Mudlark, I have personal experience with this insidious disease and the steroids that treat it are even worse. My wife has astounded the doctors who gave her6 years to live 26 years ago. It sounds from your earlier posts that you are open to alternative treatments and the following is only a suggestion but it worked for us. You shud check w/your doctor to make sure but what we did: 1, immediately get yourself tested for Mercury toxicity. Every dental filling you've had for the last ... years may be poisening you. (chek for other heavy metal toxins too)2, limit refined sugar and refined flour products. You may have a food allergy and don't know it-sugar and gluten can double the intensity of a reaction. 3, eliminate all milk and dairy .4,stay our of the sun and warm. wear gloves. As for temporaryrelief of left hand, fill a crock pot with wax, melt it, (low temp) stick your hands in and leave wax on for 30 min. until cold. you can apply dmso - wash hands very clean first, (50-70% solution topically twice daily , but apply vitamin E oil prior to dmso to avoid skin irritaion. I am not a doctor but have had good experience with this and mainly with the food allergy tests. For info , we are in our fifties and my wife has surprised all of her doctors. bill emerson (after diet modification, lupus was re-diagnosed as mctd/schlera derma)