Severe arm pains

[Wingsoflove]

Hi, does anyone suffer from severe pain in both arms from shoulder to elbow? Iv had it months now and the gp keeps shrugging me off with pain killers and rub, it’s unbearable to the point in in bed miserable and no matter what I do/use is a waste of time, any advice grateful x

[LoneEra]

Sorry to hear this. GPs often don’t know how to help with these kinds of pains. Have you had any physiotherapy? Might be worth asking for some NHS sessions.

You can read more about arm pain on this other thread that’s running at the moment:

healthunlocked.com/fibromya...

As for helping yourself you could try:

- A TENS machine

- An acupressure mat

Sorry I don’t have a magic bullet for you, but I hope that you can get some relief x

[Wingsoflove in reply to LoneEra]

Thanks so much for your reply! I had a read there of that link/comments, seems I’m not on my own!..going to push it with gp tomo as they’ve been closed for the hols, I would even consider a muscle relaxer injection it’s that bad😔xx

[LoneEra in reply to Wingsoflove]

Feel for you - it can be agony. Good luck with the GP. Tell them how much it’s impacting your life. Keep us posted! Xx

[Hidden]

Don’t want to be scary, but that’s how my Rheumatoid Arthritis first presented. Read the nras.org.uk/ site to see if anything seems familiar. Ask your surgery for bloods/ inflammation markers etc. Take care x

[Wingsoflove in reply to Hidden]

Hey!, not at all! I appreciate the honesty! Just had a good read, some mind blowing stuff in there, hope you don’t suffer too badly xx nearly all my symptoms are bang on RA, so I will speak to the gp tomo and see if we can request some tests. Either way if it is/isnt I can hopefully get some kind of pain relief organised, thanks for the insight xx

[LoneEra in reply to Wingsoflove]

Just to add that RA doesn’t always show up on blood tests. It does the majority of the time, but not always. I have it and all my bloods are normal, always. So it’s a tricky beast! But it’s worth getting the tests if you can and learning a bit more about it. You’d typically get joint swelling with it though and perhaps heat and redness too x

[Al10]

Id suggest really looking at your posture and how you support yourself sitting ect. Out bodies need the best possibly care. Not supporting your neck and head or sitting with head at an angle looking at a friend talking or watching a screen causes stress and pain in your muscles.

Remember all your muscles connect somehow. Your job as a fibro is keeping your muscles happy and relaxed.

Also, My aching arms was often the indicater of exhaustion ME/CFS. Should have rested, not pushed so hard etc. Arms exhausted while resting or tryng to sleep is horrid because, if you were still busy (putting up shelves for example!) you would stop. I never put up shelves BTW but you get my drift?

When they hurt these days, I think, darn it! Was that too much screen time? Sitting crooked? I have to search out my kinks and try to relax them out.

better to take care before you get pain.

When sitting, I have my cushions that I use to support every bit of me shoulders, neck, back. Any bit that is feeling out of allignment, I bolster it up until it's right and I'm not stressing my bod. It takes practice and time and not caring what others think. It has helped me.

And I was in denial for ages over this. I'd sit with a friend chatting and wonder why my neck hurt and shoulders and head and... Eventually I realised I couldn't do what I'd always done. I had to look after my Bod, and not worry so much about eye contact etc.

[Lockypops]

Hi I'm new to this site. I also suffer with the same pain it's horrific. I was told its coming from my shoulder blade and given physio exercises to do, and to my surprise they actually relieved the pain alot. I would definitely go back to your Dr and ask for physio exercises. Good luck x

[Cazza1963]

Hi I've recently been getting pain in my elbow, it really hurts lifting bags of shopping, I thought it might be Tennis elbow, but my partner said it's not, so iv put it down to fibro. I've used a Tens machine once, maybe you should buy one of them.

[softblanket]

Hi wingsoflove

I suffered this problem of severe pains in arms especially the left arm - with pins and needles for 3 years when I a fall down uncarpeted flight of stairs with endless gp then hospital visits- finally a rheumatologist diagnosis of fibromyalgia and osteoarthritis. For the next, almost 2 year/4 months every ailment I now got GPS blamed my fibro. It was so debilitating for me - all they ever said was I need to accept my condition. I have chronic migraines and depression also. I was under pain clinic but due to the covid I had to have telephone consultation with my physiotherapist- and because of my persistent complaints of my arms- which became worse with a tremor and weakness he introduced a psychologist to my care plan. Best thing he could have done and I give thanks to God because eventually through the pain care plan I got hosptial testing done then mri scans- recent results show I have irreversible nerve damage and now waiting to see specialist consultants. In the meantime I've researched all I can - because without a diagnosis I had nothing to do except pop painkillers but now I've found some exercises that have really helped ease some of that 24 hours agony even though I was advised not to exercise has it triggers certain points. So defo don't leave it - I believe that certain GPS once diagnosis of fibro has been made use it as a easy scape goat rather than investigate any new health issues/pains (Or maybe that's just mine.) Ive suffered for years with the ailments I have that were all at that time factors of fibro but each one was missed - rheumatologist said I've likely had fibro for about 18 years. I think this nerve damage should have been diagnosed a few years ago but again the fibro was blamed. So please be persistent- because eventually after I have seen the consultant - I will be getting this medically investigated has there has been too many times I complained about thjs particular pain and it was brushed off as fibro pain with more meds handed out to me. Stand up for you and be persistent x