Ouch,

[nellysgran]

As you know I have had R A for 10 years now, and suddenly I have had a lot of pain in my muscles especially my thigh, does anyone know if this could be related?

[Marionfromhappydays]

Sorry to hear you are in pain.

I'm only new to RA but I get alot of painful cramps in my thighs. Physio said its where my muscles have gotten week amd I need to keep active to build up again.

[Mmrr]

I get a lot of muscle ache and cramps in my arms and shoulders. To be honest the muscle ache is more troublesome than my joints at the moment.

I believe the aches and cramps to be related to RA. I see the rheumatologist f2f on Monday to discuss, I'll let you know how I get on.

[nellysgran in reply to Mmrr]

Thank you x

[Empress30]

All I know is when I would get up from a sitting position my thighs really hurt especially if it was a low type couch or chair. Once I started taking Xeljanz it went away. I could hardly pull myself up. Then no problem. I would ask your doctor for advice. Hope something will help.

[Pippy25]

Sorry to hear your are getting a lot of pain in your muscles. As other have said I think it may be connected to RD. I get it too and cramp in my lower legs and feet. Wonder if it is worth mentioning to your GP or rheumy and if there is anything that would help. Take care x

[meelfyn in reply to Pippy25]

What is RD?

[Hidden in reply to meelfyn]

Some of us prefer the term RD as RA sounds to many outside RA bubble that it is 'just' arthritis so they show you there thumb and go I have this, then you want to take them down. RA is joint based but once you have RA you recognise that it has many other bubbles attached to it.

[Pippy25 in reply to meelfyn]

As Deeb has described some people refer to RA as RD because of the general confusion and misunderstanding of what exactly is RA. The misconception of it just being a few aches/ pains and general wear and tear due to old age or over use of a joint or liken it to Osteo Arthritis, which being an auto immune disease it isn't. There is no right or wrong and people on this forum will use either RA or RD. Hope that help explains. Best Wishes

[helixhelix]

I started getting this a few months ago - thighs and shoulders. And very different from RA flare pain. Originally thought possibly osteoarthritis in hip. However x-ray of hips was fine. Then maybe polymyalgia rheumatica, but bloods and scan suggest not. So now looking at perhaps being due to problems in cervical and lumbar spine. More tests booked to check this.

So I don’t have an answer yet, but do recommend you raise this with your doc.

[nellysgran in reply to helixhelix]

Thank you, I do get a lot of pain in my spine too. Please let me know what happens, xx

[Hidden]

Hi nellysgran

A few months back I was suffering with the most horrendous bilateral thigh muscle pain like intense burning and pressure so I requested a Rheumy appt for that as I was struggling with it. I was sent for an MRI lumbar spine as she thought it was related to that, it shows a bulging of a couple of discs in L4/5 and L5/S1 and degenerative disc disease so she thinks it’s related. I was also referred to physio so I’ve been doing knee exercises that the physio sent me and it has improved greatly. Hope you get to the bottom of it.

PTM x

[nellysgran in reply to Hidden]

Thank you, I will make an appointment on Monday. X

[Tree6]

I don't know if this will be relevant to you, but I was getting a lot of muscle pain especially in my hips. I think it was from my muscles being weak and not being exercised enough, as well as some muscles like hip flexors getting very tight from sitting too much. I always thought I had to be very careful with exercise and impact because of my joint problems but actually I now understand I can do a lot more than I had thought and that building muscle tone is very good for joints. I'm trying to build up muscles gradually through resistance training and pilates, as well as stretching more and it does seem to be helping with the aches and pains.