Is carpal tunnel syndrome common or very common in sjogrens?

[happylife]

if you have come across any scientific study or journal which indicates the occurance of carpal tunnel in sjogren please share the same.

also please share what are the early symptoms of this?

last week i had pain in my right wrist for about 4 hours (i had not done any heavy duty work)

today i had numbness in my left wrist for about 2 hours.

do these sound like early symptoms of carpal tunnel?

[Carolina]

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4306001/

Sjögren's syndrome

Peripheral nervous involvement in Sjogren's syndrome (SS) occurs in 5 to 10% of the patients. This is mostly manifested as a symmetrical distal, sensory neuropathy, sensory neuronopathy, autonomic neuropathy and trigeminal sensory neuropathy. Mononeuritis multiplex, chronic inflammatory demyelinating neuropathy and motor neuropathy are less common. The neuropathy may precede the onset of the disease and be the initial diagnostic clue (54-56). It is presumed to be related to autoimmune-mediated vascular damage is. Primary SS has been reported to affect PNS in up to 32% of the patients. PNS manifestations usually include a sensory or mixed sensorimotor polyneuropathy characterized by numbness, paraesthesias, and, rarely, pain. Distal weakness may occur and is usually mild. Carpal tunnel syn­drome is well described with this disorder, and cranial neuropathies have been reported, especially of the trigeminal nerve (57-59) (Figure ?(Figure44).

Dear happylife,

If you want to find research publications on any topic, type the topic plus the term pubmed into the search engine.  This will show you NIH published research on that topic.

Regards,  Elaine

[happylife]

Thanks Elaine

In the above text....at beginning it says 5-10% and later it says 32%

Which is accurate?

[SjoGirl]

Please keep in mind that carpal tunnel may be related to SjS or not. You may have a high risk for reasons other than having SjS, e.g., typing a great deal, playing violin or piano, or doing other things that stress the carpal nerve.

I can tell you that if you are having issues buying a brace from a pharmacy and wearing it at night can help. It will keep your wrist straight which takes pressure off of the nerve. However, sometimes things progress to the point where that won't help, in my case I couldn't feel much with my left thumb and first two fingers so I had to have the surgery (which went quite well).

[jazzlover]

I have it. It flared up again when all of my joints got inflamed a few weeks ago.

[Jenny]

I?m not sure if it?s Sjogrens related or not, but I had successful surgery on both hands about 15 years ago. I?m pretty sure it was due to my profession at the time as a potter.

[Carolina]

This is my take on carpal tunnel syndrome, and remember I'm not a health care professional of any kind.

1. Carpal tunnel occurs when the tendons are subject to wear and tear, often as a result of repetitive motions from work-related actions (scanning at a grocery store, for example, or working as a potter as described in Jenny's post).  This is a very common disorder, as SjoGirl described.

2. Sjogren's Syndrome and other Immune Disorders create high levels of inflammation which can also damage the tendons in our body.

So, adding a common disorder caused by repetitive motions to an inflammatory disorder results in a fairly high incidence for those with primary Sjogren's Disorder.

happylife, I believe the first number, 5-10%  refers to all those diagnosed with Sjogren's Syndrome including secondary Sjogren's Syndrome, and the second number, 32%, refers to those with Primary Sjogren's Syndrome.  But I'm not sure.

My Carpal Tunnel was diagnosed in 2011 when I had EMG testing on my hands, arms and neck in 2011. At that time I had carpal tunnel in both hands.    A year later I had carpal tunnel surgery on my left hand at the same time I had release of trigger finger on the same hand.  The surgery is simple.

https://www.mayoclinic.org/tests-procedures/emg/about/pac-20393913

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmedhealth/PMH0072781/

I hope this helps.

Regards, Elaine