Case Summary  |  Pain and swelling in my shoulders

For the past several months I keep waking up during the night due to pain and Charlie horses in my upper arms and shoulders. At times it gets so bad that I have to get up and either walk around for a while or go sleep in my recliner. I do quite a bit of work with my hands and arms and thought that it was related to something I had done.

For about three months I was able to get some rest if I took Ibuprofen. It got to a point that I was taking 8-12 a night just to get some sleep. My husband started noticing how much medicine I was taking and got on me about getting to a doctor. I put it off for another two months but finally gave in last week when I got to a point that even 20 Ibuprofen would not stop the pain.

I still thought that it was just something out of place or overworked so I went to a chiropractor. He asked me some questions and pushed around on my shoulders a bit to see if there were specific places that hurt. I expected him to offer an adjustment or massage treatment, but instead he told me that he didn’t think he could treat me and that I should go see my regular doctor to get checked out for arthritis. I was really shocked at this and when home to think it over.

After another night of no sleep I called went to see him. We talked and he did some x-rays and ordered several lab tests to look for signs of arthritis or infection. He told me that most likely I am developing arthritis since it is in both arms. He said that once the lab results are back he’ll have a better idea of what’s going on and hoe to treat it. In the mean time he gave me stronger pain medication to help me rest