Carpal Tunnel and RA

[Guest guest]

A couple of recent posts have related being diagnosed with Carpal

Tunnel Syndrome in conjunction with RA. I believe they can be

closely related, and so does DrDoc on his Arthritis pages:

http://www.arthritis.co.za (under " Syndrome Index " )

Last December I was working non-stop on an intensive computer project

and began to experience sharp pains in my right hand. I began to

favor that hand/wrist with a splint, and the symptoms quickly spread

to the left hand as well. I was diagnosed with overuse syndrome. It

wasn't until the following July when symptoms showed up in my feet

that I was fairly certain the CTS was a result of systemic

inflammation, not repetitive stress. Nerve conduction studies were

normal.

I also experienced Ulnar nerve compression that caused my hands and

arms to go to sleep at night when I slept on them wrong. The

symptoms of both were very painful, mostly burning and pins and

needles sensations. When my Rheumy prescribed 10mg prednesone per

day, the nerve compression problems mostly went away. While I had

these problems, I used wrist and elbow splints from IMAK Products.

They make the only elbow splint comfortable enough for sleeping I

could find.

Now my symptoms are sharp pains and burning sensations in my hands

and feet, with the usual morning stiffness. The odd thing is that I

am seronegative (no unusual blood tests) and there is absolutely

no " visible " swelling yet. Five months of Plaquenil did nothing

except disrupt my vision a bit. My next stop is a neurologist. I

suspected a peripherial neuropathy early on, but RA seemed to make

more sense as time whent on. Maybe the negative labs and lack of

swelling is a positive indication for a more favorable outcome for

this 48YO male.

Steve