hi all, haven’t posted on here for a while, infact i think this is my 3rd post. Still coming to terms with having been diagnosed late last year, to being made redundant and having to add an extra 2 hours on my working day because of a new job, so haven’t really had time to make contact here. I digress…
Wanted to know if my latest pain is something others have experienced or just some offshoot of what was frozen shoulder (supposedly)
I have sharp stabbing pains, sometimes it burns, in my bicep when trying to scratch my back sometimes though when lying on side it starts. was having treatment to free up my shoulder some months ago and so im wondering if its related to that or has anyone else experienced anything like this.
I also went to my neurologist and mentioned brain fog to him he had never heard of this, how do u cope when u try to tell yr specialist whats happening to you and they look at you like your crazy. sigh
One last question to the many. I have changed my diet and this year have become vegetarian, wondering if any one else feels this dietary change has had any benefit to their ms.
it’s very difficult to describe your symptoms even to people who have ms. a good friend who also has ms looked at me like i was having him on when i said that i felt like i was walking on razor blades. (my feet are the most painful part of my body). your neuro needs to brush up on his bedside manner. surely he’s heard of a woolly head, well that’s what we call brain fog. i really don’t know about the pain in your bicep and whether it has anything to do with the treatment you had. however i sympathise with your burning bicep, my feet burn all the time, so much that i can’t sleep for it. i seldom eat meat and am mostly vegetarian. that’s because i can’t chew meat properly. next time you see your neuro, talk about cognitive issues (that’s the terminology they use). and the burning feeling too. it’s as if my faulty wiring is about to cause a fire! hope you get answers soon carole x
Your arm sounds more muscular that neurological to me. But then it could easily be due to an odd nerve thing that’s made you hurt the muscle. Or be entirely neurological. That’s one of the things that’s so blasted annoying about MS. The fact that we do all have differing symptoms. Or similar symptoms but from different causes. Even though we have theoretically the same disease.
I have pain in my upper arms and shoulders but I know mine is definitely muscular because I lean too heavily on my walker. But this is almost certainly different in causation than yours.
With regard to Brain Fog, it’s not actually called that. Strictly speaking, by brain fog we are talking about cognitive problems, memory lapses or sometimes fogginess caused by fatigue. People with MS, and some medical professionals do tend to understand what’s meant by brain fog. Of course, we (the users of this forum) know about our long running Brain Fog thread. But you shouldn’t judge your neurologist for not knowing the term. Try telling him you are having memory problems, or cognitive issues, or difficulty multitasking.
Your diet could easily benefit your health. Many people follow specific diets aimed at improving MS symptoms. Personally, my diet is dictated to some extent by having had a colostomy. Plus, whatever the Forums diet Queen, TraceyDC says (she’s qualified).
Many thanks Carol & Sue. it is a frustrating illness and so much the medical profession have to learn as well as me. i have a electric massager and have been using this on my arm, it seems to give me some relief so it probably is muscular, having spent 7 weeks last September laying on my bad shoulder (only side i didn’t feel nauseous) i’ve probably caused it, but to only start 6 months later out of the blue its weird.
I dont know if becoming a vegie has helped me, i know some people feel they have more energy, perhaps it has lessened the fatigue i do feel. I shall have to look up some of TracyDC posts. heres to the cooler weather.
Hi i had very similar in my left arm it was horrible, stabbing really bad and my doctor said it was neuralgia or a form of nerve pain. It did eventually go away on its own. I have had frozen shoulder years ago it was the worse pain ever, but not had it since.
Hi Jacky, I pulled a muscle last year and I’m still having problems with my arm.
I have the stabbing/ burning pains you describe, particularly when raising my arm above my head( trying to put my hair up is a pain( literally!)) or reaching across or behind for things - last night I couldn’t undo my bra and hubby is away at the moment so it made it particularly awkward!
My MS nurse, who is lovely and seems to know her stuff, says that the MS slows the healing process down so it could be to do with this.
She’s told me to stick with it and keep exercising to hopefully improve it. Exercise does seem to help- we were going to the gym regularly for about 6 months before circumstances meant we stopped for a while (a stinking cold, my husbands bad back and laziness mainly!(in my defence, I was also diagnosed with epilepsy at the same time as MS so can’t drive, so makes it a big difficult to get to the gym if he’s not going, as it’s a bit of a distance and even more of an effort to walk!))
I’m going back to the gym today and giving it my best shot at getting fitter, anything to try and keep on top of this horrible disease.
I am going to look at being referred for physio re the arm, to make sure I’m doing the correct exercises but my MS nurse says there is a long waiting list so I’ll see if it’s any quicker through my gp(!)
By the way, has anyone got any tips on injecting copaxone? I’m using the auto injector as I don’t think I could do it manually and have only been using it for a few weeks but I seem to be getting worse at it, not better!
I often have a sharp pain in both biceps. I believe that it is caused by spasticity in the upper arms and that the muscles are in a constant state of contraction.
There’s no harm in massage and you could add stretching as an exercise. One example, I was given by a physiotherapist, is to hang off the top of a door, using the body weight to stretch the arm.
Hi Jacky, I apologise for my late reply, Sue knows me very, very well. As regard to your diet, the question is are you happy going veggie or do you feel like it’s a lifestyle change you are willing to tolerate? There have been many things written about vegetarian diets & the benefits of it in relation to many illnesses as well as MS. Some are often very restricted & cannot be maintained. Unfortunately, whether any such diet is promoted there hasn’t been enough studies done to endorse them & the results are vague. You do need to consider that a vegetarian diet could be lacking in B12, calcium, iron & vit D for example. If your veg diet is including foods that are high in these nutrients, you won’t need to take in extra supplements. B12 is only found naturally from animal sources, therefore you need it from ie Marmite, fortified breakfast cereals, oily fish, eggs, milk & milk products. Protein is essential. Eggs, milk, nuts, soya to name but a few. Chicken & turkey are good, but obviously not for vegetarians!!!. My advice if your not usually vegetarian is a balanced diet, chicken, lean meat & plenty of fruit & veg, portion size, sounds boring & much of a muchness, but too restricted & you will fail &/or lose too much weight & become deficient in vital nutrients. If you are happy going totally veggie, be mindful of your intake of the nutrients is my advice, don’t take too much notice of advertised super diets, they are not proven to the degree of certainty. We worked on the 80/20 diet, be good most of the time, but have at least some treats, that way you are not feeling short changed. I realise that taking advice from a total Gin head is probably placing seeds of doubt, but trust me, I am qualified as Sue said, just not very good at my own advice. I do however eat wellAnother thing, don’t be tempted to replace meat with treats high in sugar or fat, believe me it does happen!!! Some people benefit, some do not, it’s a choice. Healthy diet is my recommendation, with some treats. Hope that helps Tracey xx
Just to add, I agree with all the replies, it does sound like a muscle pain rather than nerve, I suffer terribly with nerve pain & RA, the nerve pain is quite different to the RA pain. xx