Pain:(....

A lot of us have co-morbidities. Arthritis and bursitis, etc. I have arthritis in my spine, but only a tiny bit in my aching shoulders. I've had one cortisone injection in my right shoulder so far, but it only helped for a couple of days. In a few weeks I can have another. I had injections into the bursae in my hips with immediate good results.

There are a couple of options to getting out of pain. A pain doc can help, or see a specialized upper extremity doc. I went to the upper ex clinic in my area to deal specifically with the shoulder, as it's very complex. They x-ray first to see if it's arthritis.

The ER might be able to help, but I'd much prefer a specialist.

I had pretty good pain relief for this type of pain with tramadol, but had to stop it for intolerance. I agree Vicodin just doesn't help enough. I'm trying muscle relaxants and Cymbalta now, but they aren't doing anything except giving me side effects.

Hi Lordsdaughter,

Have you tried a rice bag or a bean bag yet? You can get them at Walmarts. They are a tube filled with rice, or beans, that you heat in the microwave. I wrap it around my neck and the heat really helps. It is a moist heat and it really penatrates and feels good. I have a lot of shoulder pain and I know how it is. I had surgery on my left shoulder and it bothers me the most. But before the surgery it was sheer hell. I am so glad it is better now. I take norco. It is a vicodin, but 10 mgs. It helps more than regular vicodin.

I hope that you feel better soon. Try the heat and see if it helps.

Hugs, Karen

I've been on Lyrica since I was newly diagnosed this past August. It worked at first. I just went through a horrible 2 week period where my pain spiked and NOTHING helped. It hurt to lay on the heating pad, vicodin, tramadol, muscle relaxer, nothing helped. My rheumatologist finally convinced me it was time to try the cymbalta with my lyrica. I was compltelely skeptical. But, I am a week and a half into it (fibromites usually see relief in a week if it will work) and I have to tell you, I feel more pain free right now than I have felt in years! The pain relief started about 4 days ago (so just before I hit the one week mark). I still get tired quick (I have to take breaks and rest my back muscles) but I feel good. There's a couple weird side effects that I still feel, like I have a tickle in my belly constantly like I am going over a hill fast in a car, but that feels great compared to where I was a week ago. Sometimes there's a lot of trial and error in finding the right medication or combination of medications with this crappy disease. Keep at it. It will be well worth whatever time you invest if you find something that works. And everyone preaches to exercise. Well, it is HARD to exercise when you are in SOOO much pain. You can't win for loosing. As soon as I started getting some pain relief, I got to the exercising again. Walking, pool, yoga, and back strengthing exercises. I just hope I stay feeling this well, at least most of the time. Have you tried just stretching your shoulder?

Hi Lordsdaughter - sorry you are having so much trouble with your shoulder. I have been dealing with the same thing for a couple of months! I went to my rheumatologist two weeks ago and when she had me try to raise my arm out to the side I couldn't go any higher than level with my shoulder. She said bursitis and tendonitis, trigger points in the muscles from my neck to my shoulder and the arthiritis in my neck was flared.

She gave me a shot of cortisone in the shoulder and after a couple of days of increased pain it settled down and feels much better now. I also like to use heat and have a heat pack that has a sleeve and can be wrapped around any body part - comes in handy!!

Hope it starts feeling better - it might be worth a trip to the doctor