Bizarre question (NPR)

firefightersgal

 Every morning, upon waking, my hands are essentially useless.  I can barely move them and if I try very hard to make them work, they hurt.  I have zero strength in them.  After I get up and move around, they function normally.

Anyway, just putting it out there to see if anyone has heard of this or experienced it.  Thanks! 

DandelionMom

Do you have carpal tunnel? 

I had it when I was pregnant and had to use wrist braces at night.

isabella22

Do you sleep on them weird?

emilykristene2006

DandelionMom:

Do you have carpal tunnel? 

I had it when I was pregnant and had to use wrist braces at night.

I was going to ask the same thing.

black.kat

I have never had that, but I would maybe talk to your doctor or a chiropractor.  I would go to a chiropractor if that happened to me... you could have something out of line and need an adjustment....

Skruffy

how long after you wake up? if it is just a few seconds, that is normal. Many people wake in the middle of the night and find their body paralyzed but it goes away in a moment. Your body has to wake up. When you are asleep, all parts are asleep. There's a term for it, I'll see if i can google it and remember.

firefightersgal

I don't think I sleep terribly weird, but who knows.  I've never been diagnosed with Carpel Tunnel.

I wondered about the paralysis thing, but it last for 10-15 minutes after I wake up.  Maybe my hands just have a hard time flushing out that hormone (or whatever) that causes it. 

4Speedy

Is there pain or just a loss of feeling?

firefightersgal

Some pain if I attempt to force them to work.  

I don't know how long this is been going on.  I can't remember *not* having this problem.

I have an uncle whose hands are crippled and deformed from arthritis and have been for a very, very long time.  My great-grandmother was the same way.  I'm a bit concerned that it could be related to that.

meghan_marie

This happens to me quite often. It's a strange feeling. You can't move or feel anything in it. Usually it's just on my right side and I literally have to pick my arm up and shake it with my left hand. Very weird. But yes, I know what you are talking about.

4Speedy

firefightersgal:

Some pain if I attempt to force them to work.  

I don't know how long this is been going on.  I can't remember *not* having this problem.

I have an uncle whose hands are crippled and deformed from arthritis and have been for a very, very long time.  My great-grandmother was the same way.  I'm a bit concerned that it could be related to that.

This is what I was thinking.  My BIL has rheumatoid arthritis. In his case, it started in his feet long before he noticed it elsewhere.  He describes it like this--stiffness and pain until he gets moving in the morning.  It can sometimes be tough to diagnose because the early symptoms vary so much.  Ask your doctor to do a SED test.

firefightersgal

Thanks for the info.  I'll be talking to my doctor about it!  How your BIL describes what he feels sounds like my issue.

4Speedy

Just and FYI, one of the hallmarks of RA is that it is usually bilateral, meaning, if it effects your hands, it will effect them both to the same degree.  If it effects your feet, it will effect them both to the same degree, etc.  If you notice one hand is worse than they other, it could be something that is injury related, like carpal tunnel.  If both hands are similarly effected, I would check into the RA angle or some other autoimmune cause.

firefightersgal

I was reading about RA on WebMD, and it said the same thing.  It is definitely bilateral for me.  I have the same feeling/level of pain/weakness in both hands every morning.

Flem052204

4Speedy just told me about this post.  She's my SIL--my DH is the person she mentioned with RA.  This is completely and totally jumping the gun because I would never presume to diagnose you based on stiff hands, BUT, if you do start to walk down the road toward an RA (or any of the related conditions) diagnosis and need someone to talk to, page Speedy.  She'll let me know you're looking for me.  Also, I lurk on here once in a while but it's often enough to know that you are TTC.  If it does turn out to be RA, you will be glad to know that PG often puts women into remission.  Good luck.

firefightersgal

Thanks, Flem (and 4Speedy!).  I've been thinking about it more and remember that my feet feel the same way in the morning.  I don't notice it as much since I don't do as much with them, but in my daily walk to the bathroom from the bedroom, I feel it.

I'll keep you updated! 

Flem052204

Oh, man, that does sound a lot like my DH.  Here's TMI but actually, the very first thing I remember about my DH is that when we were dating and we started having sex, he would complain about his hips hurting.  At first I thought he was a huge whiney baby.  Then it went into his feet.  First thing in the morning was by far the worst, especially on hard or cold surfaces (like our ceramic tile floor!)  It got progessively worse while we dated but DH never saw a doctor about it.  We were married 14 months after we started dating and by then, it was pretty bad.  I remember DH just being in his socks for most of the reception because his feet hurt so bad.  We went on our honeymoon and he was just exhausted the whole time.  When we came home, DH was in a full-on rheumatic flare--he could not even lift his arms to dress himself.  He went to his primary, who sent him to a rheumy the next day.  He had every classic symptom and all the blood tests came back positive so he had his official diagnosis really quickly.  It took a little while to figure out what the correct cocktail of drugs is for him, but he has been pretty well managed for almost 6 years.

Some of the things my DH had, aside from bilateral stiffness/pain that led to diagnosis was rheumatoid nodules on his elbows.  Those develop in places where you put pressure on your joints--like if you regularly lean on your elbows while working on the computer.  They are kind of squishy pads over his joints.  His joints (the sore ones, not all of them) were also warm to the touch.  RA also causes inflamation of the lining of your eyes, so he had dry eyes and blurry vision.

Sorry to be so long winded, just wanted to give you a heads up so you could look for some things to either talk to your doctor about or hopefully even eliminate the liklihood of RA for you.  I'm leaving to go pick up DD (I'm at Speedy's house right now) so I won't be checking this post again.  If you have any questions, like I said, have Speedy get in touch with me.