Wish me luck .. | Arthritis Information

I have an appointment with GP this afty as I've been in excruitating pain in the neck, shoulder and arm for the past few days. Much worse when I'm inactive so have had very little sleep. It sounds weird but putting my hand on top of my head is the only thing that eases the pain and as you will no doubt know, with RA, this bodily position can't be kept up for long!!

In the past i've had bad experiences with GPs and Neurologists not being thorough enough due to my 20 years of RA and associated illness's. They tend to put all pain down to this. The pain and symptoms I'm currently experiencing are the same as when I saw three different Dr's (happened on the weekend - of course, and ended up in hospital) and two specialists at the time of the undiagnosed vertebrae fracture. I phoned my Rhuemy this morning for a chat before making an appointment and she said 'this time don't leave the Dr's office without a form for X-rays' and a script for good painkillers.

Had an emotionally tough time yesterday coming to the realization that I will have to give up most of what remains of my farming life and never vacumm again. The vacumming part won't be a great sacrifice but my cows certainly will be.

I'd be interested to know if any of you get pain like this in these areas and was it difficult to get a diagnosis? I was recently diagnosed as having oestosporosis.

Luck and hugs and you can always visit the cows!

Pip

Have you had a MRI of your spine? I had pain in shoulder, arm and across chest and it ended up being referred pain from neck. Odd that of all areas, my neck did not hurt. Had many weeks of not being able to sleep very well at all as the minute I laid down, the pain would get worse. Ends up I was born with a narrow canal, so diagnosis was cervical stenosis. Putting your hand on the top of your head to help with pain is exactly what my PT told me to do to relieve pain, so not so odd that you would get relief. I did traction at home for about 2 months and exercises and it's much better. Now, I just have to get better about doing the traction as a maintenance program.

Best of luck at your appt and ask about whether it could be cervical issues.

Good luck with your appt. Let us know how you make ou!So sorry about you pain. I wish you the best with your Dr. appt. hopefully they can get all your pain resolved. let us know how everything goes for you.
mom2

Good Luck! Hope it is a productive appt.

Hi guys, many thanks for your good wishes

Just popping in quickly with an update as I'm still in a lot of pain and can't use the pc very well.

GP actually did, without questioning, what I relayed the Rheumy had suggested. Xray form and Tramadol. Xrays will be done tomorrow afternoon. I've taken 2 lots of 2 Tramadol in the past 5 hours and still awaiting some relief. I haven't had this med. before - maybe they're slow to take effect, yes?

Cathy, my problem sounds similar to yours.

Will write more in the morningMidgimoo, I have pain that sounds just like your and myRA said it was osteoporses after he got my density scan back.

Hope you get some relief soon!I have the stenosis in the cervical area as well... documented by pictures... MRI

you can see the actual bone encroaching on the nerves... not good.

Sometimes that exact position of arm resting on my head..is all I can do to relieve the pains...

I hope they find an easy fix for you midgi!!

Hope you feel better soon.

Hi guys Still in just as much pain here but thankfully the Tramadol helped me get two, three hour stints of sleep last night, yay!!!! Having to lay flat for the x-rays yesterday was a mission and a half - as was driving the half hour to and fro to town.

Pip, yes, you're right about visiting my precious cows when sold. I've sold ten of them over the past year and 8 of the folk that bought them keep in touch and send photos. One of my girls now resides in a little town which I pass through when attending Rheumy appointments, so I often call in and visit Ellie and her new owner

Cathy, despite asking multiple Dr's and specialists for MRI of my upper spine over the past three years, I've not had it done

My hubby is disappointed with me - reckons I don't learn from past experiences. He took over the vacumming and heavy jobs around the home nearly three years ago and says he can't understand why I did the vacumming the other day anyway. We'd had a busy weekend and he'd not had time to do it, and well, I wanted the living room clean and tidy "now'!

Thanks to everyone for sharing your experiences and for your good wishes

My Rheumy and GP should have the X-ray results tomorrow so will let you know if anything comes from them. In the meantime I shall continue to do get things done in short stints. I've been good at taking breaks whilst typing this - the blimmin pain is making sure I do.

I'm sorry to hear that you've asked and they won't check the upper spine, especially if they already see some degeneration in your neck. Sure sounds similar to my pain. I ended up having EMG testing as well to see if the nerves were being compressed and they were fine. My spine doc said if it ever gets bad and I start havng numbness in arms, hands, fingers or starting stumbling that I need to call in right away. If no change, then I just need to go in every other year for an evaluation. I agree that the pain from this was worst than my RA. I also got a little crabby from not being able to sleep much for about 1-3 months. Let your husband do the vacumming - that was one household chore the PT said to avoid.

Hard to explain the traction unit very well, but definitely not cumbersome and I don't have to hang from the doorway. I started with traction in the office and then bought a home unit since I'm supposed to keep doing it long-term for maintenance. It's pretty small. I lay on the floor, place my neck in a cushioned space, tighten it up and then pump up the unit to a certain weight and it kind of pulls/straightens my neck. Just 10 min and I'm done.

Sure hope that they find something to relief your pain - not fair to have more than one thing causing it.

Here is wishing you the best. Maybe the doctor can isolate what is causing the pain and get you some quick and permanent relief from it ..

GOOD LUCK

Russ

I hope the pain leaves you alone and you get some answers. Keep us posted and stay away from the vaccum!

take care