[Erin524]

and I'm starting to think that it's not tennis elbow.

my left hand is numb. really really numb. the index finger and thumb feel totally normal. middle finger is kind of numb, but not bad, and it hurts a little bit.

The pinkie and ring fingers tho...ohmygosh! It's the worst burning sensation that I've ever experienced so far. I had feet that neurologically burned earlier this year that I thought was bad, but this is horrible. It's so uncomfortable that just typing this is taking a lot. I'm doing a lot of hunting and pecking with my right hand.

I cant crochet or knit with my hand like this. I can barely sleep. I cant seem to get comfortable.

Oh, and the reason I'm thinking this isnt tennis elbow like the neuro told me the other day (or, maybe I do hve tennis elbow, but also some MS crap going on too) The left side of my body seems to have numbness everywhere but my face. My shoulder is numb, my upper arm is numb...my chest and side are numb (the chestage area more than what's below the chest, and it's really weird to have that particular part of my body feel a bit numb) My left foot is tingly and burning a little bit.

Whatever is going on, it's really really uncomfortable, and is getting quite painful. (and neurontin isnt helping anything at all)

My shoulder and underarm and chestage area feel weird, it sort of feels like those areas are wet, even tho when I check to see if it's wet, it's not.

I cant wait till morning. I want to go see my regular neuro (neuro that told me I had tennis elbow last week wasnt my regular neuro) This is really uncomfortable. I wonder if there's anything other than neurontin that would help this. Since neurontin isnt doing crapola for me.

[Kitty]

Neurontin really didn't help me, either. That's why I stopped taking it......well, that and it caused me to gain weight.

I haven't found anything that truly relieves the pain. I guess I've just become accustomed to it. That or I have a high pain tolerance. My right hand has been like this for so long I've just become used to it.

One thing that seems to work for some people is one of those braces like you wear for carpal tunnel. It keeps your hand from clinching up and your fingers from curling under. When my hand first was like this I used it but eventually it got cumbersome so I quit wearing it.

I sympathize with you.....I know it hurts. Let us know what your regular neuro prescribes for you. I've tried Darvocet but it did nothing except keep me awake.

[Lady]

Erin, some people switch to Lyrica. You could discuss that drug with your regular Neuro, if you haven't tried it yet.

I hope you find out the cause of your elbow/ hand pain. Make sure you tell him about all the numb areas you have. That might help him decide which drug might help you. Good luck tomorrow.

[Erin524]

I may ask to try Lyrica.

I think my dad has some darvocet upstairs, but I dont think I want to try that just yet.

My left shoulder is starting to hurt now too...along with my neck. This half-my-body-is-numb crap is starting to annoy the heck out of me...and scaring me a bit that this is a harbinger of doom for worse things to come.

this isnt something that a neuro would Rx steroids for is it?

I think the "RR" in "RRMS" stands for "Relapsing Repeatedly", because I dont think I've ever had a real remission since all this neurological crap started about 3 1/2yrs ago. I'd really like to see what a real remission is like (a 40 or 50yr long remission preferably...I'm 40 now)

[Dejibo]

Erin! I am so sorry you are continuing to struggle with this issue. I had hoped that it would calm with the nuerontin. It didnt work for me either, and made me feel two feet thick, so I stopped taking it. Lyrica has a good track record for this kind of pain too.

I hope you feel better quick!

[Erin524]

I talked to my regular neuro today on the phone. He wants me to go to my regular doctor for the tennis elbow. (I'm starting to have symptoms of tennis elbow in my right arm now too)

He said that he thinks the numbness is from the MS and has nothing to do with the tennis elbow, other than the fact that it's making the tennis elbow that much more uncomfortable. He said that there wasnt anything to do for the numbness (ummm...pain meds? please?) Didnt even offer me Lyrica.

Oh, and when I was talking to him about the numbness, he made a comment like "well, we know you have a lesion in your brain that's caused this numbness before...". I was was like..."what lesion in my brain?". He didnt elaborate. I always thought that my numbness problems were from my cervical spine. (lesion on C4...and one down on T12) I've only had the one brain MRI way back in 2006 that had a dot or two, but nothing they called lesions.

Ok, so I'm going to my regular doctor in about an hour. I'll be asking him what kind of pain meds might help the numbness in the hand not hurt so much...or, maybe I'll get really lucky and he'll finally write the Rx for LDN for me. (I could put up with the pain if he'd let me finally try LDN. I'm not a big fan of pain meds even when I'm in pain.)

The neuro told me to talk to my regular doctor about either a referral to an orthopedic surgeon (surgery? I dont think so!) or to write me a Rx for some physical therapy (I'd rather have that)

I was supposed to be calling my regular doctor around now anyways for that ever elusive LDN prescription. I'm really hoping that he'll finally write it for me. I'm not expecting him to, but I'm still hoping.

I wonder if the LDN, if I can get it, would help the numbness...


I finally got annoyed with not being able to crochet or knit, so I decided to do some knitting last night, and my arm didnt explode or fall off...so I'm going to do small amounts of knitting/crocheting and call it "physical therapy". I just wont sit for hours on end working on stuff. I'll just do it in little bits while I watch tv.

My brain just felt happier that I knitted some last night...even tho I couldnt feel the yarn inbetween my left middle and index fingers when I was yarning over the needle, just being able to play with the yarn made me feel less stressed. It didnt seem to make anything hurt any worse. I just had to keep stopping to find the yarn to wrap around the needles because I'd drop it and couldnt tell until I didnt feel the tension of the yarn on the needles.

[karousel]

Erin (((hugs))) I hope your regular doctor can help you get some relief for your pain.

[Erin524]

Just got back. He gave me a Rx for an NSAID that's supposed to be easier on the stomach than ibuprofen.

He also gave me a Rx for Lyrica that I refused when I found out how much money it was going to cost. ($100!!!!111eleventy!!1!!)

It hurts, but paying $100 for a Rx is just insane and hurts financially. That $100 is after whatever my insurance paid. Screw that. I'll whine and kvetch about the pain a bit more. If the pain gets even worse, then I might go pick up that Rx. Maybe I'll call the doctor and ask if they have samples (doubt it) My dad said that he'd pay for the Lyrica if the pain got any worse. I'm just going to wait on it for a bit.

Oh, asked about the LDN prescription....and of course, he said "maybe later". (ARRRRRRRRRGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! !!!)

I think I read somewhere that there are at least 60,000 MSers who are taking LDN. There's got to be something to the LDN if there are at least 60,000 people taking it and getting results.

[CarolM]

Hi Erin,

My mother (who also has MS) is constantly knitting and crocheting and ended up with carpal tunnel surgery several years ago because of numbness in her hands along with pain up her arm. That fixed that, but for the last couple of years she's had burning pain up her arm. She tried gabapentin, Lyrica and something else with very little relief. A month ago she started on LDN and it's helped more than any of the other meds her GP had her try.

I think you should push your GP for LDN or find someone else who will prescribe it. Even if it does nothing for you, it can't hurt anything. Can you believe my mom's GP in a little town not only knew all about it but prescribed it the first time she asked?! My own GP made me give him a bunch of info first.

C

[Erin524]

I did some googling, and there's a doctor in Omaha who gives LDN to his patients, but it's for fertility treatments (not something that I need...and it's kind of interesting to hear that people are taking LDN for fertility problems) I'm wondering if I can talk that doctor into writing me a Rx.

I think I'd like my regular doctor to give it to me tho. I'm going to give it another week, and call him back and just ask him why he keeps putting it off. I'm getting really frustrated that no one will give me a Rx for it. I wanted to cry on my way home from the doctor's today, partly because my arm freaking hurts, but partly because no one will listen to me on the LDN.