Painful shoulder and arm keeping me awake at night

[Comps83]

Pain started in my shoulder over a week ago and has got progressively worse and has travelled down my arm
It's so bad at night it keeps me awake
I can raise my arm above my head , in fact it actually relieves the pain to do this
Pain is like an intense throbbing cramp
Doctor said give it a week and take co codemol
I don't recall doing anything to trigger this
Any ideas what this could be ?

I don't have any advice but I have what sounds like a similar problem. I'm fairly sure it comes from sitting in the evening holding my iPad in my left hand with my elbow constantly bent.

@Chemenger I have been wondering if it's a bad posture thing as after a disastrous house move failure we ended up on deckchairs with no dining table etc for over a month until the weekend just gone

When I did my right shoulder it was mostly to do with using a computer mouse, I swapped to an ergonomic mouse (and had some physio) and haven’t had any problems.

@Chemenger I had the same when they couldn't get the correct desk chair
It was never this bad though

Taking an anti-inflammatory like Ibuprofen, could help. Or you could try Voltarol Gel. These products will help any inflammation as well as treating your pain. Ice has the same benefits.

Carpal tunnel? Can cause pain to radiate to shoulder

I just had to go in the bath at 2am until the codeine kicked in. I was in so much pain I didn't know where to put myself

Did the GP examine you or just diagnose over the phone? Which shoulder is it? I had referred pain in my left shoulder which was extremely painful it was hard to believe it was caused by something completely unrelated. Might be worth getting some blood tests done

Left or right arm?

@lljkk @paradisebythedashboardlights

I had to fill out a ruddy form and then didn't even get a callback I got a text msg!

It's my right arm

I had similar and it was the way I position myself when working. I use a computer mouse all day and realised I was holding it way off to the right, which was damaging muscles in my shoulder.

I spoke to my Pilates teacher and she said the muscle I’ve hurt, can take up to 18 months to heal totally. I’ve improved my positioning at the computer and it has helped enormously but i can still get the pains at night time, especially if I lie on that shoulder. The pain is nowhere near as bad though!

Are you on a computer much?

If you can afford it book to see a physio today.

I've had this since January! I'm in tears with the pain sometimes. I'm having physio and GP has prescribed amitriptyline.

How are your teeth.....problems with wisdom teeth can often manifest in the shoulder.

@LizzieSiddal Ive been on maternity leave all year but I have previously had issues due to the wrong desk chair but it was never this painful
We didn't have any furniture for over a month until last weekend so I think that's probably the reason

I got this from carrying my baby. Acupuncture sorted it out amazingly quickly. poor you though it's horrible.

3 sessions with a very good acupuncturist fixed mine

@toomanyspiderplants teeth are fine
I think its deffo originating from my shoulder , it sort of clicks and crunches all most which is sickening
We'd usually be able to get physio through work but not sure how that works now with me being on maternity leave and the office being shut since the start of lockdown

Try some exercises for posture. The nerves down you arm come from your neck. The 'straightening your back against the wall ones' are good imv (but boring to do).
Or could it be bursitis - that seems to start up out of the blue. Info online.

You need tovget your gallbladder checked. I had almost crippling pain in my right shoulder. I couldn't sleep, couldn't lay down. Went to the Walk In, in the end, and the doctor pressed onto my abdomen and there was an excruciating pain there- my gallbladder had an infection and the pain was actually presenting in my right shoulder (common!).

@BernadetteRostankowskiWolowitz was it constant though? I'm not too bad during the day when I'm moving about
But at night when I've been asleep it seizes up
I'm pretty confident it's my shoulder that's the issue

You have my sympathies, I did something to my shoulder once, took months to heal, had a couple of Chiro sessions, I didn’t think it would ever get better. What helped at night was a shoulder strap, sort of kept my shoulders in alignment so I could sleep better, was above £15 from Amazon. Hope it gets better soon.

I had similar sin in my shoulder which was radiating down my arm back in June. The pain progressed over a week or so. Only lifting my arm about my head relieved the pain and it got so bad I ended up screaming the place down and had 3 consecutive completely sleepless nights. It was unbearable neuropathic pain, I couldn’t do anything at all. Couldn’t see a physio from my doctors as no face to face appointments. so went private. I was diagnosed by an amazing physiotherapist with a trapped nerve in my neck ( like sciatica in some ways). 3 months of treatment; he taped up my shoulder, manipulation, acupuncture, manipulation and I was on gabapentin for a few months which took weeks to kick in. I’m not saying you have this but my only relief was putting my arm above my head. I couldn’t feel the pain in my neck at all , except just occasionally after physio. It was mostly just my by my shoulder blade radiating all down my arm. I still have some nerve damage in my arm and find it hard to write and pick up things but it’s gradually getting better.

You may be developing a frozen shoulder which by all accounts is also excruciatingly painful. I think you need to be seen and checked out as there are a number of diagnoses. Initially, I went to a minor injuries and they checked me for heart issues etc. The clinician thought I’d torn a muscle that was impinging on my nerve. Possibly you might have a strained muscle? I felt no tear and couldn’t place that I’d hurt myself so I knew it wasn’t the right diagnosis. I had the suggestion by another physio ( before I got my final diagnosis!) of Burstitis. So I recommend you see a GP or a private physio if possible. It was awful not being able to get NHS help, I had no choice but to go private and use savings, so I would push for a consultation.

Sin? Pain! Lol. Sorry phone typos

You have my full sympathy! Shoulder pain is absolutely terrible and can take weeks or months to improve. It seems to be an area vulnerable for pain and healing, perhaps because we use this area so much. I hope you can get better very soon.