Uncomfortable ache down my right arm with tingling in my last two fingers

by James
(Wales, UK)

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I am a 46 year old male, always on the go physically generally in the garden or writing and can be heavy handed without realising my own strength and am right handed.

However for a few weeks now I have been experiencing this dull ache I thought from my shoulder at first but it seems to stem from my armpit and down the bingo wing side all the way down to my hand with pins and needles in my last 2 fingers (my pinkie and ring finger).

I try to sleep with the arm supported by pillows but it doesn't always help, however if I put my hands behind my head it does ease a bit or if I bend my right arm and pull my elbow towards me with my left hand it does ease. If I push a bit into my armpit it hurts there and down the inner of my arm (bingo wing).

I have got to a point where I can't get a proper night's sleep, I am waiting on an appointment to see a GP as new to the area but it's really getting to me, I already suffer from Restless Leg Syndrome and have done for years and to add to it in the last year have developed painful lumps in both arches of both my feet and have been waiting for over a year for a scan.

I really hope you could shed some light on what's going on as I feel ready for the scrap heap.
Thank you.





Hello James.
You're not ready for the scrap heap yet, otherwise I'm already well fossilised, but certainly some changes need to be rung in.

You have a fairly classic C8 dermatome brachial neuralgia; meaning nerve pain in the arm. It's classically worse at night.

Interestingly you make no mention of neck pain. However that's probably where it's coming from as you describe the shoulder abduction relief sign to a T. Does turning your head to the right, and then looking up cause no pain? That's called Stirling's sign.

Looking out for weakness developing in the fingers.

Another less likely possibility is a thoracic outlet syndrome where the nerve bundles are affected in the inter scalene triangle.

You need to start with x-rays of your neck, including the oblique views which show the condition of the uncinate processes in the foramen where the nerve exits; that new GP should order them, then National Health will pay.

Start looking for a chiropractor who works with feet too; you may have plantar myofascitis, or even wear and tear in the joints of the feet.

Good luck, and let me know how you get on.

Dr Barrie Lewis



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Jun 21, 2016
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starstarstarstarstar 		NEW SURGERY APPOINTMENT 24.06.16 ....fingers crossed
by: James from Wales

Hi Barrie
Thanks for responding so quickly to my question. I have screenshot your advice and will be showing my new GP at my appointment this Friday. I just hope he is more professional than my last GP.

When I went to my GP last June about the lumps on my feet, I did mention plantar myofascitis he disagreed with me & requested a Ultrasound on my feet, I rang the hospital 10 months later only to find out it was cancelled as my GP missed clinical information off the request form!! I really hope I don't have to wait another year just for a ultrasound, they are agonizing every day.
I think this website has brilliant advice, thanks again.

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