I definitely think this is a "talk to your doctor" situation. The fact that it started suddenly and NOT while you were doing something with your hands is puzzling, and not what I would expect with either osteoarthritis or carpal tunnel.

I'm at a similar point as you with the start of osteoarthritis in my thumbs, with pain when I move them a certain way. I'm actually signed up for an osteoarthritis hand class with the physical therapy department at Kaiser next week. I'll try to remember to let you know what I learn.

Ive had a number of issues with my hands, wrists, elbow and shoulders. EACH of these can cause pain in your forearm or hands. It's really important to get the tests to determine which nerves and muscles are at play.. or IF it is a neural muscular issue (such as carpal tunnel).

Here's a brief summary of my experience:

Carpal Tunnel - I have had it twice-- not such a surprise since I work (and play) at a keyboard. The big surprise was that it wasn't the computer that caused my problems! I had tried a brace, all sorts of ergonomic computer tools with no improvement.. it had progressed to the point that I would drop dishes when taking them out of the dishwasher and I couldn't hold a pen well. Long story short, it turns out it was how I was sleeping! I used to fold my hand over towards my inner arm and then I would lay my head on top of it. This is what caused the problem-- it took about a couple of weeks to break the sleep habit but IRRC the improvements were marked and pretty immediate. It happened a second time-- and it was the same problem. I had slipped back into a position very similar. I was able to catch it right away the second time.

Cubital Tunnel Syndrom (elbow) - I had hit my funny bone on the corner of my desk-- pretty normal injury but apparently I caught mine just right (and pretty darn hard). As a result, I damaged my ulnar nerve (which is what tingles when you hit your funny bone) and very quickly lost the use of my fingers and hand. This one was pretty scary as within 2 months, I'd lost over 79% of the motor functionality in my left hand(determined with neuro muscular tests (needle prick) at the orthopedic institute). I had pain, tingling and the inability to move 3 of my fingers independently and issues with abducting my thumb. My hand was truly useless. This kind of injury is especially scary because once nerves are damaged, they start to die and will not regrow. I had surgery to move the nerve and prevent it from further damage-- and to hopefully allow it to heal. There was a chance I wouldn't regain the lost functionality-- more likely that I'd regain partial functionality. I'd guess that I am about 85-90% back to normal.

Frozen Shoulder/bursitis - I have a long history of issues with my ball joints (hips and shoulders) but a few years ago, I had really bad go of "frozen shoulder" for about 8 months. The pain was focused on my shoulder and upper arm but it also caused shooting pain down my arm and in my hands. Other people I've known have had shoulder pain that was caused by a pinched nerve (mine was totally joint issue) and they had symptoms that they claimed mimicked carpal tunnel.

I would absolutely go to the Dr-- preferable orthopedic. It's tricky stuff to track down the source of an issue because the nerves, muscles and tendons are all wrapped up together and the maneuver through a number of joints. This makes it hard to distinguish what is affected and to pin point the source of the problem.

I have had carpal tunnel surgery on both wrists. Before my surgery, it was a dull achy pain that got worse and worse, finally causing numbness in my fingers and up my forearms.

After surgery, I have had sudden sharp pains in and near my thumbs that moving them a certain way causes. I have not been to the doctor about this, as the pain is not lasting or persistent. I assume it is the beginnings of arthritis, which I was told is common after invasive surgery near joints.

Get the to a doctor. Sudden onset like that, not going away, could be a nerve. I had/have carpal tunnel, from a combination of computer work and nursing (holding the baby). Wrist cocks helped enormously. It's also sometimes in how I sleep; if it wakes me up, I put on the wrist cock and it's fine. But what you experienced should be treated immediately.

Cawaps, I'm going to give it a bit more time to see if it gets better. The link below says the pain can start immediately, in fact, the symptoms are just like mine as far as where the pain is located.

De Quervains disease

Funky, you've been through the wringer! I've heard bursitis is extremely painful. I bought an iPad pillow at Christmas and use it to prop my hand on, not the iPad. Well, it's going to prop the iPad from here on out. Maybe that will help?

I feel your pain regarding hitting your funny bone. In high school I was in a sling because I hit my funny bone on the corner post of our staircase. I was swinging my arm and the elbow hit one of the corners. Worst pain ever because it took a long time for it to stop!

Littlebug, it probably wouldn't hurt to see the doctor and find out. Hopefully you're not looking at another surgery. Ugh.

Ive had bursitis since I was a kid-- which is very unusual. I was the youngest case my orthopedic dr had ever seen. I have a lot of joint issues-- always have.

ah well.. be aware of the angle of your wrist and hand... when you sleep and when you use the ipad. I'd also recommend limiting your time on the ipad (I know-- sorry!)

I was diagnosed this year (at age 60) with the beginnings of osteo in my right thumb. I occasionally feel a mild ache there, especially if I've used that hand in a repetitive motion for a long time (eg. painting). Otherwise, it isn't bad. So far--no deep or sudden onset major pain.

I had carpal tunnel in both wrists--had them operated on 10 years ago. I was not in constant pain. I wore braces at night for years. For the 15 years I "suffered" with this my hands going numb when sleeping and some aching was the biggest nuisance. Eventually I got some cortisone shots which were not miracle. The operations cleared all the issues up.

It is interesting the description of "osteoarthritis". I have pain in the base of my thumbs and was told it was just arthritis--probably --but the medical people here are far from top notch. My thumbs began with pain if I bumped them up against something in just the right way. If I touched them at the base..just so. Now they mostly are very tight and sore mornings, and get to aching at night. Shaking hands is an issue and I do not have the grip to open jars like I used to. I even ended up getting an electric can opener this summer--that motion of the hand opener really taxed my thumb joint. For not Arthritis strength Tylenol seems to work well. The Doctor said eventually when the pain gets un- treatable the "cure" is to fuse the thumb joints..not good. Bottom line--ageing STINKS!!

Someone else's post reminded me that pain in the wrist and hand doesn't always start with the wrist and hand. I sometimes get wrist pain when I have have knots or tightness in my upper arms or shoulders. Massage usually helps with that.

I have erosive osteoarthritis in my hands and fingers and have had since I was 40 and I'm 64 now. Nothing I can do about it. They ache more than are actually sore.

I had carpal tunnel syndrome a few years ago and like Funkyart it was as a result of the way I was sleeping. I sleep on my side and would curl my hands in towards my wrists at my chest. Basically I was cutting off the circulation at my wrists. I would wake up in the night with my hands completely asleep. I was given wrist guards and wore them at night for about 6 -8 weeks to break the habit.

I hope you're feeling better soon

PS I've been spending waaaaayyyyy too much time on the computer since trump started campaigning and then became president. I still use a mouse and my right forearm and elbow are soooo sore. But I'm embarrassed to go to the physio. :)

ETA @arcy - hitting my hands in the washing machine when I'm emptying it is so very painful.

I have osteoarthritis is my hands, feet, knees and back. It comes and goes, sometimes dye to activity, sometimes due to weather and other times for no reason at all. Not much can be done - I just live with it and if it's too bad, take the occasional Aleve.

The iPad is definitely the culprit! I made a point of using the pillow since yesterday, and while the area is sore, the pain is gone for now. Last night I caught myself holding the iPad and it lays right on the base of my thumb.

Blfenton, I also use the computer quite a bit, especially for surfing and typing. And of course to see what Trump did during the night while everyone was sleeping. lol. Every now and then I have to catch myself when I'm using the mouse.

Those of you with osteo, do your thighs not hurt? About ten years ago I noticed if I'd been active, then sit down for a while, my thighs would ache so bad when I stood up that I couldn't move for a minute or so. That's what happened to me at the doctor's last year. It was time to leave and when I stood up I couldn't move and she asked what was wrong. When I told her she said it's Osteo and asked if I ever get low back pain, which I do but not often.

How I wish I could take Ibuprophen and Aleve! They eat up my stomach. :( The Tylenol worked pretty good yesterday.

My carpol tunnel began with my first pregnancy...maybe it was the way I was sleeping? curious

It could be trigger finger which can happen to the thumb too. I've had CP surgeries in both hand and also two trigger finger surgery on both hands, all successful. At one point, what happened to you happened to me. I saw my hand specialist and he suggested a thumb guard which kept it from moving and to wear it whenever I got the first sign of pain. That was three years ago. To date, I've only worn it for one week initially and then two more times for two days. I also have osteoarthritis.

Repetitive stress injuries often begin to manifest themselves as a result of some seemingly benign unrelated motion. For instance, when I was in music school and we practiced a LOT, one of the other harp majors had been sulking and slacking way off on her practicing because she disliked the pieces assigned for her jury exam. When our teacher relented and gave her two pieces she liked, she jumped back in and began practicing like mad right away.

Then one day she picked up her laundry (light plastic basket, nothing but a few clothes in it) and suddenly had such an awful pain that she dropped it. The doctors told her it was actually from her inconsistent practicing and said it was very common for the actual pain from repetitive stress injuries to start from a trivial action that has nothing to do with the true cause. She spent an entire semester only able to practice with the other hand.

Do you remember a couple years ago when I ruptured a ligament in my right hand and had to have surgery on it, (temporary) pins put in it, and a cast on for 6 weeks? When they took the initial x-rays, they found that I had osteoarthritis in both hands. I had no idea! But, since my first career was as an x-ray technologist, and in that job we work a LOT with our hands moving the machine heads, the portable x-ray machines around, not to mention the heavy x-ray cassettes (film holders), I wasn't surprised. Afterwards, I ended up having to have a second surgery on that same hand/wrist for carpal tunnel. I had the classic "lobster claw" symptoms: numbness of the thumb, index and middle finger that extended down to my wrist area. It was very frequent, but not non-stop as some people experience. I haven't had any reoccurring symptoms since then, thank goodness! Like Blfenton, though, I tend to sleep with my hands curled in towards my chest, and have had to train myself not to do that anymore. I also use a wrist rest when typing on my desktop and laptop computers.

Oh a wrist rest. Lynn, I never thought of that. I'm going to go and check those out. Thanks.

I've had carpal tunnel release surgery AND De Quervain's syndrome and also Dupuytren's contracture all in my right hand. The DeQuervain's was an excruciating pain in the "hollow" space on my wrist, directly below the bottom joint of my thumb. It was just awful. I finally got a shot of (I think) cortisone in that spot and the relief was wonderful. It has never returned.

The carpal tunnel caused numb fingers and a cold, aching hand. The Dupuytren's makes makes cords in my hand that pulls my fingers down, but that's not so bad. Annoying, not painful, but I drop stuff a lot.

I have not has osteoarthritis, but my money is on DeQuervain's from your description.

Just because misery loves company, I had a head cold and a very bad back sprain for the past two weeks. Every time I sneezed my back went into spasm. Feeling much better now! Go get that cortisone shot. It didn't hurt. Picture shows where it hurt and where I got the shot. Good grief my hand looks awful!

Ded, the sneezing and back pain made me chuckle. Double whammy! When you had DeQuervain's, did the pain ever lighten up on its own? I'm still incredibly sore but the constant pain is gone. I want to say maybe I bruised the area but it began out of the blue when I was walking. No shot needed yet! I hear those cortisone shots hurt. Your's didn't?

As I recall, the pain would come and go, but after a while it became fairly constant. I was scared to get the shot because I heard it was very painful, but it was not painful at all. The pain in my wrist was FAR worse than any shot.

I keep looking at that picture of my hand. I certainly am a wrinkly, spotty mess. Oh well, as long as it is working and not hurting I don't care how it looks.

This is what I take when I have joint paint and nerve pain in my hands. Sometimes I describe it as a cross between a shark bite and wasp sting! I have a low pain tolerance and a vivid imagination! :o It can render that hand useless. DH has had to help dress me :( I have had bouts of what I thought was carpal tunnel. This always helps any hand pain. That's what I take it for but it has many more uses. Rhus Tox...

I LOVE that, yeonassky. Thanks for posting it. Not out of place at all! Amazing to think of all your hands do in a lifetime

Thank you. :) I'm so glad you enjoy the poem.

And that I didn't cause the thread to disappear. :). I hate being the thread killer that I've been a time or 2.

And sorry to hijack the thread Oakley. Back to your original threadcast. :)

Sis in law has CTS in both hands and has had to change jobs due to it. I hope a shot will be all you'll have to do.

Great poem!

I have severe rheumatoid arthritis and have had all of the pains and problems mentioned caused by the RA and it's inflammation. Inflammation in the joint areas and the narrow passages of the nerves is destined to cause pain and mobility problems. A rheumatologist would be a good place to start, lots of tests to endure. Wearing arm /wrist and hand braces/guards , carpal tunnel type can really help. Especially sleeping with them on.

monicakm_gw, since Rhus Tox is poison ivy and in some cases causes a rash and swelling, have you ever had any adverse reactions to it?

I have had very good relief to my hands using Bio freeze, I prefer the roll on but any version will work. I also use Arnica gel lotion.

One tip I learned from my orthopedist is to switch from a regular mouse to a track ball. It greatly reduces the wrist movement. I found that it helped.

I switched to a vertical position mouse, holds your hand in a more natural position and made a world of difference for me. I have recommended it to several people who are now using it. The one I use has a very strange name but it's awesome. The Wow Pen Joy mouse. I have bought them on Amazon.

http://www.ergoguys.com/wow-penjoy.html

I swear it feels like my wrist is broken. It even hurts to type. The pain went away after using my iPad pillow, then I completely forgot and held the iPad in my left hand for about an hour. Pain came back yesterday but it was tolerable. Yesterday afternoon I did some heavy pruning to my Roses, nothing hurt. Now the right side of my wrist is killing me, even after taking Tylenol.

I'm pretty sure this isn't carpal tunnel. The base of the thumb seems okay though.

Oakley so sorry you're in pain! I hope a bit of a rest will help. When I had carpal tunnel 30 years ago I used some exercises daily and often several times a day. I wonder if exercises would work on your condition.

They worked great for me and whenever I do repetitive movements I still use them. But they only help SIL marginally. I hate to see the brackets of pain on my usually happy SIL's face! :(

Ironically, I talked to my son this week and he is having terrible pain in his wrist. No surprise since he injured it badly in a car accident, and again in a motorcycle accident and so on. A couple orthopedists recommended fusing the bones in his wrist which is a big surgery wit a long recovery. He did not want to face that and can't take that much time from work. Another highly recommended orthopedist told him he has carpal tunnel along with other problems. There's no way to tell what condition is causing the pain. He is going to have carpal tunnel release surgery but the doctor is also going to sever a nerve in his wrist so he will not feel the pain from his injuries. My son spoke to others who had this procedure and they said it was like a miracle.

Oakley, do your fingers feel numb -- the thumb, index and middle fingers? If so, that is a classic symptom of carpal tunnel. Good luck! I hope you get relief soon.

As I said much earlier in this thread, hands, wrists, elbows and shoulders are tricky things. You have a lot of nerves and tendons running through the joints and an issue one place may present in a wholly other place.

I broke my wrists quite a few times as a kid.. I mean a crazy number of times. As a result, I am very prone to tendonitis in my wrists. Once it flairs up there's not much relief to come until the swelling goes down. I recommend aspirin, massage and rest.

No numbing at all in my fingers. That's why I think it's not CT.

Neo & Funky, I can't exercise or massage the area or it will start hurting. This morning after I posted, the pain got a bit better after the Tylenol, and I just now felt the area on my wrist and it brought the pain back. lol.

Also Funky, by any chance did you drink milk as a kid? The only kid I know who seemed like he was constantly breaking something refused to drink milk. The doctor chalked it up to low calcium intake.

Ded, could your son have Bursitis? I think that's common after breaks, and the pain is supposed to be horrible.

So sorry exercise causes pain. For what it's worth here are some of the exercises that helped me. CT exercises

I also used a splint and modified my movements. The dr told me to be aware of the tension in my shoulders. I had pain but after several weeks stopped having as much and after several months had no more symptoms. But I was young... Maybe I healed more easily.

I drank milk as a kid but stopped in my early teens due to lactose intolerance. I was tested after so many breaks to be sure that I didn't have an issue. I didn't. I was just very active .. played sports. I am told people tend to either break or sprain. I've never had a sprain in my life.. no sprained ankles, wrists, etc. Other than some broken fingers, I haven't broken a bone since my teens.

As for massage, I get that it's too tender now-- but you can do a gentle massage higher up your arm. It's just to make sure you have good blood flow. We're not talking a rolf-level massage. Gentle.

Have you tried tens unit on the pain? I get quick relief by using my tens machine. You can buy them all over the place now including drug stores and even Walmart. I have a more professional type my doctor got for me. I use it on my back. Legs, hands and arms knees, helps so much.

When/if you decide to see a doc, suggest going to a hand surgeon, an orthopedic subspecialty.

Mdln, that's it! There was another website telling how to do the test and I couldn't figure out which way to bend the wrist, so I'm glad you posted this! Hurts like heck.

I'll be reading up on that today.

Funky, I did break my big toe once playing soccer. lol

My carpal tunnel was GONEin 2 days, after years of pain, when I added 3 iodine drops to my water. It took a few months for the plantar fasciitis symptoms to go away, but there has been ZERO recurrence of either in 2 years!!

Oakey, any likelihood it could just be tendonitis? I can get tendonitis from grading too much on the iPad.

Gscience, it very well could be tendonitis. Today has been a really good day pain wise. I've been diligent on using the iPad pillow and it's made a world of difference!