I went back to the doctor that I saw about the shoulder. Partly as a follow up, but also to talk to him about the other shoulder starting to hurt.

So, he examined both shoulders mobility. He was impressed with the mobility to the one that he treated in December. Really pretty excited at all the good progress. I'm going to tell the physical therapist on friday when I see her. I bet she'll be thrilled.

He looked at my other shoulder, and he said he could tell that things were a little funky there. But, he said that if it's frozen shoulder, and he thought it was, that it was really really early stages. He figured giving me another shot of cortisone might head it off. So I got two stabs of cortisone.

He told me the FS is NOT from the MS. I was pretty glad about that. Finally! Something that I can do something about! yay!

I told him that my neck had been hurting when I turn my head to the right, and that the pain in the shoulder seemed to be bothering my neck, or the other way around. I couldn't tell.

He was interested with that. Said that it might not be FS then. So, to rule out something in the neck, he made me get x-rays of my cervical spine.

He was all excited about what my cervical spine looks like. He came in and said that my cervical spine was beautiful. He wished he had one as good as mine. He even showed me the x-rays. Said that the part he was worried about, when you look at the spine from the side, there's these holes in the spine that the nerves run thru. He said those were perfect. He said it was possible I strained my neck at some point, and that the pain in the shoulder was referring to it and making it seem worse. He said those cortisone shots would help that.

I forgot that in December, when I got the shots for the other shoulder, that later that night, the pain in the shoulder kind of spiked. I forgot again. I should have taken some ibuprofen when I got home, and should have put ice on it then. Whoopsy!

At least it's not as bad as the other shoulder was. I can deal with this a lot easier than I could the other one. The pain from the other shoulder was so bad, I was inconsolable. I was just really really scared that the right shoulder would keep getting worse to the point that I would be back where I was when the left shoulder was bad. Hoping that the shots helped.

He didn't give me PT for this shoulder. So, I told him that when I do PT for the other one for the next few weeks. I'll just copy what they show me there at home for the right one.

I really like that doctor. I hope I don't have any more problems that I need to go back, but if I do, he's the guy I'll be asking for.

On another note, when he came in, I was reading a book on my iPad Mini. He asked what I was reading, and I told him it was a Sherlock Holmes book. He asked if I like BBC Sherlock, which happens to be my favorite show right now. I kind of fangirled about it, and talked about it a few minutes. I told him that the new episodes would be on here in the US on PBS on the 19th. He said he'd watch it. He'd been wondering about how the mystery at the end of the last episode was done. I didn't spoil it for him. I told him it was pretty cool tho.

It's weird, I keep running into doctors that like Sherlock Holmes and Arthur Conan Doyle (the original author).

My neuro likes Sherlock Holmes. He has pictures of Sherlock Holmes on the wall in his office, and I asked about it once. My neuro said he uses deductive reasoning in his practice when he's diagnosing a patient. I thought that was cool. My neuro is Sherlock Holmes (or a really good facsimile of one)

So glad that I got to keep my neuro when my insurance dropped my policy and I had to get a new one.

Sounds like you got a really good doctor, Erin. Wish they could all be like that!

yeah, I wish they could all be like that too. I'm kind of annoyed tho, that this doctor is actually out of network for my insurance. (works for the same hospital group as my doctors that I lost...which so far, I haven't dropped myself. I'm still planning on using my old doctors for some stuff at the moment, even if the insurance is being a pain in the ~mumble~ about it)

the cortisone has kicked in!

I can feel things feeling a little bit better. Shoulder pain is better, the neck pain still hurts some. And, the MS stuff, some of that feels a teeny bit better. I know it won't last tho.

I need to figure out what to do with the energy while I have it. I might try going yarn shopping...maybe go to WalMart.

See if maybe I can use the energy to do something in PT this week, if it lasts that long. Maybe I can use it to get going on some of the PT stuff for balance.

I don't want to ask too often about getting a cortisone shot, but now that I know it seems to help a teeny bit better than oral prednisone, or IVSM, maybe I can occasionally get a single shot of cortisone if I ever need a little bit more energy for something. Maybe next Christmas, I can get a shot of cortisone in my butt or something a few days before Christmas, and then use that to get thru the holiday. Hope the cortisone keeps working if I end up asking if I can do things like that. Plus, cortisone doesn't taste nasty like oral pred does. Easier to take too. Maybe I can try to keep requests like that down to once a year? (which means I just used my once a year shot yesterday on the shoulder)

I'll just have to remember to ask my neuro about it the next time I see him.

Sounds like all in all you had a good day Erin. You really needed one of those!:hug:

Erika, sheesh…the meds help one thing and make other things worse…I hope you feel better soon...:hug:

Well, that certainly was quite a work up. Physical exam, 7 vials of blood for tests, urine, and x-rays (hands, ankles, hip & neck...yes that has joined the club now too).
Here's hoping that something shows up...and that is treatable. He didn't think that it was MS related...more like some sort of acute destructive arthritis.

He wanted to admit me to hospital and put me on IV steroids. I react badly to steroids due to liver damage, but he said that it may come to having to use it, while keeping an eye on liver function in hospital.

Did I pull a face? Oh yeah....along with a strongly expressed desire to stay out of there if at all possible.
We settled on continuing with Ibuprofen and waiting for the test results to come in first.
He prescribed voltaren (Diclofenac) lotion for the small joints, and that actually seems to have helped a bit after three applications. I can bend my wrists better and the pain in the finger joints is less. It might cause problems for the digestive tract he said, because it does affect the rest of the body, so I'm hoping not.

At this point I'd eat dirt if that would make the pain stop. Small movements of the joints (like writing and typing) are OK, but any pressure or strong muscle contractions in the hands is down right nasty. That's especially so in the mornings.

I had to ask another patron to open the gas cap on my truck when I went to the gas station this morning because I couldn't hold on to it tightly enough to turn it because of the pain.
Same sort of experience when I went to shift out of 4 wheel drive when I got onto the highway. All that needs to be done is to push the stick shift forward, but it hurt too much in the wrist to do it.

My gut feeling tells me that this joint stuff is temporary, but at the same time I'm facing the potential reality of my massage therapy practice and that end of my career going bye-bye.

With love, Erika

Erika, that is so troubling! my heart goes out to you.
I can't do the gas cap thing either. It is more from hand weakness than pain. I'd have some pain if I tried to do it, but mostly I'm too weak in my arms to put the nozzle back into its holder when I'm finished. I have a station which does it for me, but if a new pesron is on duty, I have to explain all over again, and I feel foolish and sad for having to do that, because obviously I'm walking and looking pretty normal.
I am praying for you to improve and not lose your career. I have been mourning my career lately, as I would love to be out there doing something very interesting such as my teaching was. It was 28 years ago I had to give up, after years of fighting every way I knew how to carry on.

Erika,
Would a narcotic like Norco help lessen the pain a bit? I hate to hear that you are in such discomfort…the quality of life sure seems dismal when you are hurting and so limited in movement…
I assume they've done a SED rate and ESR (?is that right abbreviation)…to rule out RA…are you sure it isn't fibromyalgia?

Know that our thoughts and prayers are with you as you continue on this not so fun journey...:grouphug:

Unfortunately this body is allergic to morphine, so I stay away from narcotics. The lab requisition did include all of the usual tests for the auto-immune diseases, as well as inflammation and infection markers, kidney and liver function, so it will be interesting to see the results.

I don't beleive that it is fibromyalgia, as the problem seems to be in the joint structures.

With love, Erika