Confused...Shoulder pain | Arthritis Information

Hello Everyone,

Need some advice....I went and had an EMG done of my right hand because of shoulder pain that comes down my arm and numbness,tingling in my fingers. When I wake up my fingers are like that or if I am hold something for a period of time.Also the palm of my hand by my thumb swells up. Well the EMG came back normal the nero told me. He told me to go back to my regular dr and to see a ortho dr or arthritis dr. It might me the arthritis starting in my shoulder. I did have rotatar cuff tear surgury about 10 years ago. I am so confused. I do have an appointment to see a RHY dr the middle of Feb. Did anyone go through this? I dont know what to do. Sorry to bug all of u with this!

Thanks A Bunch,

Lisa

YOU'RE NOT BUGGIN ANYONE!! That's what this board is for.

Sorry I don't have an answer for you......but it NEVER hurts to ask.

Sorry you're having so much trouble. Good Luck.

hi lisa hope all goes well at the dr.we all get comfort from talking to each other. so it is no bother

EMG's do not always tell the whole story, you can still have nerves being impacted without it showing up. It sounds like a combo of a pinched ulnar nerve in neck/shoulder/elbow area and carpal tunnel. I have both.. my ulnar nerve is compressed at the elbow and the median nerve is pinched at the wrist. I hurt from just above the elbow all the way down.

I wake up with 'dead fish' at the end of my forearms. My hands go numb like on the phone even for only 5 minutes. I also wake up with numb hands even the one I am not sleeping on. I think that our hands, elbows or shoulders are slightly swollen which can put pressure on the nerves.

My understanding is that an EMG is really good for telling you if the nerve is permanently damaged and only so-so for measuring the real impact to your systems. If the EMG shows the nerve is good you can still have a lot of pain and numbness. The good news is that if they correct what is pressing on the nerve then the feelings should straighten out. Physical Therapy is always my first choice

Thanks Again Everyone!

Lisa

Lisa - your symptoms sound just like those I have experienced - it was so painful one night I went to the
emergency department at my local hospital. They said it was my rotor cuff muscle but it affects my whole arm & my thumb plus I get the tingling in my fingers. When this happens I am only able to move my arm about 1". There seems to be debate on whether it is my RA or fibromyalgia & I have had it reoccur a few times.   The way I deal with it is to take anti inflams,
codeine, sleeping pills & put a tri pillow under my shoulder and most important of all is to put a good splint on my hand, that seems to usually help shorten the duration of the problem.   I have been told the rotor cuff muscle can tear & that causes the problem.
Your surgery has possibly weakened the area so this happens.   It is also important to be extremely careful not to lift heavy objects or strain the arm at all - I forget this but the pain that I get when I do is helping me to generally be more careful.

Thanks Cassie......I have told the dr's about the rotar cuff surgury and none of them looked into it. It seems like these darn dr's just do what they want at times...I dont know if its because of the insurance or what. I am ready just to give up with them and try to deal with it on my own. I just get so mad and depressed at times that I just dont even want to explain the pain to them. They look at me like I shouldnt have this kind of pain at my age, which is 35 going to be 36 on Feb 15th.

Lisa

Lisa, don't give up although I know full well the temptation to do so. I'm having shoulder surgery and was initially ignored as well which I think caused more damage. Surgery has improved so much over the years. You have to get to a surgeon for evaluation. Somebody needs to order you a MRI. If they don't want to do surgery, they should at least give you PT. But really, it does sound like you need something done. My Rheumy also couldn't understand my level of pain. The first ortho said I couldn't work on the computer any more and if I spend much time here, all my tendons flare making the left arm unusable. That surgeon also said that he couldn't help me with surgery. The next two surgeons both said it was no problem and I think that is because they do far more surgerys. This one was kind of young.

Now, they are going to do it arthoscopically. I'll have a short time in a sling and then I should be good again, well that part of me.

Push for the surgery. You seem pretty certain that's what you need.