posted
My 15 year old son was diagnosed with LD a month ago. The nerve and muscle pain and numbness is centered particularly in his hands, wrists, fingers and forearm and get quite intense. He has difficulty believing this is a result of LD and not some other degenerative condition and wants to know if anyone else is suffering from these "Carpal Tunnel" like symptoms as a result of Lyme (his physical medicine Dr. did tests for nerve damage and said he does not have carpal tunnel.) The pain makes it impossible to write or use the computer, a significant handicap in a teen who is too sick to do anything active. I think he needs some reassurance he's not a freak and at least belongs in this Lyme camp.
Posts: 3 | From Sebastopol, CA, USA | Registered: Sep 2005
| IP: Logged |
HEATHERKISS
Frequent Contributor (1K+ posts)
Member # 6789
posted
I HAD those symptoms. They went away after 5 weeks on biaxin xl.
It was extremely painful and such a relief when it left me. Tears of joy.
Many many Lyme patients experience his same exact problems.
Heather
-------------------- HEATHER
Posts: 1974 | From ABERDEEN, NJ 07747 | Registered: Jan 2005
| IP: Logged |
posted
i had them, but they went away when i took vitamin d for my deficiency. what i thought was a Bb problem wasn't.
Posts: 689 | From western MA (we say buttER and pizzA) | Registered: Nov 2004
| IP: Logged |
posted
Yes, these are all symptoms of Lyme. Hubby has severe "carpal tunnel pain" (he has Lyme, Babs, Bart and Erlichia)
One of my mainstay symptoms is extreme hand and wrist pain, making it hard to type, or even write.
Has he been tested for co-infections? It will improve with treatment.
He is not alone, if that is any consolation.
Wizard
Posts: 252 | From USA | Registered: Sep 2003
| IP: Logged |
Foggy
Frequent Contributor (1K+ posts)
Member # 1584
posted
I had this too. It was not CT or nerve entrappment. It was tendonitis exacerbated by bb.
Posts: 2451 | From Lyme Central | Registered: Aug 2001
| IP: Logged |
listen to your mom. I had to throw my torso around at night to get any sensation back in my arms for MONTHS.
I couldn't raise my hand above shoulder height with circulation gone and finger tingling. Later on I started dropping things all the time. It was like a clown show.
If I played volleyball or tried to play my bass, I would get terrible cramps so that I couldn't open a bottle of soda.
Let her pay for your health insurance until you're 23, cause after that you'll wish she was still paying for it.
-------------------- Lymester Posts: 519 | From CT | Registered: Jun 2004
| IP: Logged |
posted
Hi, I have Lyme and also had constant pain in my hands and fingers since the end of 2004. I had to buy the dictating program, Dragon, to be able to use the PC. I started to get better after half a year...if I just don't overdo the typing on the PC. I don't use the dictating program anymore, but I still use the mousetool program doing most of my clicking.
I did not experience the numbness though. Hang in there...but please know it IS possible to use the PC...even without using your hands much!
Stretching my fingers helps and also chiropractor treatment. Mosken
Posts: 1 | From Norway | Registered: Sep 2005
| IP: Logged |
Sue vG
Frequent Contributor (1K+ posts)
Member # 3143
groovy2
Frequent Contributor (1K+ posts)
Member # 6304
posted
All effects of Lyme-- For wrist pain use (joint-muscl glucosimine sulfate with some MSM also-- Glucosimine sulfate rebuilds cartlage--get the kind that Dose Not say -HCL-on bottle- -it is not as effective-- take about 2000mg at beginning
It helps most people-- In many people good effects are felt in 3 weeks or less-
I could feel effect in days-- many others do also
GS costs around $12 for a month- Price has totally come down-- used to be $75 when I started buying it--was worth every penny.
---Jay---
Posts: 2999 | From Austin tx USA | Registered: Oct 2004
| IP: Logged |
Aniek
Frequent Contributor (1K+ posts)
Member # 5374
posted
Yes! This is almost the exact pain that lead me down the path to the Lyme diagnosis.
I was diagnosed with tendinitis, put in braces for months and lost the use of my hands for over a year. When the pain got worse, and I found the pain intensifying in my shoulders and neck, I searched for another diagnosis. I too tried Dragon software, and found that it increased neck pain from the headset and talking all day.
The big surprise I found from a physical therapist specializing in myofascial release was that the pain was coming from my shoulders and neck. The Lyme caused inflammation in my muscles. My shoulders, neck and upper back were so tight from the inflammation that I couldn't physically relax my shoulders. Many funny instances of my pt saying "relax your shoulder blades" followed by "no, move them in the opposite direction to relax them."
The good news started when I began taking Flexeril. Flexeril is a muscle relaxer. Once on it, I was able to find lasting release from the myofascial release therapy. (Myofascial release is releasing trigger points, which are basically the tight points in the muscles that are causing the pain to refer). Prior to the Flexeril, my muscles would inflame from the therapy...something my pt never saw before.
I then started stretching and strengthening.
I have been undergoing Lyme treatment for 18 months, and been on Flexeril about 1-2 months longer. I just stopped the Flexeril a week ago. Not perfect, but much, much better. And I have full use of my hands again. I can hold the weight of my body in my hands in some yoga arm balances for 30 seconds.
I also found that, in a proper ergonomic position, with my shoulders fully relaxed, typing could actually help reduce pain and stiffness.
-------------------- "When there is pain, there are no words." - Toni Morrison Posts: 4711 | From Washington, DC | Registered: Mar 2004
| IP: Logged |
posted
For over 20 years I have had the pain you describe. About ten years ago, I lost a bunch of weight and discovered "bumps" and "cysts" in all my joints. They became visible in my wrists, fingers and ankles. If you feel on the side of the index finger, or in between fingers, you might find bumps. Recently, I have discovered new bumps in the soft tissue of my forearm. My Duc actually pushed one of these cysts about 3 inches down my forearm, where it remains. The bumps interfere with tendon action and scrape on muscles causing the pain.
I was just Dx'd Lyme Positive 2 weeks ago. I also have these bumps in my ankles near where I had fractures in the past. At one point in 1986 my podiatrist surgically removed about 34 of them - but didn't send them to a lab - we just looked at them and they look like little calcium flowerettes. I was a computer network engineer and for many many years really suffered with the hand pain. I became a left-hand mouser at the PC, but then the left side started to hurt more. At one point, I couldn't wipe my own butt for the pain and cramping. Yes, if I overdo it and go a marathon internet binge, I pay as irritaion doesn't help. Just tell him to go easy on the PC and to STOP and shake the hands when they start to hurt, and walk away for a while. You would only be able to take away my internet experience by prying my mouse from my cold, dead hands. Poor dear. *Bit*
Posts: 116 | From Bisbee, AZ USA | Registered: Sep 2005
| IP: Logged |
posted
Has anyone had the swelling in the knuckles and the wrist?
I too have horrible pain in my hands so that I can not use them. I also have burning in my elbows. I do know it stems from my neck and shoulders where the pain originally started.
Hang in there and with tx it will get better.(At least that's what Im hoping too)
Posts: 109 | From MN | Registered: Apr 2005
| IP: Logged |
riversinger
Frequent Contributor (1K+ posts)
Member # 4851
posted
I have had this pain as well. For me, it has been hard to differentiate what is caused by Lyme. I also have a condition called Thoracic Outlet Sydrome. The overlap is that infection can be one of the causes of the Thoracic Outlet problems.
For me, it has required antibiotic treatment, as well as osteopathic manipulation, yoga (could be any kind of streching or flexibility program), and the judicious use of muscle relaxers and pain meds.
Two years ago I was in so much pain I could hardly think, and my hands would go numb merely resting against the arms of a stuffed chair. I now have very little of the hand and arm pain, even when doing the triggering activities. I have to maintain my treatments, but I'll happily do that if it keeps the pain at bay.
Greathiss, you are in our area. Write to me if you want the name of a few doctors and PTs who are aware of this issue. Some of them even know how Lyme can interact with it.
Mathias
Frequent Contributor (1K+ posts)
Member # 5298
posted
That was my second symptom right after severe chest pain. I was eventually dx'ed with lyme and mycoplasma fermentans infections.
-------------------- Mathias Posts: 1242 | From New Jersey | Registered: Feb 2004
| IP: Logged |
Andie333
Frequent Contributor (1K+ posts)
Member # 7370
posted
Like others have said, I've experienced a lot of pain and numbness.
In fact, numbness in my foot was my first alarming symptom. There were days my right foot would just lose all feeling, and, obviously, that was incapacitating. I was MRIrd and Xray-ed with thought it was neurological and or physiological. The tests turned up nothing.
My knee went several months later. It just gave out as I was coming down the stairs, swelled to about three times its size and continued to ache, despite its being drained twice and shot up with cortisone.
Nothing showed up on tests, and nothing helped --not meds or PT or exercise (I tried swimming a mile a day).
I've only been treated for a few months. The numbness is still present, but it does seem to be less intense. Most of the swelling has left my leg and my knee continues to go down.
Today, for the first time in 9 months, I realized I was walking in the city witout limping. It was definitely a high star moment. Didn't last, but it gave me a LOT of hope.
Andie
Posts: 2549 | From never never land | Registered: May 2005
| IP: Logged |
The Lyme Disease Network is a non-profit organization funded by individual donations. If you would like to support the Network and the LymeNet system of Web services, please send your donations to:
The
Lyme Disease Network of New Jersey 907 Pebble Creek Court,
Pennington,
NJ08534USA http://www.lymenet.org/
UBBFriend: Email this page to someone!
![[Smile]](smile.gif)
![[loco]](graemlins/loco.gif)
Printer-friendly view of this topic