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Thu 20 Feb, 2003 09:14 pm
Pardon me if my command of the keyboard is a bit halting this week. Not long ago I began the framing of an addition on my home. I have worked alone more often than not, so I thought nothing of putting the ten foot beams at the top of the posts singlehanded. All went well. Mission accomplished, I went about my business. A few days later my shoulder joints became inflamed. It seemed to me that all it needed was for the inflamation to be cooled, so I bought a product for the purpose. Well, my shoulders appeared to be all better about the time the bottle of tablets ran out. "I'm all cured," I thought. A few days later my right shoulder became more inflamed and painful than ever. Went to see the doc. You could have knocked me down with a tire iron when he said, "Arthritis." "With spurs." Now, having been given a steroid shot and Celebrex, I contemplate going to daily therapy for at least a week. All I can do is review my medical past and wonder what went wrong. Always got plenty of exercise, have tried to eat properly for at least the past ten years. Why should I have arthritis, even at 60? It's just a plain dumb trick of nature; a joke on me, right? Anyway, my response to posts on the forum will be pretty much restricted to extremely short answers for a while. Ya'll take caution from my tale, hear? Learn what controls arthritis before you have to go before the doc and get poked with needles have to drive to work with an arm that barely works.
edgar, I feel your pain, literally. I have damage in both shoulders. I can't remember if athritis figured into what the Docs told me (I was in too much pain and confusion to absorb it all), but I could barely drive my manual transition. Had to sort of throw my body into a shift. I learned to live with it (Docs said just don't provoke it). I take an anti-inflamatory if I think I might have done something to provoke it. I have had countless inflamations which cause problems in my trapez muscles and pull my neck out of alignment. Constant gentle stretching is good. Finding and avoiding, if possible, trigger postions is good.
Also, I was given a great product called Biofreeze that is fabulous.
And I had these problems starting in my mid-late 20s.
ya, go ahead, laugh
<grin>
Not laughing at someone. A smile at the incongruity of life. The way my arm feels just now I don't see how I am going to rest for at least a few days. I was holding my wrist up with my other hand just so I could type a minute ago.
Oh Edgar. I've been there too. I was a bartender when it was at it's worst. Imagine pulling hundreds of drafts of beer. Sounds easy, but was excrutiating. Did the Doc give you something for the inflamation? The pain? Try this site:
http://www.kasenterprises.com/sample.html
Posture will be important too. Back straight, shoulders down and roled back. When it was at it's worst, I woke up several times a night to rotate my shoulder to work out the cramps..... Hope you don't get that. Maybe mine was a different issue.
Edgar - I have rheumatoid arthritis, I do not know
how old you are, but usually osteoarthritis does not
hit people until after their 50's.
*I am curious to know if you INJURED the shoulder in
any way before the pain began?? I was diagnosed with
a severe back sprain one time & I was out of work for a
few months, but I did not hurt it or damage it - it just
began on its own, out of nowhere - then a few years
later I was diagnosed with sciatica (the spine again)
which also knocked me out of work for several months.
From there - it has only gotten worse.
*All of the doctors who tested me for inflammatory (rheumatoid)
arthritis were not even intelligent enough to know that the RA test
will NEVER come back positive UNLESS you get the blood work
done DURING A DISEASE CRISIS - when you have a low grade
fever, fatigue, slightly swollen lymph glands, general not feeling
well at all, and pain in one or several joints. The sacroiliac area
of the lower spine is a joint, the heel of the foot is now being
considered as a joint, in addition to neck, wrist, shoulders, and
on and on. What happened to me is that I was consistently
misdiagnosed ever since I was 8 years old and had juvenile onset
rheumatoid arthritis & my old fashioned family doctor (back in
the 1950's) did very little blood work, EVER. I never told him
about the neck or back pain - because my mother always said
"oh, those are just growing pains" what an idiot!!! There is no
such thing. He misdiagnosed me with mononucleosis, which
you have to be around someone alot to catch and I knew no
one who had mono. So I have suffered chronic, horrible pain,
not to mention being rudely insulted by some doctors, telling
me that there was nothing wrong with me & I needed to see
a psychiatrist, to which I answered I already do, maybe YOU
should see one!!! The absolute PROOF of what is going on in
your shoulder can be determined beyond the shadow of a
doubt by an arthroscopic examination - where an orthopedic
doctor makes 2 tiny slits in the shoulder area, fills it with water
(no dyes - just water) and then a tiny camera goes in one slit,
and the water gets pumped in thru the other slit. Then, you can
watch on a TV screen what is going on there in your shoulder,
for CERTAIN! In my case we did it with a knee - what I saw
totally amazed me, suddenly I could understand WHY it hurt
so horribly. The joint area should be totally white, and the
viscous synovial fluid which makes for easy movement of all
your joints should be totally clear. Mine was full of blood
vessels that should not have been there in the first place &
the synovial fluid was so full of particulate matter - that it
was hard to see thru it. White blood cells were busy attacking
my connective tissue, and all that debris remains in the joint
fluid. It is like putting a bucket of sand in your car's motor
oil and expecting it to run. It won't. In inflammatory arthritis,
there are numerous blood vessels where they should not be,
bringing in the white blood cells (your body defense system
against foreign objects such as bacteria) but now they go nuts
& attack your own body's tendons and ligaments, anything
that is connective tissue and sometimes more. It can even
become systemic & damage your heart, liver, kidneys etc.
In my case, I am quite unfortunate - it is my liver.
*IF during this arthroscopic exam, there is no sign of any
inflammatory process, then they can simply add dye and
look for a different kind of disease process.
*How often, when you are feeling at your very worst, can you
EVER get in to see a doctor on the same day?? Almost never.
But with the special rheumatologist at The Arthritis Clinic, I
finally found, whenever I was doing horribly,that he wanted
me to come right on in, he would work me in no matter what!
Because he knew it was the best time to do my bloodwork.
*Even with a great rheumatologist & going in whenever I felt
really horrible, it still took 2 years before the rheumatoid
factor showed up in my bloodwork. But while the orthopedic
doctor was in there looking at my knee - he also took a tiny
sample of the synovial membrane and sent it to a pathology
lab, & the results were severe synovitis....or in other words,
a severe type of inflammatory arthritis. I LIVED on anti
inflammatory drugs like Motrin - but the prescription kind for
so many years until my liver began to show signs of damage.
Now - I can't take them at all anymore - not even aspirin or
tylenol, absolutely nothing that can harm the liver.
*That was the end of my working pharmacist career, I had to
go out on Social Security Disability (which took 4 yrs) because
I could no longer stand for 10 - 12 hours a day, or sit or do
ANYTHING for very long without being in severe pain - due to
not being able to take my anti inflammatory meds. I can't
even write without my hands getting into a severe cramp and
causing awful pain.
*I wish for your sake that it was just an injury. But, for now
you need to know what IS going on inside that shoulder, exactly!
So my advice would be to see a good rheumatologist and a good orthopedic doctor, and get a look inside that shoulder to see what
IS going on for sure. What ever the results turn out to be, Edgar
you have my complete understanding and sympathy and if I can
be of any assistance in helping you find the kind of care that you
need and deserve, and the kind of medication you need and
deserve, I will do anything that I can because I KNOW what it is
like & no one else can even quite comprehend it.
That was quite an undertaking for a man of your "seasoning".
A word of advice given to me by my great-grandmother,
"The more you bitch, the longer God let's you live".
~
~
~
~
She died at 108.
Cheer up, Edgar, the voice activated keyboards are only a couple of years away from mass-production.
I am confident you'll make it.
Good morning and thanks all for the sage advice. I was foolish yesterday. After the doc gave me the shot and a handful of celebrex packets he wrote a pain prescription. He said I would need it in an hour. Well, after three or four hours passed and it felt fine I went home. Guess when the pain started? In the late evening when I was not about to get back out. I have a couple tablets in me now and will take a snooze before going to the job.
Actually, arthritis is about par for a person who strains both physically and mentally most days, especially getting a tad older. I did not intend to give the message that a little pain will stop me. I worked normally for a few weeks with the pain before deciding I needed help.
Triggers to Arthritis:
Genetics
Emotions
Diet
Why not arthritis strength Tylenol?
Until I finish my treatment with the doc I will use only his methods. Of course, after that I will research cure/prevention and chart my own path.
i've had a steroid shot, three celebrex thus far, and a few pain pills. Monday begins therapy. I am sure I will have a better grasp on the situation by the time I've had a second session with the doc. I have a pretty big bone spur.
oh, I forgot to mention - I had a rough time playing on the trampoline with my five year old grandson while ago. Not easy with one arm for balance.
edgar<
Good luck with your second session with your doctor. Please let us know how it turns out.
I eat the carefulest diet one could imagine. But I'm still paying for youthful indiscretion.
We are of similar vintage, and I have been dealing with osteoarthritis for the last few years. You can't blame yourself for this. It is a fact of advancing age. Most everyone gets it to one extent or another by the time that they are in their sixties.
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