does anyone get muscular pain

Just wanted to see if this is common, for approx 10 yrs I had what I believed was a weak shoulder, somethimes due to lifting I would get periods of pain and then it would go. This happened quite regularly but there was definitely times when it was much worse. After a neuro appointment I contacted my old osteopath from 2007 as itmust have been quite bad for a spell then for me to seek help and she advised me to contact my gp as at my lasr appointment I said I woukd go to the doctors. I called my doctors today and apparently I did visit and described a heavy arm , pins and needles , neck and side of face hurting etc. This makes me think this may have been ms back then but it was put down to nerve compression. So my question is do people get pain which seems muscular and if you press an area hurts more as I always thought if you coukd press an area that hurt and it was tender then it was a mechanical problem not an ms type problem. Also as this comes and goes sometimes for a few days and then ok for a few days would this be a symtom of ms as it is not a relapse everyweek I hope…I know we cant say how long we have had ms for but im now wondering if I have had it for about 10 years which has resulted in a week arm and shoulder. Any thoughts would be great thanks zoe

Hi Zoe. Yes I had really deep pains in the top of my right arm, trouble lifting to brush my hair, I was under Westminster for my optic nuritice where I was tested 6monthly, told the doctors assistant!!! She said not MS, 6months later when things got worse walking balance etc, and was dx, then they said yes the arm pain was undoubtedly ms now it was the same in the left arm, right arm ok. Told consultant that I had told his girl months ago, and she dismissed it? He said its just not a normal symptom, but MS is like looking into a crystal ball, never know what it can do.

I cant lift my left arm anywhere near as good as the right one, I can touch my lfet ear with right hand not able to do the left arm high enough to getn anywhere near my right ear if that makes sense

My legs get deep pains inside.I was dx 20 odd years ago PPMS and have a host of experience to call on but for me everyday is differnet. Have fun and smile it confuses people

Hi Zoe,

I get that all the time down my right side from my shoulder down to my leg. I have mentioned this to my Neuro loads of times must he just nods his head. I have now been diagnosed with MS Possible Spms getting Mri on Tuesday.

Is yours as bad as that if so I think you should get a Neuro appointment asap and take a list of all your symptoms. This will help him/her with the diagnosis.

I hope this helps you Zoe.

This symptom sucks!

Robert.

Hi Zoe,

I get that all the time down my right side from my shoulder down to my leg. I have mentioned this to my Neuro loads of times must he just nods his head. I have now been diagnosed with MS Possible Spms getting Mri on Tuesday.

Is yours as bad as that if so I think you should get a Neuro appointment asap and take a list of all your symptoms. This will help him/her with the diagnosis.

I hope this helps you Zoe.

This symptom sucks!

Robert.

Hi Zoe, Although MS does not directly attack muscles, of course it affects them! Problems with nerve transmission can go on to cause mechanical problems. If nerve impulses to the muscle can’t get through properly, the use of it is restricted, and it may become weak and wasted. Conversely, if the muscle is receiving too many nerve impulses, telling it to contract when it doesn’t need to, it becomes stiff and tight (spasticity). It sounds to me as if your earlier shoulder problem may well have been the early signs of MS. Having said that, shoulder injuries are quite common in the general population, so it would probably be impossible ever to prove for sure. However, the pain extending to your face is a bit suspicious, to me. I don’t think a “normal” shoulder injury would affect the face too, and it’s not the sort of thing you hear people say, is it? “Oh, I’ve hurt my shoulder, and it’s gone to my face!” Most people’s reaction would be: “WHAT?” I don’t think it’s uncommon to have mild symptoms for several years before MS is diagnosed, or even suspected. I keep remembering, or finding evidence in letters and diaries, of health issues I was having years ago. My neuro admitted in his last letter that it’s possible I have up to a 24-year history of MS, despite being diagnosed less than four years ago. My legs were stiff and tight, and I had a lot of what seemed like unexplained injuries, back in my 20s. I’d also seen a chiro for neck and shoulder problems. None of these things seemed a big deal in themselves, and neither I nor anyone else connected them all. It’s only now, looking back, that I think I was ill quite young. Tina x

Tina my legs were alive with muscle sensation today and hurt like someone shoved 6 inch nails in my thighs put it down to heat or stopping my tizanidine either way not nice stayed in bed till 12o’clock sleeping so think it had disturbed me during the night. Gone now how does that work ?

Don

Hi Zoe

Before June 2013, when I suffered the major relapse that partially paralysed my whole left side and got me very quickly diagnosed with MS, I had never experienced muscle pain. Being very sporty, I had obviously experienced the odd muscle strain or tear and the pain it causes is obvious. You know when you’ve pulled a calf or hamstring muscle!

However, what I have experienced since that relapse is something quite different. It’s a classic neuropathic pain- a dull ache/ toothache pain. Only problem with this is that it tends to affect my thigh and hip muscles and not my teeth. The ‘ache’ may last one day or it may last several- it varies.

Back in June, I had no aches in my legs, but the ‘nagging’ ache was in my left shoulder blade. Again, it niggled me for about a fortnight and then completely disappeared.

At todays date (as she fiercely touches the wooden coffee table), I am currently ‘ache’ free. But no doubt, the aches will return in some place or another. I wait to see!

Since my diagnosis, I have accepted these ‘niggles’ as part and parcel of my life in ‘MS World’. Currently, to me, that’s what they are… niggles. I have MS, I just have to live with it. However, should the aches intensify and start to cause me discomfort, I’m confident that there are drug treatments available to help me along.

Neuropathic pain with MS is not unusual. That much I’ve learnt.

Tracyann

Hi, Yes I get ‘toothache’ all the time in my right arm and leg, good description Tracyann! Along with the fizzing, tingling pins and needles. My husband remembers me having random ‘leg ache’ on and off a lot when we were younger, so possibly early signs of the condition? think it’s quite common in MS, neuro just nods and ms nurse mentions that there are treatments (lyrica, gabapentin), but I haven’t found them particularly helpful. GP suggested mindfulness last time I saw him, Seems to be one of those things we have to put up with sadly, All the best, Gxxx

I’d just like to say that both neuropathic (nerve) pain AND muscular pain are common with MS. The treatments are not the same, so it’s important to try to work out which one you’ve got.

A fairly easy experiment you can do yourself - assuming you don’t have any reason you’re not allowed to take them - is to try an ordinary over-the-counter painkiller like cocodamol. If this helps, the pain is almost certainly not nerve pain, so Lyrica, gabapentin etc. won’t work at all - conventional painkillers will.

If the pain IS nerve pain, it’ll be the other way round. Nothing you can buy over the counter will help at all, and you’ll need specialist painkillers like Lyrica or gabapentin.

I hope this might help someone. Musculo-skeletal pain often seems to get overlooked in MS, so if you’ve been prescribed a load of things without success, but only ever for nerve pain, it could be that nerve pain isn’t the problem - even though neuros generally seem to assume it is. I’ve got conventional painkillers on prescription now. I don’t take anything at all for nerve pain, because I don’t really suffer from it much. It’s nearly all muscular.

Tina

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