arms weakness/pain

Hey Everyone, One of my first symptoms were arm weakness and pain.. In my arms I seem to get shocking pains and whenever I move them a certain way or lift something they give that pain, or they crack. It seems like they are cracking in the middle of my upper arm. Has anyone experienced this? It seems to go away and then it comes back again. I am tapering on my Pred. and maybe that is why this is happening. When this all first started just a couple of months ago.. when I was playing basketball it had felt like I pulled a muscle but that was impossible for both arms. Somehow I managed to play like this, pushups, rebounds and all.. cause no one believed me. lol. Help would be wonderful! Whats this unexplained pain!

Hi bigsanfer,

Have you had your thyroid checked? When mine was first acting up, I had A LOT of pain and weakness in my upper arms and shoulders. I couldn't lift my arms high enough to brush my teeth. Eventually, the pain spread to my throat and chest. I felt like my whole upper torso was swollen.  It hurt just to laugh. I even had a hard time swallowing food. A higher dose of preds. didn't even help. My rheumy checked me for every kind of muscular disorder; even some disorder that usually only hits men in their 80's(yeah, I'm a girl). After all of these tests came back negative, he asked if I'd ever had my thyroid checked. I hadn't, so he checked it; sure enough it was my thyroid. Went on some meds for it, and no more pain.

Definately talk to your rheumy. Lupus can mimick so many other things, it's hard to tell what is going on without running a battery of tests. Good luck.

Robin

Hi bigsanfer . . . I see in your signature that you have Hashimotos. That IS a thyroid disorder . . . but depending on how much it is currently affecting your thyroid hormones, they may or may not treat it. They are likely waiting on blood work to figure that out. Make sure you ask about it though because an underactive thyroid can cause all kinds of problems. Blessings!