posted
I feel so stupid. I don't know how to differentiate nerve pain, muscle pain, and joint pain. Can someone clarify this?
The last two days my hands and feet are hurting really bad but not in usual places. The top part of my hand hurts.. kinda sharp and shooting. It radiates all the way to the end of my fingers. Also get the same pain in the top of my left foot. I'm thinking this is nerve pain? Also shooting pains on the underside of my forearm..that goes up into my hand. Almost like funny bone pain. It really hurts and is pretty relentless for the last two days.
I'm taking Neurontin and can't say if it's helping.
TF
Frequent Contributor (5K+ posts)
Member # 14183
posted
Joint pain will be located in the joint only. Nowhere else.
Muscle pain will be located in the muscle only. If you have ever done some particular activity to an extreme and felt it in the muscles the next day, that is the muscle pain you are feeling.
When you feel a pain that is shooting and sharp, that generally is a nerve pain. You will notice that that type of pain does not fit the description of joint or muscle pain. For example, it goes down your arm and into your hand. There is no muscle that covers all that area. But, the pain is following the path of a particular nerve.
If you ever had sciatic nerve pain, you will understand nerve pain. That pain goes across your buttock, down your leg, and into your foot. For some, it stops at the back of the knee. But still, it is going through a number of muscles. It is following the path of the sciatic nerve. So, that is how you can tell it is nerve pain.
Usually, if the pain "radiates," that is a description of nerve pain.
The pain in hands and feet can also be arthritis. So, can't say for sure there. Do you notice it flares in the cold? If so, could be arthritis. Also, if you hands are swollen when you get the pain, it could be arthritis.
When I had lyme, I would get a funny pain in just one part of a finger. Then, the next month, it would be gone. I could not categorize that weird pain, but it was just in one particular spot.
Since lyme disease is primarily a disease of the nervous system, per Dr. Joseph Burrascano, it is not unusual for it to cause nerve pain. It attacks the nerves so that they don't work properly. When they are not working properly, they can convey false pain signals, feelings of numbness, tingling, feeling of being stabbed with pins, feeling of a part of the body "falling asleep," etc.
Nerves are throughout the body, so nerve pain can affect any part of the body. These various types of nerve pain are listed as lyme symptoms in the Burrascano guidelines (pages 9-10). They are common symptoms.
I had the feeling of patches of sunburn moving around on my body. Also had feeling of being stabbed with thousands of pins. Also, feeling of liquid fire flowing down my jaw bone. I also had trigeminal neuralgia which is totally unbearable. All of these are nerve pains from lyme disease. Neurontin did nothing for me.
Good lyme treatment got rid of all my problems. I completed my treatment nearly 5 years ago now and I am still symptom-free, enjoying my life.
If you have not studied the Burrascano Lyme Treatment Guidelines, I suggest you do so. It will give you your education on this horrendous disease.
I got cured of lyme, babesiosis, and bartonella by going to a Burrascano type doctor.
Wish you the best. Nerve pain can really be terrible.
Posts: 9931 | From Maryland | Registered: Dec 2007
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posted
TF, Thank you so much for your reply. Yep, I guess it does sound like nerve pain. It hurts! I do get the muscle pain and joint pain too. But I think right now it's primarily nerve. Now, sometimes my ankles hurt too, sharp pain that comes and goes. When I think of ankles, I think of it being a joint. But the sharp pain sounds more like nerve pain.
I think the pain is always worse in the cold. I'm usually much better while sitting in a hot bath, or hot weather.
I also occsionally get the burning skin feeling (my skin feels ultra sensitive and hurts) and sometimes my feet and shins feel burnt. Usually short lived though... thank goodness. I don't get numbness or tingling unless there is pressure applied for a period of time. My hands and arms always go numb at night.
posted
Sounds like you are really suffering, sorry to hear.
My husband had the same symptoms. The burning hands and feet always there, but severity changed. He got sharp pains in hip, back...for months sometimes, then it went away...came back..
He was treated for about 2yrs starting at the point when he felt like he was dying...no energy at all and a terrible sick feeling...joints...etc.
He stopped treatment a year ago when he developed a toxic reaction to minocycline. It took several months to recover from that. He thought he was "herxing" but no, it was a toxic reaction to long term Mino.
He's been off abx a year now, and has not gotten worse. I should say he's better off than when he started treatment. Much better over all, but the hands and feet neuropathy is still there, just not as painful.
Posts: 661 | From NY | Registered: May 2003
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