Question regarding bilateral arm pain and weakness?

[tj3762]

Hi everybody,

I hope everyone is doing okay on the forum.

I have a question regarding arm pain and weakness.

I have had now for about one month continuous, pain on movement and weakness/heaviness in both of my arms or bilateral.  I noticed this initially in my left arm, having pain in elbow that moved up into my shoulder.  I also started having problems lifting my coffee cup up due to lack of strength.

Then, I started having the same problem in my right arm, exact same thing.  It has been going on now for a while and the nurse practitioner at the Pain Management Unit said maybe I needed an MRI of my neck.  My neurologist did not say too much about it, but he did give me Toradol injections as an initial first order treatment for my migraine attacks with my Dilaudid, etc. so I do not have to go to the ER for Dilaudid shot.

If anybody has an idea what this is, I would appreciate it.

P.S.  I am still in limboland and no diagnosis after 11 years, although I am being treated as if I do have DX, but no particular MS drugs.

Thanks,

Terri

[tj3762]

Thanks JJ,

I totally understand what you are saying.  I have never had problems with both arms at the same time nor anything like this.  It is as you have described, in that you can only do so much and then they drop.  It was the coffee cup that threw me for a loop.

I do think it is possible that my "benign MS" as my first neurologist called it...lol...is actually in my spinal cord and not my brain since all of my MRIs over 11 years has shown not one scarred lesion.  

I told my new neuro last week, that I would try and ride this out, although I might get some EMGs done to check it out.  

I am so thankful all my doctors are treating my painful symptoms even though I have no diagnosis yet.

Today though I did get one new diagnosis of "rosacea" by a dermatologist, who said it is an inherited condition.  If it is not one thing after another....

Thanks again and take care, and fight the fight....bye....

terri

[tj3762]

Hi and thanks for your response,

Yes, my arm pain sounds a lot like what you describe.  The soreness and muscle pain with weakness and I have inability to hold my arms up halfway for more than a few minutes.  I also was thinking it could be spasticity related.  Usually, I have had the problems in my legs, but not this time.

Thanks again and stay well,

terri

[supermum_ms]

Hi terri,

I think i might of once written a thread called 'how heavy can a cup of coffee get'  :D but to be honest what you've described doesn't automatically make me think of MS first [definitely could be i'm misunderstanding your description] though it does make me think it could be a spinal issue.

Structural damage would effect the peripheral nervous system and cord lesions would effect the central nervous system, they can cause 'similar' symptoms and add on complications eg spasticity, muscle fatigue, weakness, muscle atrophy, nerve pain etc etc

I also have degrading upper body strength now, muscle usage causes the weakness, the muscle literally runs out of energy faster than it should and pushing through it is impossible, the limb will start getting heavier, and heavier until it feels like my coffee cup weighs a tonne lol it doesn't matter how much will power i use, the limb eventually fails to function and there's nothing i can do to change that out come, believe me i've tried!

One thing that took awhile for my pea brain to work out, is the end results of doing more than i should and trying to push through it, the muscle seizes and it will take weeks of stretching to get it back to (my) normal and stop the pain. I still see my self as an athlete and have a life time of understanding muscle fatigue/weakness and pain from over use/disuse. I absolutely knew what i could get out of this little body of mine, lol it's useless knowledge to me now because it no longer applies......that dumb finish line keeps getting further and further away.

Are you doing any physio?

Cheers..........JJ    

      

[tj3762]

Thanks for the reply.

In my neurological system, my neuropathic pain can be made worse after even physical exertion of any kind, i.e. exercising...  

I believe that MS pain can change in varying degrees of the disease process.  I have always had since the beginning numbness and tingling in all extremities, but worse on my right side.  The same goes for my migraines with aura more right-sided than left.  I think MS is different in everybody.

I am not sure if these new problems are MS related or related to another autoimmune disorder in which I already have (2), maybe 3.  I had my last MRI of the brain with and without contrast last year.

Also, the Toradol is not related to my arm symptoms because I have had this for about a month, and the Toradol I used for the first time last week before a migraine attack.

I think if my arm symptoms continue, I will have my neurologist order EMG/nerve conduction studies of my arms.

Thanks for your input,

T

[kwarendorf]

Hi Terri -

Pain on movemeent sounds more rheumatological, or orthopedic, than neurological. Also, MS symptoms tend not to move around. Because specific locations in the CNS are damaged in MS, the resulting symtoms tend to stay in one location. I also see that muscle weakness is listed as a side effect of Toradol.

When were your last MRI's, and what did they include?  

Kyle