the hand and wrist injections did not help me much at all in this one area. good luck troubleshooting :) - do you type all day long perhaps in your day job? the gloves do not help me. neither does the heating pad or the ice. this is one area that does no respond well to palliative stuff for me (the hands/wrists). oh wait a minute, the hard wrist splints at night when I am sleeping help. maybe you'll get fitted for those while they are troubleshooting you.

Depot

I don't work and am on the computer less and less each day as it really hurts to type and use the mouse. Thanks for the input!

I do get pain in my hands/wrist. I was fitted for gloves by an orthopedist, and do have gloves for each hand, and will put that on when it gets bad. I also take Celebrex, which really helps a lot. Hope you find something to help you.

My wrists, hands and elbows have always been my biggest complaints as far as pain goes. Nothing seems to help either! There are so many things I have made accomodations for. Scissors have become a very good friend! I wish everyone a wonderful night. Tomorrow is Friday- hooray!
Julie

I have most of my pain in my wrists and hands. Occasionally, my elbows hurts as well. My second most painful area would have to be my ankles. I am having more and more trouble with the fatigue. I am also a sufferer of Endometriosis and I am not certain if it's the RA, the Endo, or both. I was just recently diagnosed with RA in June of this year, but started feeling hand/feet pain in January. Looking back, I've had several issues with other body parts hurting, but I've always come up with a reason as to why I felt that way. My Rheumy seems to think that I've had it much longer than this year. I have been employed as an activities assistant for the past year, and prior to that I worked in an office for 12.5 years. My current job requires me to be very hands-on. My fear is that going back to an office job will be twice as bad. I recently purchased a touch screen computer due to the pain of typing. I honestly can't say that the touch screen is much better. Any hand/wrist movement hurts. I also have a hard time sitting for more than 20-30 minutes and I'm stiff as a board. My feet feel as if I'm walking on planks. I'm currently on Arava (after unsuccessful attempts of Methotrexate/Plaquenil) and just stopped Prednisone. The prednisone was too much to bear. I am very concerned about my future and the type of occupation that will best suit my pains.

My hands and wrists are, next to my feet, my most troublesome joints. The only thing I have found that helps is to avoid straining them, which is nearly impossible to do. Even opening a can of seltzer can ruin me the next day.

I have found that wrapping my wrists in ace bandages at night helps quite a bit.

Problems with your hands and wrists is common for RA and even reg arthritis-so your dr may be jumping the gun with the diagnosis but it wouldn't hurt to be checked out.
Also=not sure if it would help you any-but I believe you can change your computers settings to just use the keyboard?

I had similar but didn't know I had RA at the time. It was both wrists, which really didn't make sense since I didn't type a ton. I saw a chiropractor who temporarily fixed it with "Active Release Therapy". It was great, but it came back. I then had steroid injections which fixed the problem for months at a time, but at 3 injections each, my hand doctor said I needed surgery. I had surgery on both wrists, one at a time, 6 weeks apart. Never had a problem since. My RA diagnosis came years later.

Thanks for all the responses! I do think I will talk to my family doctor about the carpel tunnel and see what he says. I too, have wrapped my wrist at night and it did feel better the next morning. But then I would do something and the pain would start all over again.

My wrists and hands swell and become very sore/stiff with flares. Sometimes I can power through it with just ibuprofen, warm soaks, and my arthritis gloves. but if it lasts more than a few days I usually reach for the prednisone :(

I've found its sometimes related to what I eat. If I splurge and eat a lot of junk food, I really feel it in my hands!

My hands/ wrist were the start of my RA. With a DX of carpel diagnosed with an EMG. Yet no over use.
Elbow would freeze up also.
Neuropathy also.
Braced my wrists & it did seem to help. Unless the neuropathy was out of control.
I used day & night braces.
Feel foe you mine are flared now & just it touch anything hurts. Digging the braces out soon here.
EMGs are not always 100% but it's one way to get closer to the truth.
So much inflammation with RA makes sense it may impinge on some nerves.
Good luck & hope you get relief a long with answers.
Sammy