Numbness/ Pins and needles in hand

M

m4dh4tt3r

Senior Member
Joined
Jan 20, 2011
Messages
960
Reaction score
2
Hi All,

Looking for some help/advice if anyone perhaps knows.

I know everyone says its best to go to the doctor etc.. but when you have no medical aid its best to try and atleast pinpoint the problem and maybe there is another way around it without seeing a doc.

Perhaps just some idea's as to what you think it could be would help.

About 2 months ago i moved houses, I went to work on the Monday and i realised my left hand is getting pins and needles in just the pinky and the ring finger. I stood up and walked around for a bit and it after about an hour settled down and went away, came back after i worked for around half an hour. Decided was probably just the way i was sitting and i changed the way i lean my arm/elbows on the desk and seems to have helped a little. Nearly 2 months later im still getting this same issue at random times, Its not constantly numb/pins and needles but for a good part of the day it is like that. When i wake up im usually ok but as i jump into a nice warm shower every single day it goes numb/pins&needles. After the shower it goes away for a while then at work comes back several times.

This is really starting to affect me because I cant play guitar properly anymore as my hand feels weaker and the bottom 2 fingers dont respond as well so i cant play the faster passages like I used to, I was really hoping i could just shrug it off and in a month or two if its a pinched nerve will probably just go away.

I was thinking maybe its carpel tunnel but i dont feel that much pain, When my friend had carpel tunnel he was screaming with pain whereas the pain i have is not so excruciating, its just a little pain in the elbow and not the wrist.

Any idea's as to what this is?

madh4tt3r:confused:
 
I have the same. Often wake in the night with a dead arm. The source of my issue seems to be in my elbow.
 
Definately sounds like a nerve-related problem, like a trapped nerve.

I had an accident where my Ulnar nerve was cut and through later surgery reattached, but still have a problem with my pinky and ring finger's mobility and sometimes get the same pins and needles feeling. (Sounds like a greater version of the symptoms you described). You should be careful with this issue as further damage to this nerve can affect your whole hand.

As the diagram (on Alan's link) shows, the nerve also branches off to the tumb. With the damage on my nerve, the muscle between my thumb and index finger has completely distrophied and I've had an (unsuccesful) operation to attempt to increase the power of my grip.

Although I have regained some feeling in the side of my hand through operations, serious nerve damage will have permanent lasting effects.
 
The way you've described it I think it's an ulnar nerve (funny-bone) issue. I had very similar symptoms several years ago. Pins and needles, numbness and slower response when playing guitar.

A scan revealed the sheath around the ulnar nerve was crushed and I had surgery to remove a sheath in that area. It was a small procedure, did involve general anesthetic but I was home the same day with only stitches to show for it. The doc reckoned it was a 50/50 shot at fixing it but was far less risky than the other option which is/was transposition of the ulnar nerve. I got 2 other opinions. Both agreed with doc number 1. Unfortunately option 1 didn't work.

A few months later I had the transposition of the ulnar nerve. Major surgery. Several hours of general anesthetic (4 if memory serves). 2 days in hospital and 10 days in bed. Short version is that the nerve is re-routed away from the outside of the elbow to go down the inside of the arm instead. 8 weeks in a cast and lots of physio after that. It must be about 8 or 9 years later now and my hand is 97%. It was like that immediately when the cast came off and hasn't changed since. I can still feel slight numbness but all motor function etc is 100%. The I remember the doc said it had a very high success rate. Quite a mean scar too - 20cm's approx.

When chatting about the causes of it the doc mentioned that in the USA they had linked the crushing of the nerve to people sleeping on airplanes with your elbow and the hard plastic arm rest. The plastic slowly crushes the sheath that the nerve runs in. I didn't investigate the cause much further because at the time I was flying long-haul almost every 2 weeks so this made sense to me.

Google found this - http://orthoinfo.aaos.org/topic.cfm?topic=A00069 - I had the sub-muscular transposition I believe.

I am not a doctor!
 
Last edited:
thanks for all the feedback and comments, must be honest all the comments have me a little worried. surgery does not sound good at all especially with no medical aid. guess i gotta go see a doc and get a couple scans done because I cant leave it to get worse and not being able to play guitar properly for the rest of my life would just kill a part of me (what a waste of studying at copa then).

Waaib, how is the guitar playing now? do you still play at all?
 
m4dh4tt3r said:
Waaib, how is the guitar playing now? do you still play at all?
Click to expand...

Sure I do but not very seriously. If you are copa level then it may just be carpal tunnel or something that you could fix by adjusting your grip or style? Serious guess work there from me.

Bit of a catch 22 because if you have the scans etc before you get medical aid they might exclude your arm from cover. The second op cost my medical aid over R60k!

Hope it works out for you.
 
I was thinking about CTS but my symptoms arent the same as when my friend had CTS. Its close but not exactly, especially "The main symptom of CTS is intermittent numbness of the thumb, index, long and radial half of the ring finger" where as my other fingers are just fine its just the ring and pinky which sounds exactly like my ulnar nerve. guess only a doc will let me know. Im going onto medical aid soon but still a couple months before they would cover the surgery if needed in anycase.

Well thanks for all the feedback, guess ill just have to take it easy for a while and go see doc asap:)
 
I feel relief when I message my elbow (electric shock area).

HavocXphere said:
I occasionally get that issue too. Avoid resting your arm on hard surfaces. And if you must (e.g. PC mouse) put some foam under it.


Alan called it correctly. Ring & pinky indicates ulnar nerve...which doesn't run through the carpal tunnel afaik.
Click to expand...

I already use one (gel filled).
 
I had the same (symptoms) about two years ago.

The pins and needles and numbness is a sign that that a nerve is pinched.
The doctor's that I went to were also talking about surgery to try and "find" the problem. He wanted me to go for X-rays of the arm/neck and back, and if that didn’t work then he would have to “open me up”.
Fortunately I went to a chiropractor and she sorted it out within three visits. Total cost R750 and just over a week. (Visit every second day for 30 minutes)
The problem is that while moving (pick up or move any heavy stuff?) you probably strained some muscles in your neck which led to a nerve pinching.
The fact that when you go bed it seems to relax but when you shower the neck muscles tension and the pinch is back.

A pinched nerve doesn't just go away. If untreated it will start showing sumptoms like weakness etc.

I would suggest giving a chiropractor a call.

Not sure which area/Town you're in but if in Pretoria I can give you the name of a very good chiroprator.
 
satanboy said:
I already use one (gel filled).
Click to expand...
No I don't mean the mouse pads. In my case the foam needs to be under the area between wrist & elbow (~30cm of foam). i.e. the arm touch only foam & mouse no desk at all.

satanboy said:
I feel relief when I message my elbow (electric shock area).
Click to expand...
Thats not good. Nerves don't get better from massaging....and if they do its because some type of entrapment is temporarily being relieved....which would suggest you need to see a doc.

Aside from a doc the only real choices are reduce irritation of the nerve (i.e. rest) and possibly cortisones. You can try OTC anti inflammatories, but the effect will be temporary at best imo.

Avoid keeping the elbow bent for extended periods.

Also, I'm not a doc & have absolutely no idea what I'm talking about. ;)
 
HavocXphere said:
No I don't mean the mouse pads. In my case the foam needs to be under the area between wrist & elbow (~30cm of foam). i.e. the arm touch only foam & mouse no desk at all.
...
Click to expand...

It is not a mouse pad...it is a wrist pad. But I see what you mean.
 
I had exactly the same this about 2 years back (had been going on for about a year before that). The solution was to get my BMI back to normal and go the the Physio every second day for 2 weeks (elbow and neck massage)

I think the root cause though ended up being pillow I was sleeping with. Sore neck every morning and numb pinky and ring finger (pins and needles a lot of the time too)....changed to one of those Spine align pillows from Dischem....all sorted now 2 years later
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top
Sign up to the MyBroadband newsletter
X