13 answers

Has Anyone Had Aches or Pains That the Dr. Could Not Identify?

While doing some lifting at work a while back I strained something in my wrist and am going through workers comp. I've seen a specialist, and a neurologist and have had a nerve test, and an x-ray and MRI's of the fingers and wrist. All tests show there's nothing wrong (no carpal tunnel). (I also did some physical therapy) They have confirmed inflamation & swelling but the problem is that the pain is not just in one area. I can't point to an area and say "this hurts here, when I do this", etc... It seems to fluctuate and is worse in one area one day and worse in another area another day. I was in a splint for a while with about 50% usage allowed. I had stress fractures in 2 fingers about a year & 1/2 ago and while I was wearing the splint my fingers started hurting more (but nothing on MRI or x-ray) I've had burning sharp pain in my fingers from just clapping at my son's ball game (but not always). I'm at my wits end and I feel like now no one believes that this really is painful. It's never been an excrutiating pain and sometimes it's even seemed to be getting better but then another day, it's back where it was. Because these tests do not point to anything, I am assuming it's tendonitis. That's what the dr. thought in the beginning but wearing the splint for a couple of months didn't make any changes so he released me from wearing it a couple of weeks ago. The symptons are exactly as they were when I first went to the dr. So now, I'm beginning to think it really is just in my head and I'm not really feeling this pain. Has anyone experienced anything like this when dr. after dr. tells you nothing is wrong but you know you feel pain? Thanks! M.

What can I do next?

So What Happened?™

Just wanted to add after reading Ashley's response,,,the dr. that frustrated me so badly yesterday by saying I "probably" had a circulation problem and if I quit smoking the pain would "probably" go away, was a hand specialist. He spent about 30 seconds making that diagnosis and agreed with the x-ray and MRI that nothing showed up on without doing anything further. Well duh,,,we already knew that which is why they sent me to him! Even my dr. thought it was a waste of my time to go there yesterday. I also forgot to mention that I have had a cortison shot a while back and took mobic. I didn't take the mobic very long because they said it wasn't really helping. The shot may have temporarily helped but now all I have is a deep hole in my wrist from it. They have seen the swelling and inflamation but it is just back & forth, better & worse and never seems to change. I'm wondering if because I would take Aleve when it hurt that maybe it reduced the inflamation enough that the severity didn't show on the MRI or something. But when I don't take it, it is worse so it hasn't healed anything, only masked it. Not sure,,,anyway,,,,this has been going on for over two months now. I've tried working with the therapists there as well and they said they were not helping me too so we discontinued that. Maybe they've switched me around so much trying to eliminate things or find things that nothing we've tried had time to work. I know tendons can take a long time to heal. My dr. said I was an interesting case,,,,I think that's his "nice" way of just saying I'm weird! lol Thanks again for all the advice. I'm printing everything so I can go over the suggestions with my doctor next week.

Featured Answers

Hi M.....

I do not know if I can be of much help to you but my sister-in-law went through something very similar to what you are going through. It was not just in her hand, it was all over her body. She went from doctor to doctor and test after test nobody knew what was wrong. She also felt like all of this pain must be in her mind. She finally heard about a doctor located in Florida who diagnosed her with "Fibromyalgia" He changed her diet and told her she needed to start exercising. Since she changed a few thing's she seems to be feeling a lot better. Again, I do not know if this is anything similar to what you are experiencing but I wanted to pass it along to you just in case. I hope you find out what's wrong soon and start feeling better.

K.

More Answers

When I was going through pains that no one could tell me where they came from I got frustrated too. After almost a year I went to a Chiropractor and he was able to help me out a lot. He treated a Fibromyalsia support group and saw noticed that what felt good to others was actually sorta painful to me when he did his adjustments (but felt GREAT after I was adjusted)He asked me if I had been having pains that no one could find anwers for etc and told me to ask my doctor about Fibromyalsia. I did and after doing the right tests I was finally able to find relief. Good luck.

I went through a very similar situation after a car accident. No broken bones, no strained muscles, yet I was in such severe pain at times I couldn't move. After two years of pain and going to 12 specialists, I was diagnosed with Neuropathic Pain. I don't know the specifics of it but I remember that nothing would show up on x-rays, cat scans or any of the other tests they subjected me to (about 40 in all). They finally did a kind of test for the nerves and it showed a little abnormal. The doctor put me on rest for 4 weeks and a (at the time) new drug called Neurontin. After 3 weeks on the pills I was like a new woman. You might ask your doctor about it. I remember the test they did for the nerves used a little stick to check signal levels or something like that. (Sidenote, my fourth doctor told me the pain was because I was an overweight smoker and the sixth doctor told me that the fourth doctor was full of it lol)
I hope you feel better soon.... ~S.

HI M.,
I believe with all my heart that Mannatech products (natural supplements) can help your aches and pains tremendously. www.Mannatech.com and www.glycoscience.org and www.glycoresources.org are informative websites. If you would like to have more information, please contact me at ###-###-####. Also, there is a meeting this Thursday night. 8/24 in Plano. The speaker is a SAHM who can help you answer any questions that I might not be able to answer. She is a WONDERFUL Christian lady who speaks from her heart. Hope to hear from you soon.
Passion to help others,
A.
(SAHM w/ 3 beautiful children and 15yrs. married to my high school sweetheart)

My mom and my best friends mom have Fibromyalgia. I may not have spelled it right, but you could ask your doctor if that is what is wrong with you. It is a fancy word for traveling pain. The pain is always moving, and some days you hurt so bad you can't get out of bed. I am so sorry you are hurting so bad, I hope you will find some relief. I hope I was able to help.

M.:

Thanks for sharing this. I thought I was the only one with this kind of problem.

For over 15 years, I'm suffering about almos the same simptoms you present, in my left leg, a little up from the ankle.

I'm from Guatemala and there, I visited so many Dr. for years (sport Drs., internists etc.), they ran several tests and nobody could find the cause of the pain.

Three years ago, I moved to US to married my fiancee (he's American), and here, several doctors tryed to determinate what causes the pain. Finally, few months ago, one of them sayd it is tendonitis (and before, several doctors discarted it), but is in a certain area where is hard to be diagnotic. It was, he said, because I use to wear high healls shoes for so long and started doing this being so young.

The sad part is that he said...there's no cure for this, only relief. So I'm trying to keep my mind out of this and when the pain is too hard, I just take any pain relief like Tylenol or Advil. He also recomended some exercises and cold-hot therapy.

Well...at least now I know what happen in my leg. If it turns worse, I'll try different alternatives, like accupunture or I'll continue my research about this.

If you receive any good advice, please share this with me.

Thanks,

E. T.

DIOS ES FIEL

Hi M. I'm E.. I've been a nurse for 20 years and seen more unanswered questions than answered. I have recently run across my own health issues with again the traditional doctors throwing up their hands. I have a good christian friend who works in the alternative world of medicine and she encouraged me to go to an Alternative clinic in Rowlett and see a Dr. Hammon. It's the best thing I've ever done to keep me healthy. If you are trying to find answers, they can at least look in the areas that the traditional doctors have not. Clinic Phone# ###-###-####. Liz

Hi M.,

I would recommend visiting a chiropractor. Your spine controls everything about your body and if something is out of place, it could cause the pain. If you are in Dallas, I recommend Dr. Kevin Smith, Trinity Family Chiropractic, ###-###-####.

Hi M.....

I do not know if I can be of much help to you but my sister-in-law went through something very similar to what you are going through. It was not just in her hand, it was all over her body. She went from doctor to doctor and test after test nobody knew what was wrong. She also felt like all of this pain must be in her mind. She finally heard about a doctor located in Florida who diagnosed her with "Fibromyalgia" He changed her diet and told her she needed to start exercising. Since she changed a few thing's she seems to be feeling a lot better. Again, I do not know if this is anything similar to what you are experiencing but I wanted to pass it along to you just in case. I hope you find out what's wrong soon and start feeling better.

K.

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