Look out trapped wild animal...

I'm feeling like a trapped or caged wild animal! The pain is really not that bad, but the fact that it's my dominant arm is driving me crazy! 

I have shoulder and elbow tendonitis. Tendonitis is inflammation of the tendon. Tendonitis is common with Rheumatoid arthritis because RA is swelling of the joints and surrounding tissues as well as organs. I have had tendonitis before, but this is my first experience with shoulder tendonitis. The fact that it is in my dormant arm is creating comical situations. I'm glad to be amusing my family and friends, but I'm ready for this to end. 

I have a suggestion for all able bodied persons who read this, take your dominant arm and strap it down to your side, don't use it for a few hours.....now imagine that for three months instead. That's where I am sitting now. I knit, I have knitting projects that are on a timeline. I have to finish a wedding sweater for my stepdaughter in the next few weeks. I am getting it done, but the progress is much slower than I would like. 

All in all I'm still here, I'm actually don't pretty well. I haven't been online or able to do a blog for a while because my dormant arm is trapped, and what use of it I do get I need for other things right now. 

I hope everyone is doing well, thanks again for stopping by. 

A smart body

To me a smart body is one who tells your brain when there is pain. Your body tells your brain that there is pain, which your brain takes and sends to you as 'ouch that hurts', which a smart person listens to and says I am in pain I need to seek medical attention.

Then there is my body. Hmm nothing going on here, keep on about your day with this broken bone, or this scalding burn happening.

Basically pain receptors are important. Please stop telling people with a low pain tolerance they are wimps, honestly their bodies are smart and know when to tell the person attached to them to let go of a hot object etc. My body is on constant vacation or something.

When I was a kid I broke my wrist. My high pain tolerance did tell me this hurts a bit. The tomboy tough kid in me told me to suck it up it's just a sprain. I played volleyball on that wrist, amongst many other things, for a week before my volleyball coach came to me and said "you are still babying that wrist when you serve maybe it's time to have it looked at". So I tell my Mum who takes me in and instantly feels like the worst child abuser ever because she let me go a week with a broken wrist without having it checked. Totally not my Mum's fault, I just have a high pain tolerance that paired with my stubborn side tells me I am fine and just ignore any signals my body sends and suck it up and act cool. OK side note I am really not cool, nor have I ever been. I mean come on I am a fair skinned freckle faced red head, in my school days that equaled kid to tease...not cool kid. As an adult my fair skin and red hair are envied so I'm good with it.

Stubborn me plus high pain tolerance me were working really well together one day when I had my lovely cast on my arm. I was making mac and cheese. Yep all by myself because I could. Now in all fairness you should know my Mum was home along with my best friend. Anyways I go to pour the boiling water through the strainer, again to be fair there were offers I believe from both to help me, my response "no I can do this myself"...I believe this may have been simultaneously done as the boiling water was being poured onto my cast, but to be fair to myself there may have been a few seconds in between.

Here is another thing to know about me I am obedient, the Dr told me not to get my cast wet I would do everything in my power to not get my cast wet. So of course the first thing in my mind is OM I just got my cast wet.

I did not feel pain. I felt pure panic. I got my cast wet.

So I am just standing there yelling MY CAST MY CAST. My smart mother wants to add more water to my cast, something about cooling burns, this is complete nonsense to me as my only thought is my cast is wet we must dry it. Now I have no recollection of who won that battle, I do have good scars  to remind me of the burns through my cast. I do remember the smell of the blistering skin, and seeing some blisters peeking out from under the cast. Signs that maybe I won, but I do know my Mum was a stern and stubborn woman so I'm sure the outcome was in her favor.

Now I could be a smart person and I tell you I wizened with age, but who am I kidding most of you know me I have only widened with age. Last summer I took my pup and me on a walk, it was a beautiful sunny warm day. Smart people know sun= very hot asphalt, people of the NW don't know sun...we take what we can get. I hate shoes; this is a very important piece to this story. So I am walking barefoot on hot asphalt and blistering my feet, but my dumb body is telling me nothing. So I keep walking. Now I should mention my Pup loves walking like the curb is a high wire, but this day he was walking on everyones grass, so pup was fine...no pups were hurt in the making of this story. Well I get home and realize somethings off with my feet. I look down to see blisters forming. Thankfully wise Mum taught me to cool a burn, and as there is no cast on my feet so I am good to soak them.

So to me a smart body tells me when there is pain. Your body feels pain for a reason. I envy smart bodies that tell the brain when there is pain....pain= danger which tells you stop doing what you are doing stupid.

There's a bit more about me for those who didn't know. Telling you all how silly I can be is hard.

Thanks for stopping by. Please if you liked it share it with your friends.

How do you know your pain is beyond RA

When you have a chronic pain disease like Rheumatoid Arthritis how do you know that the pain you are feeling is not "just RA", not that just RA is something to take lightly.  I have said before that I have a high pain tolerance. I think a smart body feels pain, ok feels an adequate amount of pain based on the severity of the cause....e.g. a broken bone should alert your brain to tell you this is painful something is wrong. There is a story behind this scenario, it is a true story I'll save for another post.

Anyways how do you know if your pain is beyond RA? I have pains that come up that are new pains, but often I figure oh a new joint has joined the RA symphony. (I feel pretty terms help me cope LOL)
There are times where I have this self debate of is this new pain RA or something else? Is this worth seeing my Dr about or will they just tell me it's RA and make me feel as though I have wasted their time?  When is my next Dr appointment? Can I wait until then and just bring it up at my regular appointment?

My left shoulder has been giving me a lot of pain which in my mind I know is beyond my normal. I have noticed I am babying it and not moving it through it's full range of motion, which raises other questions. Can I really not move it any further or are my pain signals really kicking in and telling it not to move anymore to prevent further damage? The fact that I am asking myself these questions is enough to know beyond a doubt I need this looked at. The fact that I do not have a smart body (see first paragraph) tells me a regular person would have went in a couple days after the pain first occurred. The fact that I am a month out and still debating this should tell me that I need to go in now.

So guess what I have decided to do....yep my regularly scheduled appointment is only three weeks out so I will wait and tell my Dr then. I have looked into Dr google and it says it's cancer so really I am good to wait right!? Totally kidding, well sort of we all know how often google says it's cancer. I really have researched this and have found the fixes are torture and prefer to wait. Totally not kidding here, but the first step they recommend is rest and ice, which I haven't done yet so I will start there and see what happens. If I don't see an improvement I will make an earlier appointment.

As a general note as to how to know if your pain is beyond RA...Is this pain a new pain? Is it in a joint? Does the pain demand attention over everything else? I feel that if it's a new pain it's worth telling your Dr. If the pain is not in your joint it is probably not a new joint joining the RA symphony, but either yes or no to this question is worth telling your Dr. If the pain demands attention over everything else again tell your Dr, if you feel it's urgent seek help now. Any pain is worth bringing up to your Dr, any symptom is worth bringing up to your Dr. To me the only choice is do you wait for a scheduled appointment or go in sooner. Please always listen to your body.

*Side note I do not recommend this action to anyone else. Please be smart and listen to your body know that every body is a smart body and is alerting you to a problem. Listen to your body and seek medical help. Remember I am not a Dr. This is not a medical advice blog, always talk to your Dr.

I am sure I could write a book on this subject, so I will stop here so I don't lose your attention.
Thanks again for stopping by.