stiffness

how many of you have pretty bad stiffness - not joint pain as such just a feeling of immobility-siezing-up!!

[shells17]

I actually get more stiffness than joint pain. It is always the worst when I wake up and when I go to bed. My shoulders, neck, and lower back get the worst of it, but I get it in my legs and even my ribs/torso, too.

[cindy903]

yeah, count me in. more stiff than swelling of joints. so i don't fit the standard "lyme arthritis" profile -- at all. I don't know if this particular symptom overlaps with fibro or not. Seems to me it would

[patsy10]

Oh yes.  It's become one of my worse symptoms at this point in time.  When I get up after sitting, especially after getting out of a car it takes about 30 steps before I can walk right without limping.

[gorbybelle]

Oh! I thought most lyme's !!  have painful joints rather than stiffness - so I am not alone on that one either.  I often limp after sitting like patsy10.  

Well I am on the subject - do any of you feel your back/ribs crack sometimes when you take a fairly deep breath-in, I notice it mostly when I am lying in bed at night?

[patsy10]

My sternum cracks. My jaw cracks.  The list keeps going.....

[JackieCalifornia]

Yes, stiffness and achiness of muscles much more than joint pain.  A hot shower in the morning helps.

When I first got sick, I dreaded the mornings, because I would begin to wake up and then as adrenalin (?) moved through my body it would HURT so bad I could hardly stand it, and I can take a lot of pain.  I usually feel lousy in the mornings, even without the aches, so it was just more misery.

[gorbybelle]

yeah, a hot shower in the morning helps me too  [once I can summon the energy to get there - I go creaking and cracking in !!! ] -

even the pressure of water , between my shoulder blades/neck area,  can be painful at first but I leave the shower sooooo much quieter!!!

[wonko]

Closing in on four months into treatment, my joint issues are at the top of my list (or near it) most days.

I too seize up if I am confined (such as on a plane), and this is in addition to the joint pain.  The pain can be sharp, esp. in my ankles it feels like there are large spikes going through them sometimes in the morning, and rotating my feet even slightly is terribly painful.

I blame a lot of this on inflammation, and try to exercise regularly and stretch a lot to keep it in check.

I need to be wary of hot showers, as the heat can cause me problems.  It can activate many paresthesias in me (like tingling or pins and needles), and can also make me feel wiped out.  On a recent weekend morning, I was feeling relatively good until I took too long and too hot a shower.  The result was that I had to stay in bed for several hours to recover.