I have been having a lot of trouble with my shoulder & arm lately, especially in my rotor cuff muscle. Can someone explain how I can tell whether it is RA or fibromyalgia. It is extremely painful & I am unable to move my arm at all - I was told this was my rotor cuff muscle that was the problem but I know you can get muscular RA as well as fibro in this area so I would be interested to know if there is a way to differentiate.
Can anyone help with this please.
Hi Cassandra,
I don't have and info for you about telling the difference...I have the same questions. But just wanted to say that I understand your pain and I hope you are feeling etter and have some answers soon.
Tara
I don't know either but highly suspect RA.Here's a good link about the shoulder's rotator cuff
http://orthopedics.about.com/cs/rotatorcuff/a/rotatorcuff.ht m
If you have not actually torn any of the 4 tendons then you probably are suffering from a form of tendonitis.
Tears need surgical repair. You are unlikely to heal very well on your own.
If you have tendonitis of the rotator tendons then your RA treatment (drugs) should help with that. If your shoulder is just really terrible compared to the rest of your joints, a cortisone shot would really help.
Push your dr to find out if you have actual tears or if you are suffering from 'just' tendonitis. Push for treatment once you are properly DX'd.
I ask myself the same question. Shoulders are a big problem for me. I used to swim, now I can't Before Enbrel I had some serious problems with my rotator cuffs. After Enbrel-it disappeared. I don't think Enbrel is used to treat Fibromylgia so logic says it was RA.