Arm pain??? Any MD's in the house???

Question

For the past several days I've been having pretty severe arm pain. The pain resides in my right arm and ranges from my fingers, hand, forearm, elbow, top of my shoulder, under my arm, and a little on the right side of my neck. This is a problem for me because I am a right handed student and writer and I am also doing a lot more driving than usual lately. Is this Rhumatoid Arthritis? Diabetes? Carpal Tunnel Syndrome? I've already been to my PCP and a Neurologist and they're not sure what it could be. Any ideas please let me know, I have an upcoming appointment where I would like to find out the reason I am in so much pain. Only serious responses only please, thank-you for your time.

Answer 1

The avenue of response from me would be, I feel your pain. I can say that, due to something you have written. You stated you are a writer; that is the one thing that stuck out like a sore thumb.

I am a writer. As a matter of fact, I am a serious writer who doesn't know the meaning of backing away and resting. I will go to the local park and sit in one place for five and six hours, writing in a new novel or maybe a poem or two. Right now I have written five stories; four of which are novel length of over 85000 words. I also have over six hundred poems. The pain on my right side was terrible; then, my fingers had also started hurting.

I had been to several specialists and have had scans and x-rays; they did not show anything. Since the pain is not in my mind, I kept seeking help. I finally found a doctor who asked me if I am a writer. You see, I use a laptop computer on the outside and have a desk-top computer set up for inside work.

There is a word that you need to know; that word in ergonomics. You are young and need to change your way of doing things. As for me, I am a fifty-eight year old man who went from pencil and paper, to a manual typewriter, to an electric typewriter, and finally two monstrous pain yielding computers.

For you, do not use the same muscles for long-distance driving as you use when writing. Also, try to do away with those things you learned in typing classes; they are an invitation to pain. My doctor has advised me to learn to type like I only have a single hand. At first, it was slow, but now I can do rather well. I use the right hand only for things that require two hands. By the way, I am 40000+ words into a new story, a left hand typed story.

Answer 2

Do you use a mouse with your computer a lot?

do you drive with a stick shift, or rest your hand on the stick shift even when not shifting?

Repetitive Stress Injury or Repetitive Movement injury or vibration based injury is likely.

given that it goes from fingers all the way up, i suspect that there is 1 cause, and as you try to compensate (rest that pained are) the injury is moving up, OR there are several things in your computer set up that are not set up for your height, chair, arm height, the glare, etc.

Try seeing a doc that is used to seeing work injuries, esp. those related to computers.


this is a pretty good start.
http://images.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://ergo.human.cornell.edu/dea651/dea6512k/ideal_posture_1.jpg&imgrefurl=http://ergo.human.cornell.edu/dea651/dea6512k/ergo12tips.html&h=531&w=600&sz=87&hl=en&start=2&tbnid=tQr-IaKvyv8geM:&tbnh=119&tbnw=135&prev=/images%3Fq%3Dergonomics%2B%2522computer%2Bworkstation%2522%26svnum%3D10%26hl%3Den%26lr%3D%26sa%3DN%26as_qdr%3Dall

Answer 3

I'm not a doctor but had VERY similar pains and had surgery for transposition of my Ulnar nerve and Carpal Tunnel. It helped soooooo much. Ask them to check your Ulnar nerve along with your wrists.

Best wishes to you.

Answer 4

I SUPPOSE IT TO BE A CASE OF CERVICAL SPONDYLITIS.
DUE TO IMPROPER POSTURE OF SLEEP OR ANY JERK ON NECK REGION CERVICAL SPINES TEND TO SLIP OFF THEIR POSITION AND LEAD TO COMPRESSION OF NERVE. AFTER COMPRESSION THROUGHOUT THAT NERVE ROUTE PAIN OCCURS AND PERSISTS FOR LONGER TIME.

AVOID TAKING PILLOW. APPLY ANY ANTI-INFLAMATORLY GEL THROUGH OUT THAT ROUTE AND TAKE U-S GUIDED PHYSIOTHERAPY FOR ABOUT ONE WEEK.
FOLLOW UP WITH X-RAY CERVICAL SPINE A.P. AND LATERAL VIEW.

ASK OUR PHYSICIAN TO ADD M-COBALAMINE UPTO 1500mcg DAILY AND MUSCLE RELAXANTS. WITH GOD'S GRACE ALL WILL BE FINE WITH IN A SHORT WHILE.


ANY FURTHER QUERY DO MAIL ME @ [e-mail]

Answer 5

PINCHED NERVE IN YOUR NECK IS WHAT IT SOUNDS LIKE TO ME.