cactus
Frequent Contributor (1K+ posts)
Member # 7347
posted
Hi all,
For the second time I've lost the use of one of my hands
Yesterday, my left hand became very painful - mostly around the knuckles - and I could not pick anything up with it.
The pain last night was enough to keep me waking up, and today I cannot use it at all. (Hunting and pecking now)
This is different from the peripheral neuropathy problems I've had in the past - those were more burning, tingling and numbness with intermittent weakness. This is a different type of pain.
Is this type of pain in the hands typical of Lyme and co's? In the hands? It's new for me, and I've had Lyme and co's for 25 years, this is the 3rd year in treatment.
I am off all abx as of a few days ago, treating yeast and other gut issues, and waiting on lab results after a series of bleeding/bruising episodes.
What do you think? Any suggestions?
Cactus
-------------------- �Did you ever stop to think, and forget to start again?� - A.A. Milne Posts: 1987 | From No. VA | Registered: May 2005
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Aniek
Frequent Contributor (1K+ posts)
Member # 5374
posted
Cactus,
Yes. Severe hand pain is what brought me down the path of a Lyme diagnosis.
Are your knuckles swollen? If yes, it could be an arthritis.
In my case, my hand pain is actually referred from the thoracic area (shoulder). Extremely tight muscles around my upper back and shoulder compress nerves that cause the pain in my hands.
You can figure this out by pressing on the muscles in that area and seeing if any area that is painful causes pain in your hands.
Plaquenil has really helped with that pain. It didn't eliminate it, but the pain is worse when I'm off it.
I use vicodin when needed, and just started zanaflex which seems to be working well and letting me reduce the vicodin. But the zanaflex works because it is muscle pain.
-------------------- "When there is pain, there are no words." - Toni Morrison Posts: 4711 | From Washington, DC | Registered: Mar 2004
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quote:Originally posted by cactus: I am off all abx as of a few days ago, treating yeast and other gut issues, and waiting on lab results after a series of bleeding/bruising episodes.
Sounds like joint pain. I have it too. It got worse for me when I took some anti-yeast meds.
Remember that a proper balance of yeast and bacteria are essential for our body to function. When you kill off the yeast, you create more room for bacteria to colonize. If they are "good" bacteria, that's fine, but if they are Bb, obviously that's not good.
I think yeast treatment for Lymies must be done very cautiously and carefully.
Posts: 727 | From USA | Registered: Mar 2006
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kelmo
Frequent Contributor (1K+ posts)
Member # 8797
posted
My daughter had that as one of her first bart symptoms...painful hands and feet.
We were talking about her progress last night, as I was taking her to her SIGN LANGUAGE class! Your hands can't be in pain to do THAT! She wants me to practice with her, but my hands ache to do it.
She and I also took a knitting class over the summer. She was in pain, but not her hands.
So, you might want to check for bart.
Posts: 2903 | From AZ | Registered: Feb 2006
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Aniek
Frequent Contributor (1K+ posts)
Member # 5374
posted
I second the checking for bart. I have foot pain as well as the hand pain. Although I've never tested positive for Bart, I had a week long flare from a recent 3 day dose of Cipro for a UTI.
I also had my best progress when on Levaquin. Levaquin and Cipro both kill bart.
My LLMD said I definitely need to target bart, I'm just not physically at a point where I can do that now.
-------------------- "When there is pain, there are no words." - Toni Morrison Posts: 4711 | From Washington, DC | Registered: Mar 2004
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cactus
Frequent Contributor (1K+ posts)
Member # 7347
posted
Thanks so much, all of you.
Aniek and Kelmo, hand/foot pain is what finally got me on the path to getting the right dx, too!
My knuckles don't appear swollen, but it does seem to be stemming from the two middle knuckles the most. Ouch. It's different from the hand/foot pain I've had before.
I'm not finding that it's referred from shoulder pain, but that could still be it - my shoulders are tight.
We've been working on hitting bart slowly. I tried Levaquin for a few months, then had tendon pain. Until last week I was on Bactrim/Biaxin to hit the bart, but then some suspicious bleeding and bruising put that on hold.
Maybe we were hitting the bart, and backing off the treatment has caused a bart flare? Does that make sense?
Dguy, this is my 3rd day on diflucan. Thanks for telling me that yeast treatment caused joint pain for you. That helps.
Aniek, didn't you have salmonella issues as well? Did they contribute to the hand pain, do you think?
Kelmo, thanks for the hope - your daughter must have made great progress to be attending sign language class! I hope you'll be signing with her, soon.
-------------------- �Did you ever stop to think, and forget to start again?� - A.A. Milne Posts: 1987 | From No. VA | Registered: May 2005
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Aniek
Frequent Contributor (1K+ posts)
Member # 5374
posted
Cactus,
I did have salmonella. My LLMD definitely thinks salmonella added to my hand pain. She also always suspected strep because of hand and shoulder symptoms.
Interestingly, I just had a positive strep culture from my ob/gyn. It has never shown up in blood tests though.
-------------------- "When there is pain, there are no words." - Toni Morrison Posts: 4711 | From Washington, DC | Registered: Mar 2004
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cactus
Frequent Contributor (1K+ posts)
Member # 7347
posted
Aniek, do you feel your salmonella has cleared up?
It's been awhile since I've had my titers checked, but for years they've just gone up and up. It's interesting that your LLMD thought that might play into the hand pain, too.
If anyone else has any thoughts on the painful hands, I'm open to hearing any/everything!
-------------------- �Did you ever stop to think, and forget to start again?� - A.A. Milne Posts: 1987 | From No. VA | Registered: May 2005
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bettyg
Unregistered
posted
cactus, sorry to read about your hands!
how about GOUT caused from too much uric acid in body?
my late Dad got this terribly in his hands, feet....dr. had never seen gout so bad in his hands!
he was also UNDIAGNOSED LYME for about 80 years; he died before my lyme dx or i would have had him get a western blot tests! best wishes for relief SOON!
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posted
I used to get painful hands and fingers (still do sometimes).
It seemed to stem from neuro-lyme (my guess) as the pain came from the veins, straight up through the middle of my hand, then up through the sides of my fingers (veins).
The fleshy mound below my thumbs would hurt as well, sometimes. But always coming from the veins there.
The veins would even pop out a bit- seemed to be inflamed.
Posts: 366 | From MA | Registered: Apr 2006
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posted
I had muscle and pain in my right leg, at times just going to bed the pain was so bad. I had stated taking Cipro 13 days prior.
After stopping Cipro 10 days ago, the pain is bearable. I can walk. Saw my LLMD yesterday, said high dosage of Cipro can cause this type of reaction, said the same thing had happened to him.
Must becareful using Cipro!
Posts: 108 | From maryland | Registered: Sep 2007
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Aniek
Frequent Contributor (1K+ posts)
Member # 5374
posted
quote:Originally posted by cactus: Aniek, do you feel your salmonella has cleared up?
I don't think so. I've been on a treatment hold for about a year now.
-------------------- "When there is pain, there are no words." - Toni Morrison Posts: 4711 | From Washington, DC | Registered: Mar 2004
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