Pains in arms, hands and fingers

[PeterBa]

Hi there, I am on a bit of a health journey. Since about 3 months I have been experiencing horrible pains in my fingers, hands and underarms. Pains come and go, sometimes my right index finger burns for a few seconds, sometimes the top of my hand burns for a few hours, sometimes my underarms / wrist starts burning during the day. There is no specific movement or activity that can make this worse or better.

I have a confirmed case of bilateral (both arms) cubital tunnel, where the ulnar nerve is swollen and runs into it's opening in the elbow (the funnybone), but that doesn't explain all the fingers and both hands. Symptoms of cubital tunnel and the other pains started at the same time and so did my anxiety about the issue!

Every doctor or specialist I went to came up with other possibilities that took weeks to rule out. I have been sent off for 3 bloodtests for rheumatoid arthritis for instance or idiopathic peripheral neurapthy, I had a nerve conduction study, MRI's of the neck, the wrists and the hands, bloodtests for vitamin deficiencies, diabetes, etc... Now I am sitting at home to "rest" for a month. Doctors also put me on tablets which made me sick (and anxious) for weeks and sick (and anxious) again for weeks to get off them... This has all led to me getting panic attacks and my anxiety which was mild before this all happened 3 months ago has gone through the roof. Nothing other than the cubital tunnel has been found, leading to nerve pain without a cause or …. anxiety?

Is it possible the random pains / burning in the fingers and hands is a symptom caused by (health) anxiety and I simply have cubital tunnel syndrome (a relatively easy condition)? There is such a thing as burning skin syndrome, but does that match what I am going through?

[PeterBa]

Ow and the other thing is... I have been getting these little muscle twitches all over my body when I lie down and do nothing distracting since 2 months (since dropping the medication) and googling that of course... leads to MS, ALS, etc... all the scary stuff...

[Croix]

Dear PeterBA~

Welcome here to the Forum, it can be a good move to seek other's experiences.

Let me say first that I have ,among other problems, an anxiety conditon and it does manifest itself in physical symptoms, though none exactly the same as yours -except perhaps twitching sometimes.

You have been told that you do have a medical condition involving the nervous system, cubital tunnel syndrome which is known to have some side effects. If this diagnosis is firm, and all others inconclusive, would it make sense to get them dealt with .

Although you do not say it is possible the medication you are on, together wiht prescribed rest, is an in ital attempt to alleviate this condition. Would you mind saying if that is the case?

It may well be with discussing wiht your doctor more acceptable medications, often there is more than one type to consider.

It is very freustrating not to hace lear naswrers from specialist

[Croix]

My apologies, the post went off to you while I was still writing/editing it -sigh

to continue:

It is very frustrating not to hear clear answers from specialists or tests, however in such cases perhaps dealing with one thing at a time may bring matters to light by a process of elimination, and I'd think (I'm no doctor) that the cubital syndrome looks an obvious starting point.

What are your feelings?

Croix

[therising]

Hi PeterBa

You definitely sound frustrated and I can't say I blame you. I'm wondering if you've ever considered alternative therapies. I know it's not everyone's cup of tea.

Traditionally, the medical field will consider problems with the body, whereas therapies that deal with energy will recognise the intelligence of the body and therefor look for messages from it. I'll give you an idea of what I'm talking about:

• Seeing the arms are considered an extension of the heart energy, they will begin by working in this area and then may work the shoulders, armpits, upper arm muscles, elbow area, lower arm muscles and finally the hand. They work from an energetic point of origin and work it out both physically and metaphorically.They may even be so bold as to ask you whether you've developed a passion for something that you're not fully putting your heart into, suggesting you grab it with both hands and go with the flow (aka follow your heart).

An energy practitioner will read burning as energy 'heating up'. It has nowhere to go and builds up in certain places. They will perceive 'thickness' of energy as opposed to swelling. The heating up and thickness will sometimes get worse until the block is released and the body's energy flows freely. The twitching, I imagine, would be perceived as 'signaling' by the body. It could simply be 'a release of energy'. Not sure if you have a car but if you do you could relate to having parked it in the garage after a long drive and you hear all those faint little heat releasing clicking and popping sounds coming from the engine as it cools down (changing states). If one could describe that sound as a feeling, they may call it twitching. Can go the other way too; when a tin roof heats up it makes a similar sound. Basically, it's either energy contracting or expanding, which is natural.

In western society, we've come to see signals or symptoms as 'problems' as opposed to messages from an incredibly intelligent and efficient body. In the world of quantum physics, we are energy and matter therefor we typically follow the laws of energy and matter in regard to our body (expansion, contraction and all that stuff). Thought I'd just give you a different angle to explore seeing you're not getting any answers from the medical folk. By the way, think about the kind of energy that builds regarding anxiety and that might help give further insight to the intelligence of your body. Try playing with the concept of 'messages'.

Take care

[PeterBa]

Thanks Croix that makes sense. Cubital tunnel however only affects 2 fingers of each hand, where the ulnar nerve runs. I am pretty sure that diagnosis is correct. I get the burning mostly in the other fingers though, which should not be affected at all. This is another, simultaneous issue.

The early mention of "idiopathic peripheral neuropathy" during this journey has put me on a path of immense health-anxiety... Basically a life of a combination of strong pain killers and anti depressants for a possibly progressive and chronic condition based on pain... This has not been ruled out at all and it is like a dark cloud following me and every time I get this burning / pain in my fingers, it starts to rain, leading me to think about that possibility again... It's a spiral and I have become an anxious pile of rubble...

I am hoping this is caused by health anxiety (burning skin syndrome is linked to health-anxiety about skin issues), but I don't think I can find any relief from the anxiety until I get any nerve damage ruled out with an upcoming EMG / nerve conduction study and a skin biopsy... Which is exactly what health anxiety sufferers do... they seek refuge into a long line of tests to get certainty...