Strange arm pain

[Whit]

For the last week I've had strange arm pain mostly in my left arm. It started after I was laying on my side in bed with my elbow bent, with the weight on my forearm, working on a hobby project and pushing myself to finish one part of it. I was tired afterwards. And both my arms were sore and weak.

My right arm got better in a couple hours for the most part, but my left arm has been hurting off and on ever since. It feels like a sharp ache deep in my arm and seems to move around slowly. (no shooting pain). the muscles in my whole arm ache when I use them even a little (even typing this is making my forearm muscles hurt) but there's also a pain that feels like my arm isn't getting enough blood, and reminds me of when you get a blood pressure test and the arm pain when they leave the thing wrapped tightly around your arm. It's almost like a pain in the veins or tendons that moves around. I have the urge to move my arm and get blood flowing and rub my muscles. Sometimes I'm reminded of the feeling when you hit your funny bone, only the aftermath of that, not the initial jolt. the achey feeling afterwards. Or the feeling when you leave your arm hanging off the bed for a long time.

My right arm has been a bit sore like this, but not nearly as much.

My legs have been painful for a year now, when I walk more than a little bit they get sore in the back of my legs as if I just ran 10 miles (I use to run cross country in my former life) or was standing up for an entire day, only much worse. If I don't walk too much they don't hurt at all. I can make about 10 trips to the kitchen before I start hitting my limit. And if I overdo it, just like PEM, it gets exponentially worse and can take days to a week of not walking AT ALL to get back to a more stable place where I can walk a little bit.

I'm concerned that the arm pain is the same as this leg pain, both seem linked to circulation, but no one has been able to figure it out. I've just had to use a wheelchair most of the time and stay at home, mostly in my room.

I'm going to have an ultrasound today to make sure it's not a blood clot. But that seems unlikely since my right arm is a little weird too. And I'm 29. And tests never show anything wrong.

Anyone experience something similar? Anyone have any ideas for things I should have doctors look for? It's frustrating how every new symptom that comes up you have to go through the same ridiculous process of seeing doctor after doctor all over again, and every time I go through with it I wind up putting a huge amount of energy into it and getting no answers.

I can't loose the use of my arms. What am I going to do? Just stare at stuff all day? WTF Just typing this made my arm hurt pretty bad...

 

[hurtingallthetimet]

hello hope your ultrasound turns out good...its great that your having the pain checked out...theres so many pains and symptoms and illness that seems to be attracted to these illness....so i never know when something is serious or not..

i have pain everywehre..left leg numb alot from back nerve damage..and left arm goes numb too from time to time but so does the ohter side just more on the left..

take care let us know how it went

 

[alwayshopeful]

Do you have a good chiropractor? I got these pains in my arms and legs; it got so bad in my right arm, I got "frozen shoulder". The medical community will just recommend more drugs. But my chiro worked on it and cleared it all up. I can't imagine how much pain I would have if I didn't see my chiro all the time!

 

[Sallysblooms]

Whit, I hope you can find someone with answers for you.

 

[Whit]

It looks like I have no clots. Because I'm a perfectly healthy young man! I'm never sure whether to be happy or frustrated when they find nothing. I guess both.

The thing that concerns me is that my leg and now arm symptoms don't seem to be common symptoms with CFS. My doctor Andy Kogelnik hasn't really seen it before and people on this forum don't seem to have this same thing either, so it raises a flag for me that maybe there is some undiagnosed illness here that isn't CFS.

But I guess it's pretty common to have a whole plethora of various pains and weird circulation and nerve issues, so I suppose in the bigger picture it fits well. And I have the classic high viral tiders. But it would be assuring to at least know I was part of some group of CFS patients dealing with the same thing.

 

[weary traveller]

Hi Whit,
I'm new to the forum and am so glad i found your post (although im so sorry you're suffering so badly.) I was diagnosed with CFS a little over 6 months ago but apparently i've had it for several years (undiagnosed) according to regular reports of pain and fatigue in my records.
I like many have regular muscular pain/ache all over my body however the last couple of months have brought me incredible pain in my upper arms, fore arms, wrists and hands.
The pain in my upper and fore arms feels like the type of pain one gets after an injection into the muscle...a deadening deep rooted ache that causes pain to move the limb. I also get very painful shooting pains throughout the arms. My wrists and hands however seem to be bone related pains. I do also have borderline osteoporosis and have spent many years typing at a computer in an office, therefore am thinking my hands may be some kind of repetitive stress related symptom.
I do hope your pain subsides - i was taking Gabapentin for my pain which helped alot but unfortunately kept me in such a dream state that i couldnt focus on anything, so i had to stop them.
Please keep me posted on how you get on and if i find that anything helps with my pain, i'll let you know too.

Best of luck

 

[voner]

- i was taking Gabapentin for my pain which helped alot but unfortunately kept me in such a dream state that i couldnt focus on anything, so i had to stop them.
Please keep me posted on how you get on and if i find that anything helps with my pain, i'll let you know too.

weary traveler,

If gabapentin helped the pain, you might consider trying it again, however, using the adage that many people on this forum use, "start low, go slow".. start with a really low dosage and stay there until you feel completely normal, and then increase her dosage very slightly, etc. Everybody's different so you're going to have to figure it out for yourself. Perhaps some other people on the forum can give other suggestions. I remember trying gabapentin and having the same unfocused and unstable feelings , and then years later I tried it with the "start low, go slow" adage and I have no problem adapting to the gabapentin. Unfortunately, for me, it did nothing for the pain.

 

[weary traveller]

Thank you Voner
I did start low and unfortunately like you the Gabapentin did nothing for the pain. My doctor increased it gradually until the pain eased but at this point i became unfocussed and disorientated. I continued on the higher dose for a few months in the hope that the effects would settle but unfortunately the dizziness became unbearable and made me quite sick. I buy over the counter meds to take the edge off the pain now and when it gets unbearable i just remind myself that im lucky to be mobile and not laid up in bed every day. My symptoms seem so minor in comparison to most in this forum. I feel very lucky.

 

[voner]

weary traveler,

sorry to hear that. if you want to learn about all the pharmaceutical options that more or less exist through conventional medical doctors, here's a long video by Dr. ian Carroll of Stanford University. I found it to be pretty informative and he does mention a trycyclic antidepressant that he uses and the good thing about it is that the side effects are much less than other trycyclic's and so he can up the dosage really high and he says he's had patients have significant pain relief at these high dosages. I have not tried this drug yet. I forget it's name… Good luck.

 

[Debbie23]

Have you considered ulnar nerve entrapment/ carpal tunnel? I'm wondering because you say you pushed yourself or finish a project and get it when you are typing. I get this in my hands, wrists and arms, elbows too. Really horrid intense aching pain, feels like awful toothache in my bones! Or else an electric shock, burning or stabbing pain, along with the associated nerve problems in my hands and/ or problems with dexterity and loss of grip etc. Sometimes the pain comes alone though, no numbness etc. Or Until for a while after the pain has been present.

I find carpal tunnel splints often help offset the worse. Even if I'm not getting the actual numbness in my hands. As soon as my wrists and forearms start hurting the guards come on. It doesn't fix it altogether but it can help. There are also arm stretches you can find online to try, but obviously this would depend on if you could do them or not, I can't always manage them and can't do them all myself.

I also put my guards on if I'm going to do a project that will strain hands and wrists and arms, like lots of typing. I could be wrong but it feels like it supports them and takes some of the strain. Heat pad also helps, I lay it across my lap on a pillow and rest my arms on them while I'm using my tablet on a floor stand in front of me, if you can visualise that. If you use a touchscreen I also find a stylus helps rather than straining my hands to type etc.

Could you try this? Whatever the cause, I hope you found answers and what works. Hope you can too, Weary Traveller

 

[Mariah]

Did you ever find out what this was, or found something that helped? For the last couple of weeks I`ve been having the pain that you describe in my right arm, but also accompanid by burning, aching and pins and needles a long with muscle spasms. At times it is so painful I really don`t know what to do with myself, and at the moment it`s all I can think about.