I was hoping that some of you Mommas out there could help me with this annoying and very weird arm pain. Maybe you have either experienced this yourself or are a nurse/doctor but I would really like to avoid a trip to the doctors if possible. Saturday afternoon I started to feel a slight discomfort in back of my upper arm but nothing that seemed bad enough to really give a second thought to. Then Sunday morning I woke up and attempted to lift my arms over my head to tie my hair up and I almost hit the ground in pain. Not sure how to describe the pain other than a pinched nerve but it literally criples me when I make that motion (arm over my head). All day Sunday I was in agony everytime I went to even slightly lift my arm either forward and up or to the side and up and sometimes when I would put pressure to use it. I am not 100% positive but this really really does not feel like muscle pain at all. When I went to bed Sunday night I was almost in tears because the pain was that bad. Then the next day when I got up (Monday) as stupid as I looked I had my husband tie my arm to my body around my chest to prevent me from being able to lift it and I swear it worked. I went to bed last night and there was ALMOST no pain or discomfort. With that being said if I attempted to lift it at all I can tell that the pain is very much still there. It is just if I dont use my arm that I am okay. I have also noticed some discomfort in my shoulder and a bit of tension in the palm of my hand. Does this at all sound like a pinched nerve and if so wouldnt I have recalled what I did to cause such pain? If it is will this go away on its own? Can a doctor even do something for this? Tylenol is helping a bit and the heating pads are doing nothing.
Thank you all so much for any advice and have a great day
My first thought was blood clot. Is it warm to the touch? If its still there I would probably go to the dr just incase it is, if it unlodges you could be a lot worst. I know you didnt want to go to the dr but any sudden pain that lasts like that needs to be tended to
If you are in THAT much pain you probably should go to the doc if it lasts more than 3 or 4 days. Try putting an ice pack and then heat every 10 minutes. I would try motrin rather than tylenol, or Alleve. Could be a pinched nerve since you have a weird feeling all the way down to your palm.
I'd probably hit the chiropractor before going to my medical doc tho, that's just the way I do pain like that.
**Don't discount that heart problems show up as arm and neck pain in some women.... I don't want to scare you, but since I'm probably older than you it makes me think like that :)
This sounds like bursitis to me. It's almost the exact description I gave my doctor when my arm first started to hurt. He gave me a shot of cortisone and sent me on my way with instruction to not move it if I didn't have to. 2 weeks later I could not move it at all. The shoulder had seized up completely! Basically, the separate bones in the shoulder joint had fused together making the shoulder joint one big immobile bone. Rather then go for surgery I chose therapy. I went to therapy 3 times a week for 6 months. It didn't really help. Even after our insurance ran out and I could not afford to go to therapy anymore I still was not able to move my arm very much. And I still had a lot of pain. It took almost a full year before I could finally raise above my waist. And slowly over time it got better, till I now have almost full range of motion. It took several years to get this far though. But I am also very careful now. If I feel the least bit of twinge in my arm or shoulder, it scares me. I am so afraid of it happening again. BTW I did nothing to injure my arm initially. It just happened, it's not always a result of injury.
Go to a doctor to have some tests and ex-rays done. If it is bursitis, get started on the treatment now. Don't wait! If it requires surgery, go for it. If it ever happens to my arm again, and it's always possible it will, I plan to get the surgery. I can not go thru that again for years!
I would hit the chiropractor first. Less invasive. They can do a full exam on you with x-rays and narrow down the problem. If they can't handle it, they'll refer you to the MD or an ortho for further evaluation. Why go through steroid injections (that eat away joints, by the way), when you can start the natural way and go from there. My chiro has always been a lifesaver.
Are you at the computer, typing for any given length of time? do you sleep on your side? I sometimes have this type of pain. It could be a pinched nerve. If it continues though, you should see your doctor.
I was having the same type of pain. Was beginning to think it was a heart attack because I had heard that was a signal but no other pain so then calmed down!!
A month later at my regular checkup, I asked about it. The doctor called it bursitis. I had way too much sodium in my system and was making me swell. Sure enough, since I have cut back on sodium, no pain at all!! And I can feel it when I do overdo it and get puffy again!
What type of activities were you doing prior to the pain?
I have some roto-cuff damage, and whenever I do heavy, repetitive arm motions, like shoveling, sweeping, swinging a bat, I experience pain in my shoulder, and sometimes, down my arm, depending on the level of activity. Keeping my shoulder still makes the pain go away. Lifting my arm, after overdoing it, is very painful.
With that being said, I am not a doctor or nurse. I would suggest you go ahead and go see one. But, think about your activities prior to the pain starting to help the Dr. figure it out.
Feel Better
God Bless
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I fell off my deck on to a half barrel planter. I ruptured my C5-6 disk and my C-6 nerve was impinged. If I had access to a gun I would have used it. I was going to the ER several times a night begging them to knock me out. I felt like I had a girdle around my arm and it was continuously compressing and squeezing my arm. I could not feel my hands and fingers very well. I found a position to lay in that sort of turned the pain off a bit.
If it is a pinched nerve the only way to fix it is to go to the doc. He should give you a Medrol pack. It is a steroid that you take a whole row of the first day, all the next row the second day (It has one less pill that the first row), the so on until you are at the end and only have 1 pill to take. By the 3rd day I was pain free.
I did physical therapy for several weeks and learned some exercises to open up my neck joints to relive pressure. The one that works the best is where I do neck pushes...sounds odd I know.
You know how you tuck the pillow under your chin when you are going to put the pillowcase on the other end and pull it up? That's a neck/chin push. Get a good size pillow and gently extend your neck by moving your chin towards your chest with the pillow under the chin. I get a big stretch in my neck by doing this. There are a lot of exercises to strengthen the neck online, just google it. You should find one with lots of pictures.
Stretching the upper back is also good to relieve pain and pressure. I find doing a door push-up opens up the rib cage and makes my upper back feel much better. Stand facing a corner and put your hands, palm towards the wall, about shoulder or breast high and lean in like you are doing a push up. This stretches the sternum out and really makes a difference. Do it slowly, not like exercise but more of a stretch.
I find that ice helps relieve the inflammation also. The physical therapist told me to take Styrofoam cups and fill them about 1/2 - 2/3 full and freeze them. When you are feeling a lot of pain in a pressure point then have someone take a cup of ice out and peel the top off until they expose the dome. Then they can hold the ice for a long time with out getting frozen hands. They can use pressure while rubbing too. This helps reduce the inflammation in the area and helps it heal. As it warms back up the blood flows to the area bringing much needed oxygen and nutrients to heal the injury.
Motrin or another inflammartoy medicationwill give you much better reaults that Tylenol or some other regular pain med. You need to reduce the inflammation and irritation on the nerve or even the muscle if it's something else.
Going to a doc who can write a prescription for a steroid is what you need to do. "If" you do have a pinched nerve it may even require surgery. I did not have insurance and could not do the emergency surgery the surgeon thought I needed. He wanted to bump some surgeries and get me in the next morning. I had to decline.
I have constant numbness in my right hand and fingers. It is worse some days than others due to how I am treating my body. If I am stressed and I am wearing my shoulders up to my ears then of course my muscles are way, way, way, tense and that is not good for any of my health. If I do relaxation on a regular basis and take care of myself I can be almost pain free and not fumble and drop everything I try to manage with my hands and fingers.
Nerve damage can occur if it is in crisis. The longer you wait for medical treatment the more the nerve dies. Call the doc and find out if they want to see you. I would not want to take a bunch of pain pills and go to bed. I use the other treatments instead, the steroids, the ice, the exercises, etc....
I will also say that if heat helps it feel better it's probably not a nerve but a muscular issue instead.The same exercises can help stretch them out and the Motrin will still help but the Medrol pack won't be needed as far I know.
Perhaps a cortisone shot would help but I am not sure. I've had cortisone for trigger finger, an inflamed knee, and swelling/pain in my foot. The cortisone will reduce inflammation. Feel better soon.
