Thanks for sharing. I too have neck cramps from sleeping and will awaken w/ headaches.
Good luck talk to you later.


The site below has a video of some hand atrophy as well as videos of arms, legs and feet.

http://wayne.pnwws.com/before_hands.html

Thanks for the pics Al. You are an incredibly strong person. I wish I had that kind of strength. At the moment I am nothing but a recluse.

I'm diagnosed with ALS and want to see the pics. of your hand and see if they look like mine do, and if I should be wearing the brace. Does it help? I can't open them, it says I'm not authorized. Do you know what they're talking about?
Thanks,

Please thank Wayne. I wish him all the best and more. He's a real inspiration. I started taking Lithium a week ago, but a very low dosage. My advisor seemed to think that it had the same benifit in small dosage as large based on studies they did back in the 70's. I'm only taking 150mg 2x/ week and no Riluzol. Trying to keep my liver healthy. Is anyone else just doing the Lithium? Is Wayne?

Use the link in post # 40.
AL.

so with atrophy once it starts do you notice any weakness right away? everything i search on the net has no good pics or real good info. just what it is and how one gets it.

I noticed the cramping and weakness before the atrophy.
AL.

thanks al for the info. you think if i take some pics of my hands and wrist you could tell me if that's what's starting to happen. thanks again. mike

I'm not a doctor so wouldn't want to pretend to be one by looking at your pictures. Unless you had severe atrophy it would be pretty hard to tell much with no other pics to compare with. It wouldn't hurt to take some pics now to have something to compare to in a month or two.
AL.

thanks al i was just wondering and understand your point. i looked at your pics and there no were close to that. it's just all the ones i see online are really bad and i can't find any of the first on set of atrophy. thanks anyway. mike

Hello

Do you know why I can't see the pictures?

Go to post #40 on page 3 and you should be able. Access is limited for new members for a while as we had porn adverts and pill pushers joining and flooding us with spam.
AL.

I'm having a problem with Image Cave where the pics are. Hopefully they'll be back soon.

AL

Hi Al, that is exactly what my left hand looks like except that the base of my thumb is holding strong, on my right hand the thumb and base are really flat but the rest of my hand is still normal looking. It has been at least two years since i had my first hand cramp...... It took all that time for my hand to look like that and thank god i can still use it. I just cant cut or hold a toothbrush in it, but i feel lucky that it started in my left hand because i am a righty.

The link on page 3 post # 40 is working again.

AL.

That is how my brother in law's hands looked also once his hands were afflicted. He had been misdiagnosed by some idiot Orthopedic surgeon who thought he had Carpal Tunnel syndrome. Carpal Tunnel does not do that to your hands. He had surgery on his hands for the misdiagnosis.

Later on once his ALS progressed, he could barely use his hands to hold eating utensils. He could barely hold food. The atrophy that happens is devastating to the ALS patient, and the loss of using their hands is equally as devastating.

My brother in law passed away this past March, and I wish we had used this forum long before then. It truly is very informative and lots of compassion.

I am sorry that you lost your brother-in-law to this horrible disease. I just wanted to mention that other diseases can cause atrophy in the hands. My husband too had Carpal Tunnel surgery--misdiagnosed by the orginal neurologist and the surgeon. Two years later after atrophy and wasting of his forearm occurred (looking much like Al's photos) he was diagnosed with CIDP. The weakness has improved with monthly treatments of IVIG, but he is unlikely to lose the wasted atrophy appearance and lost of function that occurred during the 2 years of damage that occurred after the wrong diagnosis was given. Second and third opinions are a must.
Laurel

The very first time i saw a local neuro he was so sure i had carpal tunnel because of left wrist drop and hand muscle wasting. After my first NCV and EMG he prescribed me a wrist brace and sent me on my way! Well i ended up at a university hospital sent by a different doc, and when i requested my EMG test, i found out that the NCV was perfectly normal and the muscle part was all abnormal. This is why i have little respect for neurologist's, but i remind myself that they are human and many of them save lives every day!! I keep saying that over and over. I knew i did not have carpal tunnel considering i didnt have a job that could cause it, plus it was in my non dominate hand.

Sometimes it pays to learn about your signs/symptoms and learn what your tests and records say, but sometimes it doesn't........

I cannot see the pictures.

qwer

I cannot see the pictures.

qwer

New members cannot view photos etc, right away. You will have to post some first. I do not know how many posts are needed.

take care :smile:

My husband does have atrophy in his hands but only 1 finger is starting to curl in. Last night he showed me the palms of his hands and there are hard knots in his palms. It looks as if the muscle have bunched up into a hard knots. One hand is worse than the other. It also looks as if his palms are getting really thin. Do any of you have these lumps on your palms?

Sis

Hi, Sis ... I don't have hard knots on the palms, but at the base of my thumb (both hands) there is loose skin with nothing under it. It folds up into an S shape when I close my thumb against the side of my hand.

Across the middle of my left palm, there are fairly deep depressions, with ridges between them. The ridges do feel harder than the flesh on the edge of my hand, so maybe these are similar to your husband's. These are much more pronounced in my left hand than in the palm of my right hand, where the depressions are still shallow.

On my left hand, my index finger seems to be "frozen" into a slightly curled position. I can't move it sideways, or touch it to the other fingers, but can move it up & down.

Don't know if these are "typical" ... is ANYTHING "typical" in ALS? ... but it's how it is appearing in me.

Hope this helps ...

here is my hands story:

For the last couple of weeks, every morning when I first wake up, both of my hands have the fingers curled toward my palms. It is painless, and they straighten out usually in about 10 minutes or so.

Over the weekend, I woke my hubby up and showed him what they looked like, and he said "what, what's wrong, I don't see anything wrong, just straighten them out"- hahaha

But that's the only time they do it, as of now,
take care,
brenda

Hands.... I'm not understanding this (actually there is a lot in life I don't understand)...my fingers curl up on both hands so that the relaxed position is always a loose fist. I guess they didn't use to to this. :?:

I can open them and force them to be all the way straight, but when I relax, they curl right back up. Its a smooth automatic movement like a screen door that has a spring hinge to close it. Is this what you mean, or do you mean that you can't voluntarily straighten your fingers for the first few minutes? .

Plus, now that I'm sitting here checking them out, I've found that I can't bend my thumbs very much ~ which is kind of backwards to what is happening to the rest of my fingers. The left one bends much less than rightie. I can move my thumbs, just not bend them very far..... maybe this is just age related 8-)

you are too funny,

Mine just feel sort of "locked" for the first few minutes in the early morning. Take for instance now, I woke up at 5am, didn't actually get out of the bed til about 10 minutes ago, and my fingers are working fine.
But when I first woke up, they were all "curled" toward my palms. Probably not the best description in the world, but that's all I can think of. lol!
take care,
brenda

[It folds up into an S shape when I close my thumb against the side of my hand.

Across the middle of my left palm, there are fairly deep depressions, with ridges between them. The ridges do feel harder than the flesh on the edge of my hand, so maybe these are similar to your husband's. These are much more pronounced in my left hand than in the palm of my right hand, where the depressions are still shallow.

On my left hand, my index finger seems to be "frozen" into a slightly curled position. I can't move it sideways, or touch it to the other fingers, but can move it up & down.

Don't know if these are "typical" ... is ANYTHING "typical" in ALS? ...]

Beth,

Your hands sound very similar to Don's. The only difference is the ridges have turned really hard. Don's pinky finger is frozen into a half curl position and it will not uncurl.

"is anything 'typical' in ALS???..... wow, thats a tough one to answer.

I'm going to take some photo's of Don's hands & try to post them on here. I'm just so glad that his hands aren't hurting him. His neck, shoulders, back, are hurting him daily. He said it feels like his shoulders are going to just snap. From what I've read, I think he's experiencing 'shoulder freeze'. He's been taking Flexiril, which seems to help some with the pain.

Thanks for sharing whats happening with you Beth...........Sis

From one of the posts on this thread I ordered some of the Oval-8's finger splints and I love them. I wear them at night and they keep my fingers from curling during the night. I love them and would recommend them to anyone who has a curling finger problem.
Gordon

ROSE~

Hey there, quick question. When you say that you cant bend your thumbs, do you mean becuase pain? When I bend my toe, it hurts really bad, I can bend but if feels swollen or something. I have the same thing with my thumbs. I can bend but they hurt at the upper joint when I do it?

I find that I put my hand in a fist while awake alot, it makes my hands feel better. It is not really while sleeping or resiting, just while awake it feels good to do that???? strange.

Dont most people have their hands in slight loose fist positon? I guess it is one more thing I will be looking at on people!!!

Take care and I wish you the best!

No, my thumbs don't hurt, they just don't move much (bending) They're pain free & its the second joint that doesn't bend.... I can't cross it over my palm either. ... I've been doing some crochet projects for Christmas, but the thumb really doesn't need to do much other than clamp onto the yarn or hook, so it wasn't until I read this thread that I became that aware of the changes... I do have a hollow in front of the wrist bone at my hand, and some thinning in the fleshy part of my left thumb, but rightie seems good. :smile:

If both of your toes on either foot, hands, etc hurt at the same time, I was told my my rheumatologist(s) that this is a sign of autoimmune response. Its a major indicator, because in just about everything that affects the joints, whether it be pain, swelling, inflammation, weakness, its usually asymmetrical unless its rheumatic...

thanks Rose!

My pain is in my thumbs and toes the most and with pinkie's. It is more just my left side, ie. left toe and thumb but right thumb and not so much rt toe.

anyway, thanks for all your info!

Gordon, thank you for the input about the oval 8's. I hadn't been paying attention to how much my fingers stay curled. .... going to go check them out right now. :smile:

rose,
let me know what you find out about those please, I think I would like to see about getting them myself!
thanks again gordon!
-brenda

Hi, I would like to view the pictures on hand atrophy but computer says no. What am I doing wrong? Thanks, berni:-)

You will be able to see them in a short while. We had to devise levels of membership (as a security precaution) so folks who have just joined now have to wait a bit before being allowed full access. Just keep reading and posting and your membership will kick in soon! Cindy

I just posted three hand atrophy photos on my home page, too. (Not that I have three hands ... )

Thanks for that. I've been trying for months t view the pics without luck ( to compare with my mam's hands).

Bethu, unfortunately I can't view your homepage either (I assume I'd click on your name to view it?). I get the same message (you do not have permission to view this page etc). I'll keep trying. thanks both x

hi Cariad. You should be able to see the pictures.

AL.

Yipee!Post 40 works for me. I think my mam definately has atrophy in her hands!! I will post some pics on here when I get time.