I am experiencing pain, pins and needles and numbness in my arms and hands. It is worse when I lay down. I asked my rheumy why it gets worse when lying down and he said the antibodies clump together when lying or sitting still. I'm pretty sure he said it was related to mctd, but I was also diagnosed with fibro, so maybe it's a symptom of that? Anyway he started me on sulfasalazine to add to my plaquenil and it seems to help quite a bit. Not totally gone, but better. I hope you get some answers and relief. It drives me crazy too.
Paula

Thanks Paula for the reply and advice. I will talk to my rheumy about the sulfasalazine. I figured it was related to the MCTD. I wish there was a more in depth study done on our disease so we could get more answers but this site is great for feedback. Thanks again Terry

Hello Terry,
I remember suffering from "pins and needles" in my feet during one of "my" flare-ups years ago... these symptoms came along and then they disappeared again after the flare-up...
What helped me at that time most of all, was taking a calming "herbal" medical bath for about 20 minutes, because that seemed to assist me to relax completely again... Strangely enough, during this episode when I suffered these symptoms of pins and needles in my feet, my blood pressure was raised above "normal" and I had to take an extra anti-hypertension medication to keep my BP in check... How is your blood pressure? If you don't have your own BP-machine to check up yourself at home, best thing is to have your own blood pressure machine handy and check-up regularly, whether your BP is raised during such episodes or not, because a raised blood pressure may indicate an SLE/MCTD flare-up...
Good luck and best wishes from Kristina.

Thanks Kristina, I have my blood pressure checked regularly and its always normal. Heat seems to irritate the pins and needles so I use ice packs to try and get some relief and hopefully fall asleep. This symptom does come and go. I've tried deep tissue massage but its seems to want to run its course and then its gone for a couple of months. I wish the medical world had some answers for us. Appreciate your help, Terry

Hi everyone,
I too am having arm/ hand pain & numbness. It's horrible. I'm a massage therapist and my hands are going numb when I'm working, it is worse at night but it's pretty bad during the day too! I saw a hand surgeon, he said carpal tunnel, however the EMG said no to carpal.... I don't believe it's carpal.... I just know my body and I don't believe it's carpal.
I've been getting massage, self massage , trigger point injections, as I type I'm sitting with my TENs unit on, and because I'm typing , my hand is going numb.
There are so many folks on here who sound much worse than me. I do not have the extreme fatigue. But like so many I have a Dr for each issue. I've had countless MRIs, X Rays, .... Nothing SPOT ON shows up... A little of this a little of that. I'm 52, a pretty young 52, I am fit , yet today I'm really feeling sorry for myself. I shouldn't hurt this much!!!! It's my arms/ hands that are the buggy lately... I may need to find a new job... It's freaking me out.....
I think I went off subject, my apologies.....
Guess I just needed to get it out.

Hello, I'm pretty new here but I too have the pins & needles in my hands and feet. Not sure why either & I've been through the search for tendinitis , carpal tunnel, nerve tests, etc. not sure what's triggering this because it's quite hard to deal with when it makes your hands or feet numb. I have MCTD & fibromyalgia but I don't quite know how tell what issue is being caused by which disease! As I chuckle & shake y head, quite frankly I wonder if the dr knows how to differentiate between the two either! If you learn more about what's causing the pins & needles and how to get relief for this, would you please share? Thanks & good luck to you.
SpeechTeacher1