“Subacromial pain syndrome”, SAPS,

[Frankiefocus]

Hi everyone since I was diagnosed with RA last summer I have been regulary having pains lifting my arms. Sometimes the left sometimes the right arm. The pain is at the front of the shoulder and feels like the tendon has been damadged. Could this be a sympton of RA or Saps?

Last year I was lifting heavy equipment at work and woke up one morning with very bad pain in each shoulder like a nife going in and could not lift them both for a week. I was on tromadol and ice patches. Maybe I need a scan to detect what is really going on as my GP just wants to inject steriods and thinks its RA but I do thinks this is a damaged rotary cuff. Any advice welcome.

[Gnarli]

You need this investigation for this. Steroids will tide you over but you need to know what's causing your pain. Your GP cannot diagnose Rheumatoid, it has to be a rheumatologist following taking a history, examination, blood test, xrays and maybe scans. If your GP suspects RD you need to be referred as soon as possible.

[Frankiefocus in reply to Gnarli]

Thanks Gnarli btw whays RD ?

[Gnarli in reply to Frankiefocus]

We Brits call our condition Rheumatoid Arthritis but the hurting joints are only a small part of it as we know. Rheumatoid Disease, I feel, is a more accurate way of describing it. Besides, it helps to stop people saying stuff like "oooh, my Granny had that in her knees" or saying "I have a touch of that in my toe".

[Frankiefocus in reply to Gnarli]

Lol

[wishbone]

Hi Frankie, Could be your RA. I've had terrible trouble with both shoulders and arms for the past few years. Can't lift them above the horizontal most of the time. Mine is definitely due to RA in my wrists and elbows but by far the biggest culprit is my shoulders.

My shoulders, plus other joints, did ease after I started a new med 6 months ago but alas are well on their way back to how they were before, which does concern me to put it mildly! For much of that 6 month period I could do a lot more with my shoulders/arms than previously, but if I used them too much, especially reaching up to close windows etc, then that would make them play up for the next day or two. So lifting heavy equipment may have aggravated an underlying issue with your shoulders.

Good luck with having a scan! I was lucky to have an x-ray on any of my joints during the 16 years I've had RA, and you need to see the shape of some of them now!

[Frankiefocus in reply to wishbone]

Thanks for the reply. I have booked a private ultrasound scan for Friday and hope that reviels something also I will see my rheumy next month and tell her everyting as Im tired of all this. Maybe my doc will get me xrays as he did mentuon it. Thanks again

[wishbone in reply to Frankiefocus]

Good on you! The sooner you get it investigated the better. Some GPs may be ok with RA stuff, but mine isn't one of them and I never go to him if it's to do with my RA.

Good luck.

[hawker955]

Sounds like a rotator cuff injury, being at the front of the shoulder. That can be very painful and quite limiting. A steroid into the shoulder joint is usually very helpful. I have had this in both shoulders and though the injection needed repeating a year later, overall it has now fixed the problem.

[Frankiefocus in reply to hawker955]

Thank you

[Hidden]

Last year I had a fall that ruptured two tendons in each of my shoulders. I never imagined then that I would still be in severe pain in my arms and shoulders a year later. Like you, the pain stems from the front of my shoulder. At first it was the right one that was by far the most painful and I couldn't lift it up at all. However, with physiotherapy, it got a lot better and I can lift it up alright now.

However, the left one which was not so badly injured has become by far the worst one and I can no longer lift it and it crunches and grinds all down my arm with every move. I have had both a steroid injection (didn't work) and then a nerve block which also didn't work. Physiotherapy seems to have made it worse.

I have been told that because of my RA the tendons will all be frayed all over me and it takes very little to tear them, you don't even need to fall as just a move could do damage. The orthopeadic surgeon said that it can't be repaired because it would be like trying to sew together two pieces of wet tissue. Next week I am going to see yet another orthopeadic surgeon to see if he has anything he can suggest. I am praying he can help me as the pain is so bad and even morphine doesn't take it away.

[Frankiefocus in reply to Hidden]

Thank you

[mad-country-lover]

Hi Frankiefocus

If nothing comes from the scan is it an (ultra sound one), insist on an MRI

I had a problem a few years ago, the scan did not reveal that much other then wear and tear on my tendon, I had also been doing some heavy renovation work , I was given a cortisone jab that did nothing to help.

When the pain increased GP sent me for an MRI Scan which reviled calcification that was having a chomp away at my Tendon.

I ended up severing my tendon completely .

Hope the scan goes well

[Frankiefocus]

Thanks for the advice