severe tendonitis/bursitis

[alarosalpn]

anyone ever have this to the point of not being able to straighten or bend ur arm? I'm 36 weeks pg and havent been able to use my arm for months... The drs cant treat agressively til after delivery... I'm so worried my elbow will be contracted...

[Contrary Housewife]

It might be, but a few weeks of physical therapy should get things back to normal. I would just concentrate right now on letting it heal and getting the swelling down. Can you at least use ice on the inflammation?

[MissSeetonFan]

Is this related to the pregnancy? Carpal tunnel and other nerve issues can happen when you retain water. I retain water early on so it can start pretty early. At the very least, it could be aggravating something you already had a problem with.

You can probably look forward to more movement once you have the baby. I hope it doesn't take physical therapy. But it is there if you need it.

[moasmom]

Sorry you are dealing with that; I know it hurts. But I think you can be pretty confident of successful treatment after you have your baby and your doctors can prescribe you the proper meds.

Good luck!

Kara

[alarosalpn]

I was treated in Oct with naproxen (before 34 wks) then recently with a low dose prednjsone...I ice it but nothing takes the swelling behind the elbow away....Im hoping its pregnancy induced and goes away....its preventing me from doing alot of normal dailythings

[janal14]

I had pretty bad tendonitis in my shoulder when I was in college - from swimming and working as a camp counselor leading canoe river trips. It was awful - I spent a lot of time on narcotic pain relievers, which was really hard when I was trying to do classes full time and work a part-time job.

Have you looked into physical therapy? My physical therapists did a lot of pain management work that really helped - I had massage, electrical stimulation, and heat therapy that was really nice. I had ankle surgery about a year ago. When I did pt for that, they had a GameReady machine - they called it a 'squeeze and freeze'. I saw other patients using the same machine with an elbow sleeve. Ask if your doc or pt has one of these - they have a sleeve that fits around the relevant body part, and it pumps super chilled water through the sleeve with varying degrees of pressure. I did this after every pt session, and it was AMAZING. So much more effective than just icing it at home.

Other than that, you said that you had a prednisone injection...is a cortisone injection directly into the joint a possibility? When I had the shoulder problems, the cortisone injection really helped - and I passed out halfway into the shot, so they didn't even get it all in. Note - it's nothing to be scared of because I passed out - they put a numbing agent in with the cortisone for normal folks to dull the pain - cortisone burns - but I'm allergic to other drugs in the family of the numbing agent, so they opted to go without. It was more than a little painful.

Do you keep an ace wrap on it? If not, try that. The wraps are not really recommended that much for support, but the compression does help with the swelling. Also, it's probably not the most comfortable solution, but if you can figure out a way to prop it up while you're sleeping, that would probably help as well. The key is to try to keep it above your heart as much as you can.

Good luck, and feel better.

[alarosalpn]

[QUOTE=janal14;1582675.

Other than that, you said that you had a prednisone injection...

I took oral prednisone...the swelling is so bad that they cant/wont do an injection cause ortho says thers no clear injection point



.[/Q

[Saule]

I have bursitis in my hip and tendonitis in my arm - could not hold a coffee cup - lasted about four months before I gave in and went to the doc. (The bursitis started out as such, but ended up as sciatica and I had a couple epidurals that have reduced the pain to a minor irritation rather than the debilitating pain I had, where I could not drive, etc.)

With the tendonitis, doc has said it simply takes a long time to heal. Three or four months. I had 10 days of naproxen, but she does not want me taking it longer than that because of the danger of liver damage. I take it a couple of times a week, when I feel it's interfering with sleep. I am able to hold a coffee cup at this point. And, of course, I stopped the activity that was principally responsible for the tendonitis - golf in my case.

Sciatica was helped quite a bit by physical therapy - frankly, I think PTs are wonderful. But ultimately, the stenosis and arthritis defeated the muscle strengthening, etc., that I had undergone. I did get amazingly more range of motion than I started with.

[jacqueline]

i have carpal tunnel and when i have flare ups, i take an ice gel pack wrapped in a towel to bed with me and wear a wrist brace. it lets me rests my hand and works more than what i would have thought before using it. i also have taken flexeril (mild muscle relaxer) that has helped before. heat hasn't really helped it. i also take naproxen too.
i hope things get better for you. i know when i first injured myself, it was agonizing and nothing seemed to help me. but after being off work for awhile to allow some rest, i've just been very careful with not pushing myself to the max. take care!

[Saule]

Heat generally does not help, but ice packs do.

[oheoh's momma]

my mommy had that and suffered so much. try rub downs with cephail spelled wrong and try ice. I have it and worry it will get that bad. mommy suffered so much from it. prayers for u.hugs