I know Lovie knows the answer to this
But does anyone else seem to be able to know they might have RA in their back?
I think I might, because I have no back/neck/shoulder problems when I am on Humira, but when I am off Humira my back/neck/shoulders are so painful and troublesome. I use to take muscle relaxers because that is what they gave me, but they did not work, and I did take them like it said on the bottle. Still it did not work, but they did help with stiffness to some degree.
I was just wondering if anyone noticed something like I have.
My back/neck/shoulder pain is coming back almost full force, again since not being on the Humira. And I am only on pred and I only take pred and humira. So... I know it is the humira that is helping with my back/neck/shoulders pain and problems.
I am to the point to where I have my hubby push down on my back with his hands while I lay on my stomach to get it to "pop" and it does it everytime. But when I was on humira, I had hubby help me experiment and have him push down on my spine like he does when I am hurting and it would not "pop".
Oh... now that makes me think of something else... maybe it is the humira, but only that humira is helping with my inflammation, and when hubby pushes on my spine it is inflammation. Am I making any sense?
Soo... maybe I have inflammation on my spine and it is not RA? Or it is both?
I do not know.
I hope you get help as that is sooooo painful, sarah
I have terrible back/neck problems with spasming and general pain. In PT my therapist ordered me a half (dense) foam tube (looks like a fun noodle kids play with in the pool) It is split down the middle lengthwise so the flat side goes on the floor. When my back is spasming i lay on it so it goes from tailbone to top of head and just relax so shoulderblades kinda melt down around it. When I raise my arms up over my head while laying on it, my spine cracks all the way down from my neck to lower back it realigns everything and feels awesome. In place of the foam, he suggested i roll up a very thick towel to make a "snake" and lie on that. I do this when i go on trips and it works just as well. I hope i have described it ok...I have scoliosis and my spine curves to the right. I just found out last year I had that, but I have always had back problems since I was 12. It just has gotten worse over the years and more intense.i dont know if arthritis in your back is part of RA, but it is possible if you have psoriatic arthritis. which is similar to RA.
Generally, RA is not known to affect the back. There are many other forms
But also keep in mind that just because we have RA it doesn't mean that we cannot develop OA in the spine or degenerative disc disease as well. Like any new probelm, back pain shoul be evaluated by our doctors to determine a cause
It is my understanding that the cervical spine has synovial tissue in it and can be affected by RA. Try googling RA and cervical spine - you'll get lots of information.I deal with a lot of back pain due to RA. Opinions vary; but after seeing an orthopedic back specialist and he viewed numerous x-rays and ordered an MRI they determined that a great deal of mine is caused by RA.....but DDD as well as a buldging disk also contributes to my problems. Often back pain is caused by numerous problems and it takes many different types of test to determine where the problems are coming from. Often the treatment is the same regardless.
Humira & MTX always helped me greatly.
I have neck/shoulder/ and back pain. My pain is lower back by my hips and the back of my shoulder. I go to bed at night and lay flat and I am able to pop my back myself. Several times it pops and it does feel better. My neck & shoulder can get so bad I can't move it. My necksounds like rice krispies.....snap, crackle, pop!
The cervical spine/neck is often affected by RA.
But the rest of the back is often affected too because of RA in hips , knees, ankles, and feet. You put additional strain on the back when you are trying to walk on knees and ankles that don't want to bend or can't straighten out. Also RA can attack any point that muscles and liagaments attach... so even though there is no synovial tissue to swell in the spine except for the neck joints, if your back muscles and liagment attachment points are under attack your back will hurt and the spine support system will be damaged.
It is miserable whatever the cause.
I have PA rather than RA and it affected my spine first - the rest of my joints just jumped on the bandwagon! Back pain is rubbish
I hope this helps...
KT
Humm.... very interesting scenerios here.
Most of my back pain is from just below my shoulder blades to my neck. I do not have lower back pain, unless do too much bending over or walk too much then that pain is in my tailbone, but it does not cause me pain like the other parts of my back.
Also when the pain is really bad and the stiffness, my ribs on my right side in the back will hurt and sometimes make a crunch sound.
I know I have asked this before, but why would the Humira help with my back problems if it probably is not RA? What other arthritis does Humira help?
I need to find me a new RD, mine I have right now sucks
Have you questioned your doctor about it? Seems everyones doctor seems to have a different take on it.
No, the man does not even answer or "forgets" my normal questions. He is getting really old. He is in his late 70's... early 80's. I am not even going to go there about him
But, I have told the other RD before him and she said I had a bone spur, but why would Humira help with a bone spur?