I've been suffering with terrible pain in my right forearm for months and am getting very concerned...

Started when I was taking abx and became worse with certain ones like Doxy. Amox. seemed to decrease the discomfort. The strange thing is that the pain is only in my wrist, forearm bone and elbow and sometimes will extend into my fingers. The pain is there all the time now and often times keeps me up at night.

At this time, I'm completely off all abx. and was wondering if this means that my symptoms are becoming worse and is it possible that all of this pain is lyme related?

I've had thorough bloodwork done and everything came up negative and just had an x ray of my wrist and arm which came back normal. I'm scheduled to see a rheumatologist later this month but wanted to see if anyone had any other suggestions? Should I see about having an MRI done or just wait for my appt.?

I'm worried and don't know what to do...

I also had physical therapy. Mine was a severe "bone ache--kept me awake at night. But recently, I had sharp pains in my wrist and hip--was off abx then and it went away on starting bicillin injections.

It definitely sounds lyme related to me. Both the acupuncturist and my LLMD thought mine was. The right abx should help as welI would think. Hope it clears up!

Ann

Pain in my left forearm was my very first symptom. It was excruciating.

I was about to go on a trip when it started, so a doctor in my then HMO gave me codeine for it, it was that bad.

I had MRIs, nerve conductivity tests, etc. and nothing showed up. It took me two years to get diagnosed with lyme. The arm pain eventually stopped (but unfortunately, started in other places).

The way my LLMD explained it (when I finally got one) is that my joints AND tendons were inflamed...basically, lyme arthritis.

Maybe you should still be on abx?

It's comforting to know that the pain I'm feeling is fairly common. I have had blood tests done for rheumatory arthritis and they've come back negative, but I wonder if it's lyme related if that will not show up???

Anyway, I'm still supposed to be taking my abx, but I saw an ID doc who told me that I don't have lyme and I'm really confused so I took some time off from the abx to try to understand the symptoms that I'm having and see if any were symptoms from the abx because much of the time that I was taking them I had increasingly worse symptoms.

I will certainly try to change my diet-I eat a lot of sugars and crave them constantly and will look into acupuncture or possibly the shots to get some relief.

I feel like a fool playing around with the abx, but I've had so many doctors involved that I'm really confused as to what I should do...

Any non-LLMD that tells you that you don't have Lyme, basically doesn't mean anything.

Especially, it's meaningless to listen to such ducks if an LLMD is already treating you for Lyme.

I started developing muscle pains too when I was put on Mino. (Btw, I just posted a note about it.)

My pain is not as bad as yours, but I suspect that it stems from the Mino I'm taking and that it is a herxing effect.

How long did it take before the pain went away after you stopped the abx?

Another board mentioned about buying a tens unit to use on those areas. Another mentioned an electric massager to run a few minutes on bad areas.

Yes, I've had all kinds of pains. PT sounds good, accupuncture is a great modality and possibly a chiropractor who does modalities, preferrably ultrasound.

Ann in CA mentioned diet and I agree it's a major factor for my pain. There's a book called Pain Free in 6 weeks by Dr. Sherry Rogers and it's excellent. You can purchase at 800-846-6687 or online at prestigepublishing.com

When I broke my shoulder a year ago I started having all kinds of pains and it would change constantly. This was before my lyme dx.

Rheumatology to me was the biggest joke. My 8 year old and I both went and the only thing they will do is give you NSAID'S, pain pills or muscle relaxers. A rheumatologist diagnosed my daughter with Arthristis and I knew good and well she didn't have it.

in response to your question re: rheumatoid arthritis and lyme, my understanding is that rheumatoid arthritis and reactive arthritis (caused by reaction to some form of infection, such as lyme) are not the same thing. I have inflammation in most of my joints at this point, but no significant damage. And I've always had a negative rheumatoid factor.

Many people believe that these types of arthritis are treatable with abx, though in lower doses than we use for lyme.