My hands are burning/tingling... scared

[Anonymous]

I have no idea what is going on or who to see. My hands burn and feel tight and tingly as if it was the middle of January, I haven't been wearing gloves, and I have been doing loads and loads of dishes by hand. But this isn't the case... I am jumping to conclusions that it is MS or a neuropathy issue or something bad that warrants a visit to a neurologist.

Or it could be fibro...

Or a vitamin deficiency.

Has anyone else had this. Please help a tired Mom off the ledge. I have 3 kids, 7 and under and work FT and barely slept last night - at it is times like this that I think anxiety rears its ugly head too.

[Anonymous]

It is anxiety. I have a coworker who had similar symptoms. She spent all of her sick days and roughly $8,000 on medical testing. When she was in Portugal for vacation, it got much worse. She went to the ER and they said it was acute anxiety and treated her for such. She got better.

[Anonymous]

I was going to say anxiety - apparently it can cause you to breathe differently (either faster or slower) and it screws up your CO2 levels or something. Also, make sure you keep hydrated as this can also - surprisingly to me - cause problems with circulation.

[Anonymous]

It could be a vitamin deficiency like B12 or anemia.

[Anonymous]

Thanks PPs. I actually have a B12 issue and ran out of my B12 vitamins. The brand I usually take was discontinued and I thought I could wait until my GP is back from vacation and ask about another recommended choice... I will go buy some ASAP and see if it helps!

[Anonymous]

Could be carpal tunnel syndrome. There are tons of hand specialists in the area. No need to stress. Make an appointment.

[Anonymous]

It could be anything. I had it due to medication reactions and now I jus thane it. I've had it for two years. It hasn't killed me yet. I'd go to a neurologist just in case.

[Anonymous]

... all those dishes? My hands would burn if I did all those dishes without gloves.

[Anonymous]

For me it was carpal tunnel.

[Anonymous]

Hyperventilating perhaps

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Thanks PPs. I actually have a B12 issue and ran out of my B12 vitamins. The brand I usually take was discontinued and I thought I could wait until my GP is back from vacation and ask about another recommended choice... I will go buy some ASAP and see if it helps!

Would address this B12 issue first before considering other possibilities (other than dishpan hands!).

[Anonymous]

Are you gardener? Certain vines - squashes, cucumbers, prickly things - do this to me for days after I touch them. Last summer it took me two months to figure out this was the source of my strange hand/arm sensations. It was very weird.

[Anonymous]

Hydrate both skin and body, wear gloves, get that B-12 refilled, and work on deep breathing. (My way to measure my anxiety is whether I am really able to take a full, deep breath.) If none of those work, then the doctor. I wouldn't assume anything at this point given all of the possible explanations.

[Anonymous]

Thank you for talking a very tired, stressed out Mom off the ledge today. I stopped and bought my B12 vitamins at Whole Foods this morning (so thankful they carry the brand I had been using). I bought 2 boxes of them so I never run out again. I am drinking water and am trying to view this as a sensation and not a diagnosis. I hope that after taking B12 again for a few weeks that these annoying sensations go away.

I haven't been doing tons of dishes, but was just trying to explain that my hands feel as if I have been doing tons of dishes. No yardwork either but that was a great suggestion...

[Anonymous]

This happened to me a few years ago. Tingling and burning that eventually spread up my arms. I was scared and went to several doctors including my GP, neurologists and even an infectious disease doctor thinking that it might be Lyme. All tests were normal (except for Vit D deficiency, which we treated.) I started having anxiety attacks because I didn't know what what was causing these symptoms. I eventually went on anti-anxiety medication which seemed to break the cycle between having the burning/tingling and panic attacks, and thankfully, the symptoms eventually stopped. I still don't know how it all started, but the anxiety of not knowing what I was experiencing made it so much worse. I kept pushing the possibility of fibro with my GP and he basically told me that fibro is a non-diagnosis. I would suggest going to a neurologist to rule out anything serious and then going from there. I hope you feel better, OP.