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Another arm question

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Posted 5/18/2015 6:10 PM (GMT 0)
Sorry to be such a pain. But those of you who read my post yesterday (arm pain anybody) knows that I have been having mostly left arm pain. Yesterday was really bad in my bicep and it radiated to my fingers, etc. I think it was just my muscle spasming really bad all day and it hurt to touch.

Well today the pain is pretty much gone (now it is in my right arm, yay!) But I have been left with an arm that feels dead. It feel like it weighs a hundred pounds in the upper arm. The muscle feels numb and it is a little swollen but not red or hot or anything. I think this is just a result of the fact it was spasming all day yesterday and now it is spent and has no strength or energy in it. It didnt bother me while i was sleeping, none of my symptoms ever have before. I can still move my arm and grab things and stuff but it tires out extremely easily. Does this make sense? That it is just tired from spasming all day yesterday? I have developed health anxiety due to fibro so when I get something that feels and little different than usual I freak out which brings on other symptoms which makes the initial symptoms worse then I panic more, etc. Ugh, I'm sure quite a few of you go through that vicious cycle too. I try to distract myself but sometimes it is easier said than done.

So I guess the point of this rant is to ask, should I be worried about my arms or just try to ignore it? I feel ok otherwise except for the usual fatigue and aches. Doesn't help that it is hot here in Ontario Canada which seems to make everything worse since all this started when it got really hot. sad

Sorry again for the length of this post but your comments always make me feel a bit better.
jumper1170
Posted 5/18/2015 6:33 PM (GMT 0)
you are just north of me Jumper. I'm in the Buffalo area.

My advice (which you should always ignore of it doesn't work for you) is NOT to ignore the issue in your arms. I kept bouncing from doctor to doctor for mine and was getting nowhere. I had different pieces that helped a little, but by the time I was done, I had lost 30-40% use in one arm.

My situation may not be the same as yours. However, your symptoms sounds like mine and there are a lot of things that fall within that range.

I understand trying to clarify whether something is important. I have CRPS and Fibro and have been struggling for months with this. There were many days where I could not do anything with my right arm.

Mine also swapped back and forth. It was overall worse in the right, but some days it was both and some days it was one or the other. Sometimes the arms were actually swollen and sometimes they just felt like it. (I used my husband as a checking point). I went through a period where my were hot to the touch. For me it was a flare up of CRPS and then TOS. I have a bad habit of bringing my arms in tight to prevent them from being bumped because I find that very painful.

You may have something totally different, but believe in yourself and what you are feeling. This does not sound like Fibro. It could be something big or something small, but you will feel better if you know.

Last piece of advice .... I finally stopped looking for solutions for everything. However, I am careful to identify completely new symptoms. I think it is important to know why something is happening to you. Then you can make the decisions needed to fix it if possible or deal with it and file it away. You don't want to wait until something new crops up and then you are trying to figure out if they are related. Just because we have Fibro, does not mean we don't get other illnesses/conditions. I am dumping doctors who always tell me its Fibro and tell me to go away. That happened with my current arm problem and I have had months of a poor quality of life because of it. I'm building back up, but if I had continued to believe I just had to deal with feeling this way, I might not have been able to recover full use of my arm back. Sometimes there isn't anything to worry about, but won't you feel better if you know?
Posted 5/18/2015 6:36 PM (GMT 0)
Hi, Jumper, and welcome! When fibro first hit me it started in my toes and worked it's way up my body to my elbows and it was like I had slammed both elbows and I got the "electrical" type pain shooting down both arms into my hands and it stayed that way for over two weeks. It was a horrible pain. I was put on ibuprofen with food and that did help calm things down for me. Tylenol should help, too.

I use trigger point therapy and massage now and that helps me. My elbows recently have gotten tender but I don't have arm pain or the feeling of swelling. I saw my massage therapist last week and she worked on my arms. I had been doing a lot of yard work the past few weeks and had knots all over my body. She used gentle massage and is trained in how to massage fibro and myofacial pain syndrome clients. Massage does help and we can reach our arms and massage them.

I also was put on a muscle relaxer three years ago and that has made a significant difference in my pain, too. I use Robaxin and only take less than half what was prescribed to me. I takes the edge off the pain but yet I don't get the side effects typical of muscle relaxers this way. I live by myself and need to be able to drive, etc. So this works great for me.

I also take vitamin D3 and magnesium malate. The magnesium especially helps with muscle spasms. This type of magnesium is considered the best for fibro and studies have shown it has helped with the pain of fibro.

Be sure to read Fibro 101...the first thread on the forum. There are links to good info about fibro there and you will learn a lot there. There are links about vitamin D3 and magnesium malate and how they work in the body. All of Fibro 101 is good so do read it. I've had fibro for 28 years and I'm still learning new things.

I'm looking forward to getting to know you better. Don't hesitate to ask questions because we are here to help you. Hope to hear more from you soon.

Sherrine
Posted 5/18/2015 6:36 PM (GMT 0)
A couple of years ago, I had pain (no numbness or fatigue there, though) in my upper right arm, just above the elbow, especially bad when I moved it at all or tried to lift something. Finally went to the doctor, and he thought it was actually my shoulder, so ordered an MRI.

He was right! Turned out to be supraspinatus tendinitis. I had the option to get PT, but chose not to. I 'babied' my arm for a few months and the pain finally disappeared.

It was worth getting it checked out. I had no idea what was going on!

Hope you're better soon and you get to the bottom of the problem. Keep us posted!
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