Joint pain

[kalogrias]

I've been having joint pain for the past two days that has made just about everything (from sleeping to sitting to eating) fairly uncomfortable. I have no idea what is causing it, and it has me a little worried.

I had a vigorous series of massages over the weekend (one on Sat, one on Sun) designed to rid my shoulder muscles of two huge knots that have been there for about a month, so there is a chance it could be related to that. I hesitate to blame the pain on the massages, though, because it's much more widespread. My elbows hurt, my knees hurt, my hips hurt, my toes hurt, and my chest hurts when I inhale sharply or deeply.

No fever, just extreme fatigue. I was in bed last night at 9 (unheard of for me), and couldn't get out of bed at 7:45 (I usually get up at 7). I was almost late for work this morning. Oh, and I was really sweaty when I woke up this morning, despite having the A/C on all night.

I've never felt this way before -- literally feel like each of my joints was hit with a bat.

Any idea what this could be? If it doesn't go away by Thurs, I'll go see a doc.

[diam124]

It could be some sort of virus.

I tend to get joint pain when I'm extremely stressed (although it's never been as widespread as yours. I get it in my elbows/fingers.)

[Pineknot]

Kalo,


I've been going through bad joint pains and EXTREME fatigue for about a month. It has sent me to the Urgent Care twice and they sent me to ER. They told me nothing was wrong.

The Urgent care ordered blood tests, I went to my doctor to find out my results and I found out I had high blood sugar. I'm still going through tests, but it looks like I have diabetes...or sitting on the edge of it.

My joints will still hurt from time to time and I still get a bit tired, but since I have been monitoring my carbs and blood sugar, 90% of the symptoms are gone.

Of course, it could be a million things. I just wanted to let you know you might want to have a glucose tolerance fasting test.

[kalogrias]

Pineknot -- That's really really interesting because I've often thought that I might be at one of the spectrum with glucose (either diabetic or hypoglycemic) because of other reasons (crashing when not eating, extreme fatigue, thirst, etc). I'm actually going in for testing in two weeks, so I will let you know what pops up. I'm really curious now.

[Pineknot]

Kalo,

I also wanted to tell you that being hot and sweaty was another thing I was experiencing.

I have gotten my blood work back and I am solidly in the high numbers. I have also found out that by the time you have symptoms, it usually means you have been having blood sugar problems for awhile.

Since controlling my diet and exercising, I have been able to rid myself of about 95% of the joint pain. Unfortunately, my toes have been hurting for about 3 months and that doesn't seem to be going away.

I'm due to hit the dr's. in the next week to start my meds. It sounds like I'll at least be lucky enough to start pills and not shots.

Good luck to you on your tests. Since I seem to be blazing the trail, if you DO find out your blood sugar is high, feel free to pm me and I'll tell you what I'm learning and doing. :)

[adamseve]

I experienced serious joint pain in my knees in '04. My doctor informally diagnosed it as osteoarthritis and recommended glucosamine/chondroitin (sp). It worked well and the inflammation/pain subsided.

In the last few months, I've experienced the pain again - now including my hips. Went to the doctor today - he ordered blood work so I will follow up when I get my results back.

----------
edited to add:
there is a strong line of diabetes in my family ... i hope this is unrelated :(

[kalogrias]

Pineknot -- Quick question for you -- I know that frequent urination is a sign of diabetes/glucose issues...does anything liquid that you ingest run through you in 2.5 seconds? I drink A LOT of water, but I'm seriously in the bathroom every 25 minutes. I've gone 4 times between 9:30-11:25 am. Even for drinking 3 12 oz. glasses of water, that seems unreasonable. And this is every.single.day. Does this happen to you as well?

[Pineknot]

Kalo,

If I understand what you're getting at, it didn't matter what I was drinking, water, soda, juice. At night, I would sit at the computer and that is when I drank the most. I would drink maybe about 20-24 ounces of a liquid. I would go to the bathroom about 3 times in a couple of hours. For me, that was a LOT because I usually didn't even go three times for the whole day! And all through the day, if I was at the sink, i.e., doing dishes, cooking, cleaning, etc., I would go to get a drink of water and find sometimes I felt like I couldn't get enough.
The final straw for me was being so hot and not being able to cool myself down. I had been sweating for quite some time, but I was writing that off to carrying extra weight or hormones. Yet, one night, I felt like my head was on fire, but yet my DH said I didn't feel hot. I was putting ice cold cloths on me and it wasn't helping. I had NEVER not been able to cool myself down before. THAT concerned me. Then, my arms starting hurting. (my feet had been hurting for awhile) I started becoming concerned I was having heart issues, which is what took me to Urgent Care. The thing that I really focused on though, was my husband and son had just been diagnosed with Pneumonia and since I felt just like I had some type of infection, (exhausted, not able to really get out of bed and stay up, aching ,etc) I thought I had the same thing they did. Only after my FOURTH visit to a medical office, did my husband ask them to start running blood tests, I discovered my blood sugars were high.
I now realize that many things I wrote off to 'female' stuff was really high blood sugar. I used to wake up in the morning and not feel so well. Yet, because I had IBS issues, I thought it was that. Yet, ironically, since working on getting my blood sugars down, I have NO IBS issues. Now I think the nausea, bathroom runs, sweating, were blood sugar. And like you, I used to think I was having blood sugar 'crashes.' I would always feel better after I ate. What I didn't realize is that wasn't my blood sugar was too low, it was still high. It's just that after so long of having high blood sugar, when it would drop into a somewhat normal range, my body had become too accustomed to the high range and would react when it dropped down. I hope I didn't make that too hard to understand. :(
Tomorrow, I have my first drs. appt where we'll be talking about my second set of blood tests, what meds he'll be putting me on, etc. I bought myself a meter about two weeks ago and have been keeping my blood sugar levels and let me tell you, I have learned a LOT about why I have been feeling yucky. Just in two weeks, I have really been able to control my blood sugar by lowering my carb intake. I'm really hoping shots are NOT in my future tomorrow. I actually think it will be a pill. Keep your fingers crossed for me??
Do you know anyone that has a glucose meter? Nothing is a good substitute for the lab blood tests, but you could always do a fasting blood sugar test (nothing to eat for 8 hours) and see what the reading is on their meter. It's by NO means conclusive, but it would give you an idea if you might be having some blood sugar problems. Ideally, you would be able to do that a few times, though.

Were you able to schedule an appt. yet with your Dr.?

[kalogrias]

Coming in here to update -- I saw the doctor recently (am still waiting for the lab results) and she was able to clear up one thing for me -- part of my problems are caused by a chronic low-level sinus infection. She thinks I've had it for something like 6 months :eek: She ordered all sorts of tests -- thyroid, glucose, and some other things (can't remember). I am fairly confident that thyroid will come back negative, but am sort of on pins and needles for the rest.

Am sleeping an ENORMOUS amount -- like a 2 hour nap every day on top of 7+ hours a night. Not normal. I hope the tests yield something.

[Pineknot]

Kalo,

Heard back from the doc yet?

Just wanted to update that I was not put on pills or shots. I do have diabetes, but I'm managing it quite well with diet and exercise. I just keep my fingers crossed that I'm able to do it this way for quite a while.

I'll keep my fingers crossed for low blood sugar numbers for you. :) Also, they won't diagnose you without two fasting blood sugar tests. So, if your first one comes back high, they'll send you for another. Infections can really throw off your blood sugars.

[diam124]

Kalogrias - did you ever find out what was causing your symptoms? I've been having some joint pain as well and I'm wondering if it could be sinus-related since I've been fairly congested. (was the joint pain related to the sinuses or just the fatigue?)

[kalogrias]

I really had to dig this thread up! I just wanted to give an update...

After months of pushing my doctor to PLEASE work with me to figure out what was wrong, and being shuttled around from place to place, it was finally decided that what I have is Chronic Fatigue Syndrome, and they think that I might have Fibromyalgia (I don't think I do, but they are running tests). One of the treatments for Chronic Fatigue is anti-depressants and anti-inflammatories. I've started with those (about 2 weeks ago), and am now feeling sooooooo much better. Still have a ways to go to feel normal, but it's so nice to know that I am not crazy!!