Extreme Joint pain undiagnosed

[Carissa11]

Hi, I've beed to several doctors, done X-Rays and all of the doctors seem to think it's nothing. But I believe if my joints constantly hurt, then something is wrong! I had Thyroid surgery 2 years ago and every since my joints have started hurting. It started in my wrists. Down the outside of my hand( Along my "pinky finger") Starts on the edge of my hand and into my wrists. It feels like i need to pop it! ( Keep in mind, in school with my friends, they thought it was cool to pop their joints and I never would) So when I roll my wrist, it grinds and  throws out huge pops. My doctor put a wrist splint on me but that did nothing. Not long after it moved up into my shoulder, on the same side(Right) Underneath my scapula is a very disturbing, painful grind and popping noise. When i sit at a table for a long period of time it gets worse and worse. I put icy hot on it every night and sometime gives a little relief but still at the end of day it is very painful. After, the shoulder, it moved up into my neck, now its the worst pain, it feels like I need to stretch it out constantly, which makes it pop and grind. Now all of this is moving into the left side of my body and I want it stopped before it hits all of my joints like the Right side. Please help! I need somewhere to start researching myself since my doctors keep brushing it off. I'm only 20 years old.

[christi769]

My suggestion would be to consult a rheumatologist, I was having some of the same symptoms as you several years ago in my early 30's and the blood test at my regular doctor said I had "Lupus", so I was sent to a rheumatologist and an entire new panel of blood work was done, they took 10 tubes of blood out in one day. Finally the result was Sjogren's Syndrome which is treated with medication and it also has some interesting characteristics in that your body can go into a dormant place and the joint pain was as severe as yours. If you have good insurance just make the appt yourself unless you need a referral from your primary.Try it. Hope this helps

[Carissa11]

Thank you so much! I'll look it up now.... My endocrinologist had me taking Vitamin B12 after the Thyroid surgery. We did several blood tests to make sure it was OK and it always was... maybe somethings happened to it between now and then... Thanks

[TheVgirl]

I would suggest you ask your doctor for a complete blood workup including CBC, Vitamin B12, Vitamin D, and an ANA and whatever other tests they run for AutoImmune/Inflammatory diseases.  Google "Symptoms of Vitamin B12 deficiency" and Symptoms of Vitamin D deficiency."  Both cause severe joint pain.  Over last several years, I'd get up and hobble like an old woman and until I finally started going to doctor every time I had symptoms to show him how often and severe it was, I didn't have enough tests to semi-diagnose problem.  My issues were all attributed to Lyme Disease and me not knowing how serious it was or taking antibiotics as directed or following up on care because at that time I did not have insurance.  Now I have what is considered Delayed signs of late chronic Lyme disease.  My advantage is I went to doc-in-a-box and was tested for Lyme and it was positive so my now PCP doesn't think I'm nuts and referred me to several Lyme sites and the CDC for tracking symptoms and treatment.