Thanks for the info(s). I'm a non smoker and was very fit until 60 years of age. I'm convinced that something specific is wrong that would answer more than the CTS
I'm intrigued by the psoriatic arthritis concept. I shall give it more thought when the problems caused by my wife's handbag snatch have been sorted. (Posted on JB).
I was beginning to drift towards that kind of logic, but while I can learn about mechanical joints, the underlying microbiology is orders of magnitude more complex.
About the time that the reaction started, I was very keen on so-called super bikes. They are like aircraft, one seems to need to work on them as much as use them, and my hands were always being cleaned by a mixture of washing up liquid and white spirit.
For a time I also suffered patches on my knees as well as in the centre of my hands. I remember one day in Geneva trying to wipe the blood off the power levers, before my (Swiss) fo could see it! Very embarrassing, but it would vanish in a day or two, leaving my hands utterly unmarked. I can see, and I make this comment seriously, how some people living in a religious community, might have assumed that such symptoms are stigmata. Anyway, this all vanished as my lifestyle became more settled.
The back pain that I have now live with is beginning to make me suspicious of there being another contributory factor. My MRIs show some bulging, but nothing that would account for the life altering pain. The point is, that when it really flares, it is horrendous. The next day, I can be perfectly normal. It's almost as though the battle in the hot spot had been won, and the offending inflamation quelled...for a while. Mind you, with this I'm clutching at straws. It has been very difficult to maintain a modest fitness for the last six years, but I have resolved not to give in and let my back weaken. As mentioned on an earlier thread, I'm looking at the DRX9000 system, but I feel that this might just be palliative, and that I should be looking at T-cells not traction tables. R