Monday, June 15, 2009

Help! Something Must Be Done!

I have been having pain my right arm for about 6 weeks. After about a month I went to a family practice doctor, who diagnosed it as Tennis Elbow, a form of Tendinitis. He said I should continue to wear the brace I had bought a couple days before and use an anti-inflammatory every morning and night. Within 2 to 3 weeks the pain should go away or we could do cortisone injections. I wore my brace, even though it was really ugly. It did seem to help that particular part of my arm feel better, but higher up on my arm started hurting instead. When I stopped wearing the brace it seemed to be improving, so I didn't put it back on after a week and a half of wearing it.

Now, however, my shoulder (same arm) is in considerable pain most of the time, especially when I use it (even just picking up the diaper bag or brushing my hair is painful) and when I lay on my side to sleep. In addition, I have been having sporadic pain in my elbow and lower forearm as well. The pain I had that the doctor said was Tennis Elbow is almost completely gone. And here's the weirdest part - my other shoulder has been hurting now too. Explain that!

I think not using it would help, but that really isn't an option. I have a 9-month old baby and a bunch of other responsibilities and can't seem to stop myself from using it to clean my house. I need to see a doctor again, but having the kids all home for summer break makes it even harder to do stuff like that. Any ideas for home remedies? Do you know of any doctor that might be particularly good at figuring out what I should do? I'm open to suggestions.

2 comments:

Aubrey Anne said...

Did you ever read the blog I wrote about my unbearable arm pain? We were living in Roy, so it was pretty recent-ish... about 5 months ago? I was miserable and even just putting on my seatbelt was crippling. Most of the time it was just the one arm, but sometimes it was both.

Anyway! I tried not using it, but that made it worse. I tried working out my arms with 5 lb weights... made it worse. Then I started working out the REST of my body (not concentrated on my arms). That's the only thing that worked for me. When my whole body was getting some movement, for some reason my arms quit hurting.

No idea if this is something that would work again or if it was just a fluke, but you could try it. That's all I've got!

Krista Miller said...

I also had weird shoulder pain and since I had been exercising on a regular basis, I don't even get sore anymore...It worked for me.