Hand pain with PMR
Posted , 17 users are following.
I am having a lot of pain with my hands. My rheumatologist insist that it can't be PMR. I know that a lot of you have said that you have pain with your hands. I even tried arguing with her but I got nowhere. She just said maybe I have RA. So I did a little research and I came up with a disease that is similar with PMR and often goes along with PMR. And I wondered if anyone here has ever heard of it. It's called RS3PE. It causes pain in the hands and the feet and yes my right foot hurts too. I'm going to bring this up to my rheumatologist and see what she says.
1 like, 39 replies
Danrower amkoffee
Posted
I had significant feet and hand involvement which was initially considered to be LORA, late onset rheumatoid arthritis. misdiagnosis.
Good luck
gillian_25383 amkoffee
Posted
java4u amkoffee
Posted
Can not make a fist very hard to bend fingers without severe pain.somedays it is worse
Was on 30mg of predsone
Now at 5mg
Managing pain and condition
Went to specialist clinic for hand pain
They did ultra sound looking for join inflamation
Found very little evidence
So no results just can not explain it
With PMR there are no painless days just different levels of pain for each day
Rumuy is stumped no explaination
EileenH java4u
Posted
Um - I rarely have PMR pain. But I will NOT compromise: I take the dose of pred I need.
If I am having a flare or overdo things I will often get pain in the fleshy part of the base of my thumbs - I have it at present after driving 1800 miles since last Sunday morning from home in Italy to the UK (and back) for a family funeral which of course led to a late night for the "family reunion" that always happens at such events. Last night I upped my pred dose from 7 to 10mg and it helped today. But I'm home now - back to normal.
java4u EileenH
Posted
Makes me realize im not going crazy trying to figure things out
Hard to cope with sometimes but keeping informed and having knowledge confirms I am in a situation which requires a lot of patience and understanding
The info from this site is comforting
Thankyou again for the knowledge and understandings
amkoffee EileenH
Posted
Eileen that is exactly where I get my pain too. I always have pain in my thumbs like you say the meaty part. But at this time it's grown to my fingers and even into my wrist
Danrower amkoffee
Posted
I had posted a discussion about 9 days ago which addresses this. May help:
https://patient.info/forums/discuss/remitting-seronegative-symmetrical-synovitis-with-pitting-edema-557870
Dave-California amkoffee
Posted
I have been working on PMR reduction with prednisone and methotrexate for almost 3 years. I have been on a slow ‘taper’ from 20 mg pred using a 5-10% reduction of the medication monthly over that period and now I’m down to 4 mg. However – one big issue that really bothered me, and didn’t follow the overall body pain reduction, was my HANDS. The pain in the hands was not like carpel tunnel – it was in all joints of both hands from the wrist to the furthest finger joint. Both hands were almost locked up in the mornings and needed constant flexing (which was painful) to allow me to open the marmalade jar ! The flexibility and pain level did improve slightly toward the evening but was never gone completely.
I researched and discussed with my rheumatologist and was informed that PMR has an influence on synovial fluid loss in the hand joints. Most info regarding synovial fluid irregularities is from patients with joint disease related to knee effusions and most medical research is largely limited to findings in the knee joint, but there is evidence that it can occur with PMR.
My rheumatologist started me with methotrexate (MTX) as well as pred after my first 'flare' and apart from this hand issue, I seem to be 'tapering' the pred quite well from 20mg to currently 4mg without any major issues. MTX (a DMARD) works as an addition ‘cover’ – OK for me but some others do not agree. My hand pain has now reduced to a very manageable level and I’m back to playing racquetball and can hold the racquet pretty well. Hope your problem goes away.
Dave
shelley45866 amkoffee
Posted
EileenH amkoffee
Posted
Someone started a thread about it recently...
julian. amkoffee
Posted
had stiffness between joints in fingers for longtime. About 3 months ago overdid things. Some swelling in hands and pain across wrist. Unable to open the marmalade jar (enough strength, too much pain). Increased pred from 3.5 to 5. Slowly subsided to least stiffness for a long while. Ready to try reducing again. At that level of pred I seem to have approached it as "whatever works".
My pmr pain started in hands but mostly upper arms. Stiffness in legs. At the same time as changing from driving lots to cleaning/polishing (lots of small hand movements with lots of pressure). Occasionally, but not very often, I wonder if there is something else going on.
I guess I don't mind what its called while the pred works.
iellen32 amkoffee
Posted
Sorry for all you are going through an hoping you get
Improvements.
Keep safe, take good care of you.
iellen
iellen32
Posted
Hope you too, find your comfortable level of your dose of steroid.
iellen
Anhaga iellen32
Posted
Roberta125 amkoffee
Posted
Have had PMR for 2 years. Have had two flares as a result of tapering too quickly. Both times my only pain was a throbbing in my right hand. I have no arthritis. The pain went away immediately when I upped my prednisone. I play a lot of golf, tennis and cycle. Use my right hand a lot. If I flare again(hope I've learned) and it's in my right hand I will see about a cortisone shot on hand. Tried a cortisone cream but throbbing was too much to endure without upping prednisone. Wish you the best. This forum is wonderful