Guest guest Posted January 24, 2005 Report Share Posted January 24, 2005 Mike, I apologize for not answering your query earlier but haven't felt like sitting at my computer yesterday or today. I saw your message yesterday and told myself I would answer first thing this morning but alas this is the first that I have felt like sitting up. When my RA first went active it started in my hands...they would ache and burn as I was driving. It took a long time for them to figure out what was wrong with me. I had so many things in the beginning and when I talked to them about pain what I was saying was contradictory until a doctor sat down and sorted it all out. My arm pain - partially due to thoracic outlet syndrome which is sometimes caused by an extra vertebrae in your neck (I don't have one) - or it is caused by a pinching of the 3 main veins/nerves that go through your neck to your shoulder...(mine doesn't pinch) then there are those that they don't know why it happens but that is me - I am not surprised... The telltale diagnosis is that if you are having your pulse taken and you lift your arm up slightly and turn your head to the opposite direction your pulse goes away. I sleep on my side with my head turned one way and my arm above my head - they have told me to sleep on my back but as yet have not been able to fall asleep that way or if I do I roll over during the night. If I can keep my arms down at my sides, it helps some but it has gotten worse over the years to the point now where I wake up and the hand feels as though it hasn't had any blood running to it for hours. now the 2nd reason I had arm and hand pain was a blown disc at C5/6 in my neck. I had it surgically removed and a cadaver disc put in its place...it helped for a while till the next disc blew...now I am starting to have problems again and it is probably the next disc up that is going...I have severe degenerative disc disease in my neck from my RA. If I was you, I would talk to my doctor and request that they do an MRI of your neck to rule out any disc problems. The leg could also be a disc in your lower back. They want to work on my lower back also to help out with my leg problems but so far I have kept them away from it and unless I bring it up they seem to forget about it till some PA goes through my records and sees the comments. I wish you the best of luck. God bless, Althea Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted January 24, 2005 Report Share Posted January 24, 2005 Mike, I apologize for not answering your query earlier but haven't felt like sitting at my computer yesterday or today. I saw your message yesterday and told myself I would answer first thing this morning but alas this is the first that I have felt like sitting up. When my RA first went active it started in my hands...they would ache and burn as I was driving. It took a long time for them to figure out what was wrong with me. I had so many things in the beginning and when I talked to them about pain what I was saying was contradictory until a doctor sat down and sorted it all out. My arm pain - partially due to thoracic outlet syndrome which is sometimes caused by an extra vertebrae in your neck (I don't have one) - or it is caused by a pinching of the 3 main veins/nerves that go through your neck to your shoulder...(mine doesn't pinch) then there are those that they don't know why it happens but that is me - I am not surprised... The telltale diagnosis is that if you are having your pulse taken and you lift your arm up slightly and turn your head to the opposite direction your pulse goes away. I sleep on my side with my head turned one way and my arm above my head - they have told me to sleep on my back but as yet have not been able to fall asleep that way or if I do I roll over during the night. If I can keep my arms down at my sides, it helps some but it has gotten worse over the years to the point now where I wake up and the hand feels as though it hasn't had any blood running to it for hours. now the 2nd reason I had arm and hand pain was a blown disc at C5/6 in my neck. I had it surgically removed and a cadaver disc put in its place...it helped for a while till the next disc blew...now I am starting to have problems again and it is probably the next disc up that is going...I have severe degenerative disc disease in my neck from my RA. If I was you, I would talk to my doctor and request that they do an MRI of your neck to rule out any disc problems. The leg could also be a disc in your lower back. They want to work on my lower back also to help out with my leg problems but so far I have kept them away from it and unless I bring it up they seem to forget about it till some PA goes through my records and sees the comments. I wish you the best of luck. God bless, Althea Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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