Hi,

I have experienced this especially on my thumbs they hurt now as I'm typing this.

Roni

My hands are so bad. I can't make any of my fingers straight and my thumbs hurt so bad. I'm constantly rubbing them and holding my hands. I have three little boys (5 year old and 3 year old twins) and I cringe when they ask me to hold them because the act of picking them up and the pressure I get to my thumbs is the worst. And I haven't been able to make a fist - or even get my fingers close to my palm in months - since June. It's the worst.
-Roni

I have a fused DIP joint in my right ring finger, from not getting proper meds in the early days. So much for not getting it for RA, which I have also read.

The way to fight this is to push your rheumy to get you on meds that work to stop the flares. Unless you are med resistant. I regret all those years I wasted on just prednisone, or just mthx and NSAIDS. That is when I got the deformities and they are forever, even though I am doing well on a biologic now.

Those joints are the DIP joints. They're not usually involved with RA, but I think I read one RA Warrior that they can be. But my rheumatologist said I didn't have RA because I had inflammation in these joints, but thought it was more likely to be Psoriatic Arthritis. I have Psoriatic nails and a few episodes on my scalp which my GP said looked like mild Psoriasis. But my diagnosis is UCTD/Inflammatory arthritis.

I have RA and every joint in my hands hurts, and become inflammed when I am in a flare. I have not read that these joints are not likely to be involved, but as 51 Percent says, there is no law...

I did find that RA Warrior post. According to the article it mentions, the disconnect between RA and DIP joints is a myth. For me, it does seem that the DIP joints are symptomatic when I am in a flare. It is also at this time that I get more tingling in the hands and feet.
Having moved to a new area, I have a new Rheumy. If I mention this symptom to him, I wonder if he will be dismissive or think I'm imagining things.

There are 38 comments on that RA Warrior post, almost all of them from people with significant problems in the DIP joints. I have had unrelenting pain & swelling in a couple of DIPs for four years now. Seeing as prednisone made a difference in them right away, I'm sure they are suffering from inflammatory rather than osteo arthritis. Melissa, you may want to sound out your new doctor before saying much about them. If the guy is a dinosaur, he might have a problem about it.

Those joints are lined with synovial tissue like any other. It may not be the most common place for RA to rear its ugly head, but I fail to understand why it is impossible.

Textbooks say that RA is isolated to the PIPs (Proximal Interphalangeal Joint) and MCPs (Metacarpophalangeal Joints), but we all know these beasts ***don't read text books***.

Mine is mainly in my MCPs and MTPs (same joint in your foot) . . . .
I have found that Voltaren gel helps these joints better for me than any oral med. Save for narcotics, which I only take when I absolutely cannot stand it any more.

yup, ra effects those joints in my hands as well. either that or, as has been said, i also have osteoarthritis in just those joints, which i actually think is much more unlikely in my case, as i'm young and have no previous injury that would lead to osteoarthritis in those particular joints. i don't have as much involvement in those joints as in the other knuckle joints in my hands, but they certainly are involved, especially in particularly bad flares.

On days that I'm on computer half the day. The next morning my fingers are sometimes stiff and swollen. So I just lay off pc for a day or so, or just read post,etc. Soaking my hands in warm water in kitchen sink is soothing/helps.

Janebee, is that especially effective if there aren't any dirty dishes submerged in that water?

I'll be getting X-rays next week. Considering my age, all finger affected, and no history of injury, I'd also question OA. I'm also experiencing some Tingling in the ankles and wrists - likely some compression from swelling.