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Ingalls

Member
Joined
Oct 12, 2013
Messages
10
Diagnosis
10/2012
Country
CA
State
ON
It is hard to remember life before fibro, or to know what is actually from it and what is just alongside it. I have this really bad pain in my upper arm, shoulder area. If my arm is bent and I try to lift it, the pain is intense. It aches all the time. I can do stuff if I keep my elbow tight against my side, but certainly couldn't reach out and then lift something. I need to keep elbows bent, and tight to me, like a robot.
If I'm walking and my arms just hang/swing, it's too painful. I push a stroller or shopping cart to help support them.
It is so painful most nights I can't sleep for a long time, then when I do, when I wake it is SO painful I can not push blankets off me with that arm.

Iv'e had this before, and it did lessen, and now it's back full force. It was never not painful, just
not NEAR like this.

So any ideas if this is to do with fibromyalgia? I am hesitant to goback on lyrica, in case it isn't
related. But also need this pain to stop! :(
Anyone experienced this?
 
You mentioned having this before, what did you do to lessen or manage the pain before? I find that I need to do a number of shoulder exercises each day or else I am tense and in pain all day.
 
Any answer, I think, on whether or not this is related to your fibro would just be a guess. Fibro pain can (I know you already know this!) :) hit at all kinds of places.

But things like pinched nerves can cause this shoulder and arm pain, too... sometimes a torn ligament, pinched nerve, etc. can cause that pain that hurts in the arm, too. So... yeah, it would all be guesswork. I hope you soon find out what the cause is and that it starts feeling better when you know how to deal with it.
 
I too suffer from this! I know what you are saying to well. Nothing I take seems to help with this condition. I even had cortizone shots for it in my neck. recently I had surgery on my foot, planter and tarsel tunnel surgery and was given vicodin. It didn't help with the foot pain but it did seem to help with the arm and shoulder pain but had to stop taking it because it gave me bad headaches and upset stomach, even with zofran. I have yet found anything that works for the long term. With my shoulder pain i have a baseball size lump in that armpit that seems to comes and go. I have had many specialist look at this conditions for many years and no ones seems to know why and some and given me reason like part of my breast detached and has slid down into my arm pit. Others say i have a pinched nerve in my neck. which makes no sense to me if comes and goes. I find placing frozen peas in my arm pit helps but doesn't completely take the pain away. I also place ice on the small bumps on my back muscles that sometimes helps. But I must say that sometimes the cold can make it worse too and then I try heat. Since I have had fibro. I can't take cold or heat like I use to so I have to be careful. even my showers are warm not hot or cold. I also Don't like wind blowing on me either. Strange....do you suffer from any of these other conditions?
 
That is so weird...I keep getting lumps in my armpit more to the back though,not nearly as large or as painful ..I've had carpel tunnel surgery on both hands so I always put the arm pain to that...as for the lumps they come and go. Could it be hormonal changes? I've had a hysterectomy so not sure if that is when mine flares up...maybe I should keep track..I've just been sloughing it off. Thanks now I will pay more attention
 
Hi Ingalls! I'm not a doctor and even if I was... I don't think there is a sure way to really know when a pain is caused by fibro, but most likely yours is. If I were you I'd go check with a doctor, sometimes we tend overlook some really serious symptoms because we assume they're related to fibro. That's why I recommend you to see a doctor, because there is no way we can tell you what's really going on.
 
My doctor said it is a torn rotator cuff. That same day, he agreed to let me try Cymbalta. After a few days on Cymbalta, I gained a fair bit of mobility in that arm! So I'm wondering if it was actually the fibro after all, not the rotator cuff. There's still pain to move it certain ways but I'm
finding it is not in the same fashion as if you google rotator cuff injuries.

I have never had the lumps problem, that I've noticed anyway. That would worry me a lot, too!
 
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