So I've been having issues with my right arm lately. All of my symptoms started with this arm tingling, then feeling heavy. Now I have a lot of pain that radiates from my shoulder down to my fingers.Since this pain began, I've been experiencing a lot more twitching on my elbow, bicep, and palm of this hand, which in itself makes me @hit myself (not literally.)So now my middle finger on this hand feels locked up. I haven' t even been flipping people off with it or anything. I can bend it, but it is painful..like when you feel your knuckle has to crack. I push on the bones and it aches too, my joints feel painful.It is really worrying me now, can anyone relate?
Right Arm Issues: Pain & Twitching
- Thread starter smithylab
- Start date
I have a little bit of arthritis emerging in some of my knuckles, which makes them painful when squeezed.And a couple of years ago I developed "trigger finger" in both middle fingers -- had to get cortizone injections to relieve it. It's mostly okay now, but not 100% back to the way things were before.Anyway, I am just guessing that what my trigger finger felt like is similar to what you describe as:"middle finger on this hand feels locked up""I can bend it, but it is painful"When my trigger finger was at it's worst, squeezing the joint at the base of the finger (which is actually down in the palm, near the base of the finger) was VERY painful. And if I curled the finger in completely, it was difficult to get it to straighten out.Not sure if any of that is pertinent to you, and in any event, I never associated any of my trigger finger issues with BFS. But if other chime in, who knows?And BTW, if you're not flipping people off, then you're just not trying hard enough! 
Yes Yes Yes Andrew, your third paragraph describes it exactly.How were you diagnosed with arthritis? Sometimes I wonder about it, but only being 30 I think maybe I'm too young, but who knows!?LOL at your closing sentence. My luck is that I would flip someone off ( which would be easy where I live,) and get my finger stuck in that position forever!
smithylab,When I first started to experience the trigger finger symptoms in both middle fingers, which was probably a year or more after my twitching started (and was at a time when my twitching was at a low point, actually, which is why I don't suspect them to be related), I went to my primary care doctor. It was he that noticed some subtle signs of osteoarthritis in the joints of my pinky fingers (small Heberden's nodes), unrelated to the trigger finger issues. He said I was "a little on the young side" to be showing such signs of osteoarthritis, but not enough to concern him. That was 2 years ago. I'm now 48. Occasionally, those pinky joints are sore to the touch, but in general, the osteo stuff is not bad for me (yet). For you, at 30, I'd say regular arthritis should not be a concern at all. The trigger finger problems were sufficient enough for him to justify referring me (at my request) to a hand specialist. The specialist performed the cortisone injections (not fun, esp. for a squeamish person like me), and it took a few weeks for things to improve. In fact, they got worse before better, but they definitely did get much better. At it's worst, I could barely curl my middle fingers inward more than half-way. And if I curled them in further that that, they'd hurt like a SOB and be difficult to straighten back out. Now, I'd say the fingers are 90-95% recovered. As for the cause, my doctor felt it was just something that happened; nothing related to anything autoimmune, neurological, or anything else. Maybe calcium deposits. But in short, "just one of those things that some people get." I lift weights at the gym, and it could have been irritation of the tendon from the pressure of the weights; can't say for sure.The one caution I got from my specialist regarding the injection : he said they will only perform them twice at most per finger, because any more than that tends to weaken the tendon. So, if you are bothered enough by this to go the injection route, you have two chances -- after that, the next treatment is surgery to open the tendon sheath. Sounds scary, but it's supposedly very successful in permanently resolving the issue.You wrote: "My luck is that I would flip someone off ( which would be easy where I live,) and get my finger stuck in that position forever!"My mother used to say that about crossing my eyes. Luckily I escaped that fate. But who knows, maybe eye-crossing (or bird-flipping) causes widespread fasciculations....or trigger finger....
Andrew,Hmm, it's interesting how it developed 1 year after bfs, so maybe it isn't related!? My hand and arm troubles started 4 months after all the weird bfs stuff, so I am correlating the two.My mom has Fibromyalgia and described some similar hand issues, so maybe that can be another avenue to pursue. It's all so confusing though because I've never had any health problems prior to this.I'm just going to look into this arm issue though it really is bugging me.Yeah good thing those tales aren't true, I'd be a cross-eyed, finger flipping, twitching fool...oh wait. 