Arm pain anybody?

Hi all,

I have been having some bad aching and pain in my left arm for about a week and a half now. It comes and goes but some days it is there from the moment I wake up until bed. My right arm aches at the elbow and shoulder a bit but not nearly as bad as my left arm. Sometimes it is just from the elbow down sometimes it is just my hand and wrist but the worst is when it is from the shoulder down. It is almost like my arm is being squeezed in a vice and then my fingers end up burning or almost numb because of it. My bicep really hurts to touch or squeeze when this happens. It makes me anxious because I worry about it being a heart symptom or something but I'm only 24 and I had all the heart tests last year when I started having palpitations and tachycardia which are apparently benign. There is no heart history on either side of my family just diabetes but that's another story for another day.

So I was just wondering if anybody else has this type of pain and if it only really occurs in one arm at a time etc. I have been diagnosed with fibro but I am seeing a rheumatologist now who is really ruling everything out. He is actually thinking lupus or RA or lyme disease. He wouldn't use the F word though lol. Prednisone isn't doing anything though so it isn't lupus and probably not RA so we will see what he says when I go back in a couple of weeks.

Sorry for the crazy long arm post and mini rant. I haven't posted on a forum for awhile because I had been doing so well until this came on so please forgive me.

Thanks
jumper1170

Jumper,

This sounds similar to what I am dealing with. I can share what I am worki g through. I hope it helps.

Are you left handed? The reason I ask is that your primary hand is usually the one that takes the worst of it. I have problems with the same areas. I work at a computer all day and am right handed. Over the last several months, I have been dealing with pain and discomfort in my shoulder and elbow. In addition, I had numbness, stiffness and inabity to use my hands in the morning.

I have been in physical therapy and its helping me. I was diagnosed with thoracic outlet syndrome (TOS). They pointed out that my posture was bad and have me working on basic movements to build it back up. I am also working on learning myofascial pain release & that is helping me.

The first trick is to figure out if you are doing anything to exacerbate the condition. My ipad and the typing were doing it to me. I have been trying to get good at dictation. I bought Dragon Naturally Speaking to minimize use of my right arm.

I hope you figure out something to help you. Good luck, and let us know how it goes. I am always collecting good tricks to help minimize this problem.