Shoulder, forearm and wrist pain

Posted By Lisa on January 13, 1999 at 02:35:10:







About 6 years ago I started experiencing this sharp shooting pain in the thoracic (T3-T6) part of my back, but to the right of the spine - in the muscle area.  This went on for quite sometime, then it started to radiate from there to my shoulder and armpit area down into my arm and wrist.  (At the time of this I was a full-time office worker and worked on the computer most of the time.  I also had a horse farm and did a lot of work - from tossing feed bags and bales of hay).  I couldn't take the pain and finally saw a doctor.  I had two EMG's - the first being inconclusive and the second showed a mild case of carpal tunnel syndrome.  (I thought if this was mild - extreme must be unbearable).  I was given meds and told to come back if things weren't better......I could hardly hold a pen, let alone write, and my grasp - well, what grasp?!  Eventually, my wrist and hand just kinda flopped w/ virtually no control.  It went numb, felt cold and hot and sometimes sweaty.  I went back to the doctor and he was lost for words, gave me a wrist splint and told me I stressed a nerve somewhere just above the shoulder blade (lower brachial plexus??)  And it would "heal" in about a week.  It did get better over time and I quit my job abut 6 months later.  (Not being on the computer really helped.......Now, it's back.  But,  some of the symptoms vary.  The back pain is there again and I'm seeing a Chiropractor for that (C7,T4 and L1) and so far it's helped a little.  I've only been going a couple weeks.  Most of the pain now is starting in the shoulder (front), skips the bicep and goes to the forearm (underside) and into wrist (inside, under & top).  Sometimes the pain is isolated.  i.e. shoulder (specific spot) twitches/spasms and has sort of a pulsating/throbbing, sharp and burning feeling that maybe radiates a couple inches into the front of my bicep without pain in the forearm or wrist.  The same goes for my forearm and wrist.  Lately it's been inside wrist pain and top (same as shoulder).  What gets me is that the shoulder pain sticks around and the forearm and wrist just hit.  Extremely painful.  It's worse in the evening.  I tried just simple rotation of the wrist for a form of exercise and stretching.  At a certain point, when rotating clockwise, it pops (very irritating) and with counter-clockwise there's nothing and less pain.  I try to keep my wrist straightened as much as possible, but even preparing a simple meal caused pain and fatigue (almost the only time the forearm and wrist hurt together - except evening).  I noticed that my right shoulder/arm fatigue alot quicker than normal, with normal daily activities - followed by an achy feeling.  I also noticed that my right hand is cold when my left is normal.  This occurs daily no matter what I'm doing.  And sometimes if I lay/cross my arms resting on my stomach, that my ring and pinky fingers and the outside of my hand goes to numb and tingles.  I often wake up with that same feeling, no matter the position I'm in.  My shoulder is also very stiff in the morning, but once I get up and around it's okay.  The only thing, so far, that seems to help is ice and sleep (once I get there).  Another oddity is that, in order to fall asleep, I have to lay on that right side.  Extreme pressure seems to  dull the pain enough to fall asleep.  It's 10x worse if lay on my left side.....I'm in my late 20's and am the Stay-at-Home Mom of very busy pre-toddler.  I'm having trouble when picking him up, but I can't just stop caring for him, because I have this problem.  (The fact that he's 23 lbs. doesn't help - he's quite an arm load).  I've always carried him on my left side.....Can having a fall 15+ years ago possibly affect me now???  I appreciate your patience,  I'll explain briefly what happened.....I was running across the playground (asphault/concrete) when a kid threw a dodgeball at my feet.  My right hand, arm and shoulder "broke" my fall.  The school nurse treated me for the obvious (large chunk of skin out of the palm of my hand - closest to the wrist).  At the time that was all that seemed to hurt, until I got home.  My wrist and forearm (underside) were just pounding with excruciating pain.  Man, did it hurt. I couldn't hold a pencil or write.  It hurt no matter what.  I didn't want to move.  I was good at hiding pain back then. It eventually went away, but I was never treated for it.....Is it possible something was wrong and it healed incorrectly???  That popping w/ clockwise wrist rotation????  Is Carpal Tunnel back????  Overuse injury - muscle strain (shoulder area)????  Are they even connected????  I work part-time on a horse farm, caring for 14 horses (includng my own).  Could a jerk (when caught off guard) while leading one of the horses cause this????  That happens on occasion.  Any advice would be greatly appreciated!!!  I sincerely apologize for the length of my message. Thank you for taking the time to listen to me.....Take care....Lisa