One Tingley Finger Tip?

[Electra]

Ok I have one finger tip that feels like I'm getting stuck with a needle every time something touches it. If you push on it hard it doesn't hurt and I can't feel it, but whenever it just brushes against something or when I'm doing every day things it feels like I'm getting constantly stuck. Has anyone else had this? If this is from Celiac then it may be permanent because I have not had any gluten all week, as a matter of fact I've hardly eaten at all lol!!

Hopefully it's just a leftover response that will go away in time :-)

[Lisa]

Angie:

There is a connection between Raynaud Syndrome. This is one of the "sideliners" of celiac. I guess I made up this word "sideliners" - you go about your business to be gluten free and sometimes the "sideliners" get you.

Sometime, your fingers or toes go white and loose circulation. They go white, loose feeling, then turn hot and burn. This may be a "sideline" to celiac, but not necessarily a symptom of celic, but also in association with.

I hope this will be helpful.

Lisa

[Ursa Major]

Angie, a year ago I had the same problem, which then moved onto the rest of my fingers, and kept moving down my hand, until half my hand had no feeling.

It had absolutely nothing to do with celiac disease. My chiropractor diagnosed it as nerves pinched in a muscle in the back of my shoulder. The nerves to the hands run right through this muscle, and my muscle was hard and tight, and for some reason totally cramped up.

For a couple of weeks he massaged that muscle every time I came in (which then was twice a week), and the feeling in my hand came right back, and within three weeks was perfectly normal again.

So, your numb fingertip could be a neuropathy caused by celiac disease, or it could be a pinched nerve either in your spine, or even pinched by a muscle (I never knew before that, that nerves could be pinched by muscles). Or it could be due to a vitamin B deficiency (I think it was lack of vitamin B6 that might be the cause of that kind of problem). Of course, if it is a vitamin deficiency, it would be due to celiac disease after all.

So, I suggest making sure you take a vitamin B complex separately from a multi vitamin, and see a chiropractor and/or a massage therapist to see if it is a pinched nerve (and don't bother going to a regular doctor with this, they are clueless when it comes to stuff like that).

[Fiddle-Faddle]

I have had something similar in the past. I attributed it to bits of metal coming off my violin strings, as it was on ly on my left hand, but I was never really sure what caused it. It only happened to me rarely, and hasn't happened in a long time.

Do you play any stringed instruments or have any contact with anything metal on that hand?

Ursa's experience sounds like a good possibility, too.

[Electra]

I have actually been extensively tested for pinched nerves and bone and joint problems and they can't seem to find anything except for some normal wear. I had the testing done because my right leg (from my knee down) and foot would go numb and cold and sometimes I would feel burning and prickling in the bottom of my foot. Not the same kind of prickling as when I limb fell asleep though this was totally different. It would also give out on me from time to time and it screwed up my balance something aweful. I can't even count how many times I tripped last year, and I am NOT a clumsy person (or didn't used to be lol) I thought it was circulation, but they did circulation tests and they all came back normal. Now that I know I have celiac I know where the leg and foot problems came from and since being off gluten they have almost completely vanished, but I've picked up this finger problem which is also not constant. I had it yesterday but today it's not bothering me at all, so maybe it's a reaction to one of the other foods I'm eating.

It is still possible for it to be a pinched nerve, but since it mimics other symptoms I've had due to Celiac I tend to lean towards it being a food reaction. If it keeps coming up then I'll definitely be giving a chiropractor a try just in case ;-)!!

[sunshinen]

Not sure this will help, but I sometimes have a feeling like I am being pricked in the right pinky by a needle. It often is accompanied by a similar feeling on the center of my chest. It always happens in the same locations. It only lasts a split second and seems to happen much less often now that I am gluten free. I also have a feeling like ice water running down my legs sometimes. And my toes are often blue/white with cold/lack of circulation. I have no idea if these are connected or what exactly causes the sensations.

A while ago I had a lot of tingling and numbness in my pinky and ring finger of my left hand that was a pinched nerve. I bought a super ergonomic keyboard that keeps your hands about shoulder width apart and has the keys in straight lines (rather than the usual diagonal alignment) and the tingling has stopped.