Synovitis and a Hello/Update | Arthritis Information

 

About 4 months ago I developed a really sharp/aching pain in my shoulders--so painful it wakes me up at night, over the winter there were times when I actually couldn't move lift my arm high enough to shift gears in my car (Well, I physically *could* it just really hurt).... so I FINALLY went to the campus doc and was referred to Sports Medicine... I thought it was tendinitis, but apparently it's synovitis. (on the bright side, my shoulder x-rays show no cartilidge damage! yay). The physical therapist says that it's caused by bad ergonomics/posture + the RA.

 

My question is... well, I thought synovitis is what happened when you got inflammed joints (e.g. I have a few fingers and toe joints that are swollen w/ some mobility loss), but the Sports Medicine guy says that I wouldn't see the inflammation with the naked eye or on an x-ray. So does anyone know other causes of inflammed joints? And anyone else

 

Also, if there's anyone else out there that has had RA since youth (I'm 19, I've had it since I was 14 or 16 and was diagnosed in August), how have you managed pain? I mean, at this point I've been taking 3 ibuprofen every night for about 3 weeks, but I hate the idea of taking it everyday, especially since I'm probably going to be on pain meds for a long while...

 

In other news: Hi everyone! I have missed this forum supermuch! It's hard being around all these healthy twenty-somethings and babbling out "er I take the elevator to the 2nd floor because I have this complicated disease/disorder and can't you just take my weakness at face value?"

 

My rhuemie added MTX to my daily plaquenil and my inflammation blood tests have shown dramatic drops! And besides the usual migraines and this damn synovitis, I'm doing pretty good :) Also, I've been borderline anemic my whole life and didn't know it! So iron supps have helped me fatigue a lot. (Though why it took the mtx blood tests to figure that out I'm not sure...)

 

Oh, and I'm seeing a physical therapist (is 10$/appt a lot, btw?), which is super awesome, she uses one of those electro-muscle stimulus things, because apparently your synovium doesn't get good circulation. And I have excercisey homework to do!

 

So, besides the synovitis and frequency of pain meds use questions: how is everyone else?!

 

I'm good, thanks for asking!  LOL

 

Glad you're doing well.  There are JRAer's here so hopefully they'll see this and jump in. 

 

I'm pretty sure the Sports Med guy is wrong - many times you need an MRI to make sure you're not getting damage.  Inflammation is the name of the game in RA - cut it down and you get no damage.

 

Hugs,

 

Pip

 

No one--not even my rhuemie--has mentioned MRIs to me yet. This worries me Hi Gypsy, my shoulders bother me alot. I'm had ra for about 2 1/2 years and never have had a mri. I take muscle relaxers and vicodin for pain. I also have a neck thingie I heat in the microwave and put on my shoulders/neck. Something about the moist heat helps me. I hope you can get feeling better soon. some joints are more prone to visible inflammation due to the synovitis than the shoulder.  The shoulder is a big joint at the top of the body so gravity will pull the fluid away from the joint .  Also despite pain people when awake are almost always using the shoulder thus keeping the fluid accumulation to a minimum.
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