Not helping my MS Fear- hand pain & weakness

[tashbarnes87]

Hi all, for the past 8 months i have been waking up with numbness in my right hand, at the time i was pregnant so assumed it was pregnancy related. For the past month i have had pain in my right hand when moving & some stiffness in that hand & i have been worrying about it loads. So i was just upstairs cleaning the bathroom with one of those pump spray bottles when ( please dont laugh) i realised i couldnt do it really with my right hand, fine in the left hand in fact could do it loads, but in the right i could only squeeze it 3 times before it seized up! Im really really freaking out now. Does this sound like weakness? im so scared of MS. Im 23 & cant worry About this all the time :weep: x

[tashbarnes87]

also i push a very heavy double buggy mainly with that hand! around 55lbs would that do any damage?

[AllInMyHead]

Hi Tash,

I had an MS scare last year (thankfully I got the all clear). I saw my GP and a neurologist. From what the neuro said, I don't think your symptoms could be MS. The symptoms of that would stick around for a long time, and wouldn't 'come on' like you describe.

The neuro also said that symptoms that 'could' be MS could also be lots of other things too, most of which aren't at all serious.

In my case I had numbness in my hands and arms at night (as well as some other symptoms). The neuro had a good look at me and said it was because my ulnar nerve is quite prominent, and was probably getting constricted at night. Depending on where in your hand it is, it could be ulnar or carpal tunnel.

Then in the daytime I had what felt like weakness in my arms and legs and a feeling of loss of coordination. As soon as I got my all-clear they disappeared almost immediately, so I'm quite sure they were a result of anxiety.

So I think you shouldn't worry at all. It's likely to be caused by anxiety, brought on by that numbness in the night. The fact you can push a heavy buggy around suggests you're ok. Maybe you should visit the GP about the numbness in your hands at night, to give yourself a bit of reassurance.

[tashbarnes87]

thanks so much for your reply i have realised that my elbow hurts too! is this a good or a bad thing? does this sound like carpel tunnel? I keep getting a lot of pain when i widen my fingers or try and hold a few things :(. I have been anxiety free for so long now :( this is going to ruin it :( x

[AllInMyHead]

Hang in there, this doesn't have ruin it.

If it's anxiety, which most of it probably is, it probably hurts because you keep trying stuff, and testing yourself to see if you can do things. That's what it was with me anyway.

I just tried widening my fingers, and that kind of hurt too - just I'm not focusing on it.

Right now, my left should hurts, my neck is stiff, my hands are itchy and my ears are ringing. And I'm fine :). I don't notice any of it, it's all just normal. I don't think the fact that your elbow hurts means anything in particular.

I don't know if it's carpal tunnel - I think that causes numbness / tingling in the thumb and first two fingers, and the ulnar nerve is related to the same but in your ring and index fingers. It is worth checking with the GP though, both are easily treatable.

The best thing to do (I know it's really difficult, and I wish I could take my own advice when I'm anxious) is to stop focusing on the symptoms and stop checking / testing yourself. You'll feel much better just for doing that x

[blueangel]

I have an ulnar nerve problem in both arms and I frequently wake up with numbness on the outside of my hands. It's irritating but my GP said the corrective surgery for it is not very pleasant and said he wouldn't fancy having it done!

[BKF1515]

Hi, Tash, I just wanted to share with you that during my pregnancies and until my youngest was about 3, I had what the doctors here told me was carpal tunnel syndrome although I didn't have that much numbness or tingling but mainly pain and weakness in both wrists which radiated to the hand and up the lower arm. I tried to ignore it most of the time. But my wrists were so weak for a few years that I couldn't even push myself up with my hands from a reclining position. So keep in mind that those pregnancy-related symptoms can stay with you for quite awhile. My ct problem just sort of faded away, so that after I had finally become more energetic, fit, better-rested, etc. (and it takes years after having babies/toddlers), I noticed, hey, my wrists finally feel normal again! Good luck!

[tashbarnes87]

thank you all so very much! BKF1515- thank you for sharing i didnt realise pregnnacy things could carry on so long, my little one is 7 months old now. I get a lot of pain in my fingers too, did you? x