It is right at the front of both shoulder joints. I can literally feel the tendons in there and they feel sore and inflamed when it flares up. It goes away completely, and I have no sign of it for hours, then comes back. It can be quite uncomfortable and can disrupt my sleep if I have a flareup during sleep. Sometimes I think sleeping on my side will flare it up, as there is pressure specifically on my shoulders. But if one is hurting, the other is always hurting with the same intensity. No matter what I do.

It has nothing to do with activity, and actually I feel I do better if I keep using my arms and hands. It hurts more if I "baby" them and keep a check on my activity levels.

Sometimes when it is bad my arms and hands feel like they are uncoordinated and a little numb.

I cannot pinpoint anything in particular which might be causing this. I had a rather bad attack of it for a couple of days about a month ago. But, it went away completely. I didn't even mention it to the doc when I was there last week. But then this week, it is back with me, and this time has been hurting on and off for about 5 days now much of the time.

Tylenol helps just a little. Anti-inflammatories have no effect whatsoever. Narcotic pain meds do not touch it when it is bad.

Anyone else have a similar situation? If so, do you know what it is? Is there anything I can do to be more comfortable? Or to head off these attacks of pain?

Tendonitis, maybe? Since I can literally feel the tendons in the front of the shoulders and know they are really sore during a flareup, could this be it? Does anyone else have tendonitis-like symptoms that come and go?

The fact that it is always bilateral and at the same intensity is pretty weird. I would expect flareups of pain that jump around from joint to joint, because I have had those for years. But I have never had anything like this that is always bilateral, same intensity.

I remember I could not lift anything and I would drop things because I would naturally go to lift and then,what a mess sometimes.

I can remember how awful it was but now my shoulders are back to normal and I really do not remember when I noticed the discomfort leaving.

Lyme ??I think that pain just went somewhere else in the body.Give it time,be gentle on those shoulders and those rice bags that are heated in the microwave were great for me and the Lidoderm patches.

3greatkids, thanks for reminding me of the lidoderm patches! I use them every so often for the sacral/sciatic pain, and it never occurred to me to use it for this. duh! Bet it will help, especially since the pain is so localized to a particular area.

I have had Lyme/Babs for at least 6 years, and it never ceases to amaze me the different things they can throw at you. This one had me perplexed! And I had never had this before.

There are a few possibilities. Are you taking Levaquin or another quinoline antibiotic? These can cause tendon pain and damage.

It sounds like you might have thoracic outlet syndrome. Basically, its pressure on the nerves in your neck and shoulder area, that cause pain, referred pain and numbness and tingling in upper extremeties. It can be a symptom of Lyme or other co-infections.

I had costant, intense shoulder pain for over a year. What helped me was taking Flexeril, a muscle relaxer. It's strong and many people can't handle it. I started by splitting pills in half, at 5mg a day, and slowly built up to 30mg, the top dosage. I noticed a significant change as I increased dosage.

I also worked with a great physical therapist who specializes in myofascial release. However, I had no progress with him until I started the Flexeril. One my muscles were relaxed enough, I switched to strengthening exercises.

I was told I may have a torn rotator cuff.

The pain went away.

I have neck, shoulder & leg pain. The leg pain is more recent. The shoulder and neck pain were worse when I was on IV meds. Now, the leg pain seems to coincide with IM injections in my buttocks & hips.

The pain you speak of in the front of your shoulder area was the worst pain I have had. It is no longer constant but I still get it, especially on the right side. I am right handed.

My nurse commented that the pain inthat area seemed to be worse when I had a PICC line, which traveled through that area of the shoulder. Further investigation (tests in hospital) indicated that I have sensitivity in the receptors in that area. I don't fully inderstand what that means. But, my Dr. said my veins and muscle tissue are especially sensitive and weak there due to IV meds and to a previous injury that dislocated my clavical ribs.

Unfortunately, Lyme will gravitate to those areas that are weakest. Rest and Advil bring some relief for me.

Have you ever had a PICC or had a shoulder injury?

Also, taking a pure Glucosamine daily will help with this type of pain.

It is so weird to me that I have this pain so severe that it almost disables me completely at times, and at times it is completely gone. That fits with the weak receptor area nerves, tendons, etc. But I have yet to figure what sets it off. Right now I am taking Aleve round the clock, 2 every 8 hours to try to get it under control. Might not work, but know from past experience it is OK to do this with this med for short times.

I am taking Septra and Mino every other day right now, so I really don't think it's the meds. Septra isn't in that class of drugs, is it?? I will look it up.

But I have not been on Levaquin in quite awhile. Think there are others in that class, and maybe it is in one of the posts on this thread, so will look again, and do more research.

But when I had a major flareup of this symptom for the first time about a month ago, I wasn't taking anything at all at the time, and had not in about a week. And was off meds for a total of 4 weeks after that happened.

I haven't had a shoulder injury that I know of ever. But do have a congenital fusion at C4/5, and found that out the hard way about 20 years ago when I had a cervical injury lifting weights. I have limited ROM in my neck as a result, and lots of additional stress on the disk levels immediately below and above this level of my spine. My arms and hands have both been feeling a little weak since this flareup, and coordination in both hands is off. Writing seems difficult and can't hardly read my handwriting.

This certainly fits with some type of inpingement syndrome, so perhaps the fact that I had IV makes this area weaker, and it's just all flaring up.

Since I have had Lyme, I have always been one who will have flareups of pain that seem to happen over my whole body at one time. Like there is something circulating in my body that causes everything to be sensitive at one time. Makes no sense, but what does with this disease?

But this shoulder thing was completely new to me. It was easy to almost feel as if I was having a heart attack or something when it first happened, as it was so sudden. But first time around, it seemed to resolve completely in a couple of days. But not this time. Just hope it is not here to stay. I have enough probs without adding another.

3greatkids, I did try the lidoderm, and it is helping somewhat. It never did with my sciatica pain, so glad it is something I can now use for something else.

Lymeinhell, thanks for the tip on the glucosomine stuff. Sounds like a good idea. Have never used this before.

If anyone comes along who knows, which drugs are the ones that weaken the tendons? I knew this was an issue, but it never seemed to affect me, so had not thought about relating this at all. Am supposed to take levaquin in about a month, so may need to rethink that.

Thanks for all the help everyone. You guys always know the answers!

Mine only started after the first round of Tinidazole. I have now completed 4 rounds but it is still there.

Its good to know I am not alone.

Ditto on the heart attack feeling. I thought I was having a heart attack from the sudden shoulder/chest pain. I went to the ER. My Dr. and my Cardiologist met me there and ran some tests. They both decided to pull my PICC due to the weakness in that area. My vein actually collapsed from the irritation. It has taken a few months for the muscle tissue and tendons to start to feel ok enough for me not to baby my shoulder area.

Hopefully, it will get better for you too.

Nothing over the counter seems to help it and so far, six weeks into the Doxy 200mg twice a day, it has not improved. It gets a bit better at times during the day, just as the original post described, then flares up. I often wake up at 5 am with it burning, no shift of position changes it, so I get up. Moving around helps, perhaps as a distraction. It is almost always there, sometimes like now, as a background noise that I can deal with easily, other times its debilitating and all that helps even a little bit is to stop everything and to rub it.

What I really don't like is that the motion of my right arm has been affected. Last spring, during my first experience with Lyme it was the left shoulder, now its the right. If I move it certain ways an all encompassing blast of fire, unlike anything I have ever experienced before, goes all the way down to my hand and resonating through the rest of me, often doubling me over and causing involuntary tears of pain. I have to hold my breath until it gradually subsides. I have done my best to hide it from my family, it would upset them a lot. But, it scares me sometimes. I realize that it could be dangerous when I am handling our horses, so I have tried to limit what I do with them - for their safety as much as mine.