Hand Problems

[stickmaker]

Dear God, I hate my hands...

I almost killed Ringtail, my fourteen year old cat. I was making lunch, and he waked by just as I dropped a jar of Miracle Whip. Fortunately, it was a very glancing blow, and doesn't seem to have hurt him. He didn't even make a noise; just jumped around and looked at the jar, startled.

I'm not sure the doctors even believe there's a problem. It's just like when I was having all that pain in my right hand and arm, twenty years ago. I had to endure for nearly a decade before it got bad enough for their machines to detect the problem.

I'm not sure either the cats or me will last that long with this problem.

Comments

Numb hands

[(Anonymous)]

I was dropping things and having tingly hands and all that. Two tests revealed the problem. Set one was a group of MRI/PET scans of my neck. This revealed degenerative osteoarthritis in the C4, C5, C6 areas. Bone spurs were growing and pinching the nerves that ran down my arms to my hands. The other set of tests were nerve conduction tests in my arms that showed problem with the ulnar tunnel nerve bundle.

The long and short of the tests meant I needed a spinal fusion - life is much better now. See a neurologist or two and have your neck and elbows checked! Good luck!!!

Re: Numb hands

[stickmaker.livejournal.com]

Just finished with a neurologist. He did the cattle prod and Chinese wire torture tests (the usual EMG stuff) and found enough deficit to justify an MRI of my head and neck. The verdict: There's a slight constriction of one nerve channel, but it's not enough to cause my symptoms.

I had surgery on my right elbow and wrist nearly twenty years ago, to relieve impact-related neuropathies. This is different. I can lean my head back and cause the numbness to get worse. I do have arthritis in my spine, but it supposedly isn't bad enough to cause this, either.