Thanks for all your posts. Encouraging to know that I may not be crazy after all. I'm going to a rheumatologist at the end of the week and I will mention all of this to him. Thanks for all the advice! I will keep all of you updated.
Hi
Welcome to the MedHelp forum!
There are many causes of multiple joint pains. Apart from general examination and MRI (of one joint only) there are a few tests you should get done. Maybe going to a rheumatologist will be a good idea. You can go for rheumatic serology tests which are done for a group of diseases like rheumatoid arthritis, ankylosing spondylitis, rheumatic diseases of heart and joints and others like SLE, Sjogren’s syndrome, inflammatory bowel disease etc. All these cause multiple joint pain, usually shifting in nature with joints getting involved one by one.
The other tests should aim at rheumatoid arthritis (RA Factor is done) and gout. Discuss this with your doctor.
Hope this helps. It is difficult to comment beyond this at this stage. Please let me know if there is any thing else and do keep me posted. Take care!
I'm glad you don't want to get caught in the med addiction again. My body was addicted to demerol for a time myself a few years back (migraines).
Fibro can have remission periods, so you can be feeling better sometimes and other times, lousy. And often times, things like ibuprofen don't help the fibromyalgia pain (according to relative). I think periods of remission maybe true with things like lupus as well.
I still recommend you go to a rheumatologist to try to get a diagnosis and tell them you want to not go the addictive med route for your pain.
I saw on tv where they did a study for knee arthritis using true acupuncture needle sites and others had the needles placed in the wrong places. It prove those who got actual acupuncture the way it was supposed to be done had a much larger percentage of the people who were actually helped by it. That is non-narcotic. I have had acupuncture a number of times and you really need someone who knows what they are doing, so you might try to see how experienced they are, where they did their training, that sort of thing.
You might also look into flaxseed oil capsules or enteric coated fish oil capsules (I take the former and it seems to help some with my jaw arthritis). These are sources of anti-inflammatory omega fatty acids. You might try physical therapy as well, with ultrasound (gives deep heat), ice and moist heat paks.
I use naturemade brand of Sam-E which states it is clinically proven for joint comfort. Ibuprofen has to be taken at at least 600 mg at one time, I had a doctor tell me, to do any good for inflammation. For my jaws, when they were REALLY bad, I had to take cyclic ibuprofen for weeks at a time. Hard on the system.
Well, Just a physical exam on my shoulders and knee but I had an MRI done on my SIJ and it was normal. I'm not sure how else to tell them that I'm in pain! I have struggled with pain killer addiction for a long time so that is not an option. I'm really trying hard to stay away from any narcotics. ( a little personal victory of mine but I am still dealing with it) So..If this is some kind of arthritis is there any effected pain medication that is non-narcotic? I've taken tramadol (which is a euphoric and addictive substance) and darvocet, also addictive. Advil and Tylenol dont come close to helping. I dont think I have fibromyalgia because its not pain on a constant basis but when it does hurt, It REALLY hurts...let me know what you think.
I'd ask your doctor for a referral to a rheumatologist. They can check you for arthritis and for fibromyalgia. Is your doctor basing the "inflamed ligament" on MRI or just physical examination?