So I am a 25 year old male, I’ve had stiff, creaking, crunching thumbs for a while now. My index fingers are also pretty painful and stiff. I never realized it until it was too late, but I played a lot of video games and played drums as well for years. Lots of texting and painting and drawing also. My hand (especially left one) wants to stay sort of drawn into my palm, but there’s no locking or trigger finger kind of symptoms. Takes effort just to straighten it out, I get sharp stabbing pains in my joints as well as constant crepitus and stiffness with movement, as well we pain with activity, sometimes even at rest.
I recently had an MRI and they said it appeared normal but it’s hard to believe nothing is showing up whenever my hands are this tight and pained, and they’ve eliminated a lot of other diagnoses like RA and such through blood work. I have some other strange medical issues that have never been diagnosed, but it attributed to a decline in mental health as well as staying in playing games or drumming for hours and avoiding social activities because of my severe itching problem I have, as well as extreme anxiety. But I never knew that I was hurting myself..
I guess I’m just seeing if anyone else is in the same boat or has experience with this? I feel really stupid and depressed every day now because my symptoms as well as my history seem to perfectly match osteoarthritis, and I’m obviously very young to have it. But I think I’ve given it to myself. Thanks for any help.
I am experiencing the same issue. I am 72.......for the past few months I have had my thumb and index finger on both hands lock up and it will stay that way for several minutes at a time. Sometimes this occurs 3x - 4x a day and even in the middle of the night. It is becoming a bigger problem with each passing day......lucklily not once has it occured while trying my Tundra pickup. I have requested through my PCP to see a hand specialist and find out exactly what is going on there. When it locks up it stays that way until it decides to unlock back to normal.
My situation is not identical but I can so relate. I am 57 and have lost strength in my hand. So weak in that hand. I cannot pick things up anymore. I am struggling to accept it as permanent but they say the first step is admitting the problem. LOL.