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Wednesday, April 25, 2007

Ouch

Friday night I started having a slight ache in my right arm. It wasn't bad, just a twinge when I'd reach behind me. It was still around on Saturday, but it still was just an occasional twinge of pain. But it's been steadily growing. I now have a pretty constant ache from my elbow almost up to my shoulder with some pretty painful shoots going through it when I try to do simple things like brush my hair or get dressed or even little things like opening my refrigerator or trying to lift something. I don't even have to do anything to feel it, I just have to move my arm around. I couldn't sleep much last night because there wasn't a position I could lay in that didn't cause my arm to ache. I hate my doctor and am trying to avoid going in to see her, but I feel like I'm slowly losing the use of my arm. Any thoughts? What could be causing it and what can I do about it?

UPDATE:
The pain got to the point of being debilitating, so I sucked it up and went to my doctor. When I can't even wash my hair or put on deodorant without crying out in pain, it's time to do something. I can do a lot left handed, but I can't do everything and my right arm was almost useless. Fortunately for me MY doctor wasn't available for 2 weeks, so I saw someone else. She was fantastic. After a very thorough exam, she determined I have multiple micro tears all along my tricep muscle. It makes using it at all very painful. You have to use your tricep in almost everything you do with your arm, but using it causes more tears and prevents the old ones from healing. So I'll have my arm in a sling off and on for the next week and I got some pretty nice pain medication to get me through until it heals. It's a relief to know it's something so simple, and as soon as my ibuprofen kicks in, I'm sure I'll be much happier. And I have Vicodin for night time so I may actually get to sleep tonight!

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

I'm not signed in, but this is Amber.

http://health.ivillage.com/0,,q01f,00.html?ivNPA=1&sky=ggl|ivl|armpain|wb|PPC1FD6|s

I did a search and came up with that link. Go to the site, and in the blue box that says "What's Wrong? Look up your symptom" click on "arm pain" and then answer the questions. Hope that helps!

Anonymous said...

Doesn't look like that link posted okay.

http://health.ivillage.com/
0,,q01f,00.html?ivNPA=1&sky=
ggl|ivl|armpain|wb|PPC1FD6|s

So there it is, but you have to take the spaces out of it.

Micah said...

heart attack. Just kidding! I don't have any idea. Mom had shoulder problem for a long time (like years!) so she can probably be pretty helpful . I'll be sure to keep my ears open for any similar circumstances. Sorry to hear you are in pain. Glad to see you're alive!

Anonymous said...

Glad your going to get better babe. But there goes our minature golf date. How about a movie and dinner?

georgia-mom said...

I had right shoulder pain (for less than a year) but I let it go on longer than you did. I couldn't sleep, dress, or type on a computer. It was tendonitis. I tried physical therapy for weeks, then a chiropractor. I finally went home and left it alone and let it rest. Then it got better. So let it rest!
Now I have undiagnosed pain in my left arm--but not bad enough to see a doctor. It feels better when I rest it.
Maybe we'd all feel better if we just rested in a recliner all day. Waddya think?
Meanwhile, I'm not attempting any handsprings.

Elizabeth said...

I think hanging out in a recliner all day and resting everything is a fantastic idea! Oh wait, I have three little kids who need me to take care of them. Dang! It was a nice thought. :)
The sling does seem to be helping because I can just rest the arm most of the time.