory you can distinguish them by careful examination of the ring finger - if only half of it is affected (the side adjacent to the little finger), then it's more likely to be the elbow than C8. JB
Dear Jeremy: Thank you for your further follow-up and advice. Thankfully, my right wrist/arm/hand pain has remained manageable throughout the week. Regarding your observation about the possibility of my right hand/fingers numbness being related to the elbow, I'm wondering if you would be able to assess this if I attended the clinic some time next month, (after my CoVis inoculation (2nd February) has had time to take effect?) With kind regards. David
We can test the ulnar nerve, and we sometimes do it in the CTS clinic if we have time. Let me know how it's doing towards the end of Feb and we'll think about it JB
Dear Jeremy, Thanks for your last reply. Any pain I had, in both my neck and right arm/hand/fingers has resolved, but the loss of feeling and pins&needles persists. This affects my right hand little finger side outer area and 4th/5th fingers. With kind regards. David
We can take a look at that as a follow-up test because we did find some evidence of CTS back in 2016. I presume you haven't moved since? I could also do with some contat phone numbers for you if you wouldn't mind emailing me and them I can probably fit you in next week. JB
Dear Jeremy - since I posted yesterday my pain has reduced considerably. In view of this, and in the current NHS-capacity/CoVid19 context, I think it would be sensible for me not to bother you further at this point, unless the extreme pain level recurs. With kind regards. David