My knuckles hurt really bad and skin feels tight

Dear Ask The Doctor: I still can not figure out why my hands keep going numb. It first started of with a few seconds of numbness to my left fingers and has now increased to minutes even hours sometimes in BOTH of my hands. Its pain ful its hard to do work its hard to do the things i do on a daily basis. Not only the numbness but evey single one of my knuckles ( and not just the ones you punch with)hurt really bad. My skin feels like its getting really tight on my hands and making it hard to open hand all the way without being in pain. and now today i have noticed pain around my elbows and even a little on my fore arms... Anty idea what this is, or why its happening, and what can i do? I mean i have to ask people to open soda bottles for me because you really have to grip the cap to get it off the first time and it hurts BAD... Please i need some information

Dear Amanda: Your symptoms may be due to a condition called pseudogout, in which there is deposition of calcium pyrophosphate dihydrate crystals in and around the joints which causes inflammation, stiffness and pain. Most symptoms of pseudogout may go away without treatment. Anti inflammatory medications like ibuprofen, naproxen may reduce pain and inflammation. If the symptoms do not improve within a couple of weeks you may visit a doctor for further investigation like Xrays and prescription medications like steroids, colchicine etc.