RA pain or not?

[Leades]

Hello everyone,

During the night I woke up with pain on each side of my neck. This morning I couldn’t get out of bed due to pain across both my shoulder blades, they feel like bruised and so painful to even a light touch. The ribs at the front feel bruised as well. This is the first time this happened and I haven’t been doing any physical activity that could explain it.

I have been diagnosed with RA but does this sound like RA pain to you? I have been debating calling the RA nurse but don’t want to sound silly.

[springcross]

Hi Leades. RA affects us all in different ways so I would ring your RA nurse and have a chat with her just to be on the safe side as it may be something different causing it. Good luck. xx

[Lolabridge]

Hi Leades. Yes do get in touch with your R.A. nurse to let him/her know about this new pain as springcross suggests. Unfortunately this wretched disease can affect so many different parts of the body. You could try a hot water bottle for your shoulder blades or if that doesn’t give you relief maybe an ice pack will.

[Harry_20 in reply to Lolabridge]

The pain you’re describing was one of my first symptoms of R.A., although I didn’t know it then. I’d recently had two carpal tunnel ops (one wrist after the other) and thought it might be a reaction to those. Then the pain spread to other parts and joints until it culminated in not being able to move for pain when I woke up one morning.

A locum GP where I was on holiday (Inner Hebrides) first said the dreaded words and prescribed steroids to get me through the rest of my holiday. I got tested once I was home and it was confirmed,

So, yes, it sounds like R.A. pain you’re getting. Heat and/or ice might help, also ibuprofen. Turmeric and root ginger every day help over a period of time. So does a good box set! Distraction is a wonderful thing.

[KittyJ]

I wouldn’t immediately ring the nurse for every new pain I get, I would wait and see if it improves with movement and painkillers but that’s just me, I’m not a medic so really only you can decide if you need to talk to the nurse or not.

[Skymollie]

Hi Leades, when first hit with this terrible disease it started like yours, They said Pmr but in five months they said I had Ra even though seronegative on Ra test. So, it seems these awful arthritis's have very close symptoms and it just seems like it's luck if Docs and Rheumies get the right diagnosis the first time. If you get pred and it stops pain, more like Pmr but if 200ml of ibupropen (I take celebrex,easier on stomach,guts) and a 650ml tylenol arthritis strenth acetaminiphen makes it stop hurting then could be Ra. The important thing is making the pain stop so we can live. I don't think people without these diseases understand how much it hurts from the inside to make any move. Good luck.

[TPaine]

Hi my experience of similar pain is linked more to my neck issues as when that has a problem with the discs and nerves it can lead to referred pain to my arms, as well as muscle spasm in upper back and neck, which is horrible. This also affects the front area with rib pain. I would certainly ask for a medical view if not for any other reason than to initially get adequate pain relief. It may be you need this looked at... when I first had my issues with my neck before RA I had an MRI which showed prolapsed discs. This now affects both sides and although not caused by RA, this can be exacerbated by RA activity. This needs different management than RA, hence need to flag this up to GP or nurse. I am now on amitriptyline for this issue alongside my RA meds. Take care and hope it settles down (mine does flare from time to time and then settles).

[Hidden]

It could very likely be RA. I was in hospital once and a woman was brought in who had woken up unable to move. Eventually she was diagnosed with RA and given MTX as treatment.

[kristapb99]

Thanks to Enbrel, my RA is now under control, but this sounds exactly like I sometimes felt when it was raging out of control. That burning/bruised feeling that doesn't seem to really be joint pain. I thought maybe it was inflamed tendons or cartilage. The standard pain killers (ibuprofen/tylenol/etc.) didn't even touch it. I would encourage you to contact your RA nurse.