Thanks guys. My arm is KILLING me today...but I expected that. After thinking about it...I have to say that I still think the doctors are missing something. There are two things I have been dealing with since the fall. One is the shooting pains from my neck to shoulder down arm and into my fingers. The second (and this is the one that really prevents me from functioning) is a ripping/tearing pain in the back of my shoulder area (along the scapula) whenever I move my left arm. This is only made better by leaning back against something...this doesn't seem nerve related to me and it's not the burning or crushing pain of RSD.

It feels a lot like the shoulder strain I had a couple of years ago in my other shoulder...but worse...and it's not healing like the other did with rest. My boyfriend says it sounds like a muscle tear or like the muscle completely detached at some point and that's why it's not healing. He's no doctor of course...but he's had several similar injuries from his years in sports. But...they've never done any imagine or testing of THAT area...instead focusing on the rotator cuff and that area. I'm definitely going to discuss this with my doctor at the next appointment because yes...there is clearly some sort of nerve damage or impingement going on with the shooting pains and yes...I want that taken care of. But I also need this second issue addressed as it is the more pressing issue for me because that is what is affecting my function most of all. If the Lidoderm patches work on that area...then that would seem to add weight to my feelings that there is some sort of damage in that area that needs to be looked into.

I asked the doctor I saw this time about it and he kind of blew me off and said that tests wouldn't show anything...that it's just tendinitis. And maybe it is...but we're going on 10 MONTHS of this...so that's really not normal. I just want to know what we're going to DO about it...and how do we get me back to walking with my walker and back to normal activities?

Sigh...I'll get through this...just need to focus on the next steps. First...I need to get my new medications approved from work comp and see what sort of a change those make for me. Then...I need to make sure I go over all of this with my doctor when I see him in August.