I've been having pains in my right arm. From my neck all the way down to my elbow and sometimes even my hand goes numb. It's been happening for about a week. I thought it was that I slept wrong. But it won't go away. So I called the Dr for an appt. Of course there were none. So they had me call the nurse advise line and the nurse advised that I go to the ER; always their advise. So we went.
We sat there for a few hours. Then I got back to the exam room and saw the PA. Not a MD, a PA. Anyway, he felt my neck asked me 3 questions and gave me 600mg of mortin and a muscle relaxer. Said if I persists see me PCM. Well no shit! I've been taking 1000mg of excedrin and tried to see my PCM, but there was not appointment. Hence me wasting my day in the ER. I know if I call again in a week there will still be no appointments and they will tell me to go to the ER and we will repeat the cycle over and over again.
I don't know what it is, but the muscle relaxer does NOTHING for me. It doesn't make me sleepy. It doesn't make me relaxed it just makes me mad that it doesn't work.
On top of all of this I am scared. I am right around the age my mom was when she had her first MS episode. They didn't diagnose her for 4 more years, but I remember being 5 years old sitting in the ER with my mom who couldn't feel her foot trying to figure out what is going on. What scares me is that I have all the risk factors. I am a female, between 20 and 40. I have 1 first degree relative with MS, a 2nd degree relative who died of it and a 3rd degree relative. I grew up in the northern half of the US. My feet get numb and tingly sometimes. And now my right arm has a pain. And my hand is numb about half the time. The military will not do a CAT scan for nothing. Not that I really want to have one, but it would be nice to have a baseline to maybe expedite a diagnoasis if it ever happens. I could get lucky and never get it. But I have a 1 in 20 chance (maybe more because of all the relatives of mine that have it) and while I am generally not a lucky person I would be the one to win the jackpot on this one! I wish there was more that could be done. But as it is I just sit here and wait. Wait to see if it happens or wait to see if it doesn't. It is a scary disease that can either progress very quickly (as in my aunts case; she died less than 10 years after diagnosis) or very slowly (as in my mom, she was diagnosed 19 years ago and suffers very little compared to many). I enjoy an active lifestyle and the thought I having no motor control in as few as 10 years really scares me.
Hmm, weird about your arm! I was tripping out years ago because I would get pain and then numbness in my arm as well. I don't get it any more though. I really think it had to do with all of my weight loss. Like I had less cushioning and my bones were pinching nerves?
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