August 24, 2012

Slow Down Possible in My Blogs

I am not sure what will happen or when. This is so frustrating and wearing on me. I have had a variety of experiences, but no conclusion or definitive word on what is happening or causing me my pain.

On or about the first of August, I started having some pain in the wrist, elbow and shoulder on my right side. After relieving some of the shoulder pain being caused by a rib out of place, the area from the top of the wrist to the elbow became much more inflamed.

On August 8 after not being able to sleep because of my pain, I went to the local emergency room. I estimate that on a scale of 0 to 10, my pain was at least eight if not slightly higher. The doctor on call was sure I had rheumatoid arthritis and did x-rays to locate spurs. After finding none and my comment of not being aware of any arthritis in my family, I got a litany of possible problems – bursitis, tendonitis, and many more “itis” words. I was given a gel prescription, a non-steroidal pain medication with a prescription, and a wrist support to limit my wrist movement, and sent on my way with instructions to see my primary care doctor. The two medications did reduce my pain to about a 6 level, but the misery was still there and would come back before I could take the next pill or apply the gel.

I know I do not have carpel tunnel syndrome as the pain is on the top when my hand is palm down on a flat surface. It starts just before my wrist bone and extends from there to my elbow and the up the outside of my arm to the front and back of my shoulder. I do have to wonder about the bursitis, as I do not have more pain when moving my arm or elbow as bursitis is supposed to affect movement in the joints and is caused by the pad between the bone joints losing its pliancy.

In attempting to get a refill of the pain medication, I needed to see my primary care physician again, go through some more x-rays, and make sure that I had no cracked bones or other injuries that the previous x-rays had missed. The current medication that I am now taking does reduce the pain level to about 2 to 3 and is helpful. I am also taking ibuprofen requested by the specialist that will see me next month to determine what else needs to be done – from nothing to repairing the tendons.

In the meantime, the time I am spending on the computer and doing a lot of typing is becoming a chore and is irritating the muscles in my arm. I will be working on blogs as long as I feel able to continue, but you will have to allow me to miss some days when I am having more pain that I can work with.

Through all this, my blood glucose levels have remained stable which with the pain and inflammation is a total surprise, but is very much appreciated and helps in dealing with the different pain levels and different medications. Will need to pay attention and see what the next few weeks hold.

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