Hand Pain

Lotsofpain
Lotsofpain Member Posts: 157
in Living with arthritis

The middle finger of my left hand sticks when bent and has to be physically straightened. Today it really stuck and now the top of my hand is very painful. What have I done what will lesson the pain. I have taped it up for the time being


Thanks in advance

Comments

  • jamieA
    jamieA Member Posts: 814

    Hi @Lotsofpain

    About 18 months before I was diagnosed with psoriatic arthritis I had a similar issue - though the 2nd and 3rd fingers of my left hand would normally 'stick' straight initially but then crooked less often. I could only get my fingers to work again by manipulating them and it was painful to do so. I was diagnosed with trigger finger by my GP but due to a cock-up by my then GP wasn't seen by an orthopaedics consultant until a week after I was diagnosed with PsA in October 2020. The consultant confirmed it was trigger finger - though he did say it normally presented as locking in the crooked position. He gave me steroid injections at the base of my fingers on the palm side and that sorted me out. It came back last year but only in the crooked position and I could not completely straighten my fingers. I saw a different orthopaedics consultant in March this year. He said they could only give the injections to the base of the fingers twice as there was a danger of the sheath the tendon was in collapsing so he didn't want to do so. He sent me for an MRI scan and I took an adverse reaction to the contrast agent I was injected with during the scan and spent 8 days in hospital. It affected my balance, gave severe headaches, high blood pressure and aching joints - with fingers and toes badly affected. My fingers and toe joints were still affected when I saw my rheumatology consultant for my routine appointment in September and she gave me a Kenalog steroid injection into my rump to dampen down the aching joints. A side effect of this is that my fingers are not locking regularly now.

    Sorry for the long description but it appears that for me the temporary fix is a steroid injection. I appreciate everyone is different though. I'd see your GP for a referral to orthopaedics if I were you.

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