or don't you? I've got fibro and osteo-arthritis and aches and pains just about everywhere but I don't know which pain is arthritis and which is fibro.
I haven't seen anyone mention pain on the insides of their elbows, kind of next to the 'funny bone' and I have constant pain there. Does anyone else have this?
Also the top of my kneecaps hurt a lot, I assume that's arthritis but don't know for sure. Don't suppose it matters really but I just wondered.
Sue
hi Sue1952 , i have excrutiating pain around my elbows and find even the slightest tap on them sends pain bouncing around my body and makes me nauseous . i usually have pain in my right knee too but this last few weeks the pain has been in both knees and theyve started just giving way to the point im considering getting a walking stick
Hi Floozy, love the name. Thanks for your reply, that's just how I feel, nauseous if I bang the elbow and it's a place you bang frequently isn't it. Even just resting them on the arm of a chair is sooo painful. My knee pain is mostly my right knee too and it's ok-ish for a while and then it starts hurting like mad, I can hardly walk and getting upstairs is terrible, every step hurts so much. Then, it goes off again, not completely but I can put up with it. They're not giving way thank goodness.
Hi sue, i cant put any pressure on my elbows on the inside just to touch them is painfull, my elbows i would say is the only part on my body that is never free from pain,
Hi ChristineEls, Thanks for your reply. Yes, if I put my arm out straight, it hurts on the 'front part' and also down my forearm but still as bad on the inside.
So true, one thing we're sure about is that we have pain lol. I don't suppose it matters much what kind of pain it is really. I have taken the tender points diagram to my GP and to the rheumatologist and like most of us, I marked just about everywhere as a tender point/ache/pain. Thank you for the link anyway.
I really don't like this fibro thing at all!! lol.
Pain that is worse when pressing one particular place that is also associated with pain down the limb could be a myofascial trigger point (TrP) - these are extremely painful to press, but can be differentiated from tender points because a TrP may feel like a lump or restriction under the skin and it may refer pain or other symptoms elsewhere, neither of which is true with tender points.
Thanks LindseyMid, I'll google that one. I don't think there is a lump under the skin but I can hardly bare to touch it and it seems swollen sometimes.
Hi coops, thanks for your reply. I'd never seen or heard of anyone say they had this awful pain in their elbows but it seems a few have. Even without pressure on them, mine hurt. When you forget and plonk them down on the chair arm or table, boy don't you know about it lol.
if i carry something , even a handbag , my elbows scream with pain later
I'm still working too and it does definitely take my mind off the pain, I work with children and they make me laugh every day which is wonderful. It's very hard though, I can't get down on the floor and play with them or lift them.
That's bad floozy, I carry mine on my shoulder but have my arm up holding it if you see what I mean and when I put my arm down, that's terrible.
Oh yes! lol. I get down and then think, why the heck did I do that and crawl to the nearest chair to pull myself up. Where does the spring in your step go? lol. I have no spring whatsoever now.
ive had to start using an across my body one no pressure on anywhere then unless i fill it tooo much lol i know what you mean about your arm though i struggle if i keep my limbs in one position even when im sleeping the stiffness is so bad
Getting comfy in bed is awful isn't it, I used to go to sleep with my arms bent, my hands under my pillow but I can't do it now, I've got them both stretched out which isn't comfy at all.
have had pain in my elbows for a few years was told it was tennis elbow! until dr who knew what he was talking about said its a common sign with fm
I wondered if it was tennis elbow angied but I'm convinced it's the fibro.
Hi there, yes i get this. it comes in blocks. i get it and it feels as if i have twisted my arm and its swollen but i have not done anything to it to cause this reaction. it last for months at a time and then just goes and then i just wait for it to come back again. 
Hi dawny, mine never goes, the really bad pain in my knees goes but not completel but my elbows are just so painful all the time.
Glad yours goes for a while
Hi Jules,
I thought I was the only one with pain in my elbows too. I didn't see anyone else mention it on here. At least I know now that it is fibro. I did once have tennis elbow and cutting a long story short, I was asked if I'd like reiki (sp) on it so I said ok thinking, well this won't work and it did! It was amazing. I couldn't move my arm for the pain - which was on the outside elbow bit - and as soon as he'd done this reiki, I could lift it right above my head and had no pain at all. Me of little faith. I'd forgotten till just now, maybe I'll try it again. It was years ago when I had it before.
I have OA too in my lower back and hips. Kneeling down to change nappies is agony for me and people say do it on the settee but that hurts too as I have to kind of twist.
Suppose I'll give up on what's what now lol.
i had tennis elbow when i was 16 and couldnt open my jaw and had to wear a shield over my teeth was told that was an unhinged jaw so im thinking maybe ive had fm much longer than the 5 years i thought
lol, i sit on the loo wondering how the heck I'm going to get off it. Tmi!!
lol, have you not got IBS then?
I also have the pains you describe on the insides and outsides of my elbow. I was diagnosed with Golfer's and Tennis Elbows. I used to work in a nursing home on long shifts using lifting equipment and apparently this damaged my arms over a ten year period and is exacerbated by my Fibromyalgia. I too have OsteoArthritis which tends to restrict my movement more than cause me too much discomfort. I get pain in my knees from this and my legs, shoulders, arms etc are stiff, I always put this down to Osteo rather than Fibro, but I suppose with our widespread pains it's hard to determine which is which, so you have my full sympathy. It can be very frustrating can't it.
Thanks for your reply LibbyDe. I suppose it's a little like that for me, I've been a childminder since 1987 apart from 6 years when I was a carer for my husband. I've seen the girls in his nursing home lifting service users and using hoists etc on 12 hr shifts so I know what you did.
I don't think I've heard of Golfer's Elbow before. Maybe I have and forgot
I've always loved my job but it's such hard work now, I have the baby who is in nappies so getting on the floor is really painful when my knees are particularly bad and a very heavy 2.5 year old girl who needs lifting onto the loo even though I have a step. I keep thinking I might have to give up the job because they want to play boisterous games and I just can't do it and they don't understand that I ache too much at their age.
I have to do a heck of a lot of paperwork too and I just find that so hard. I didn't a few years ago but now, it can take me all weekend to do it and we have to do a Self Evaluation Form which most minders moan about and I just can't understand the questions - can't take it all in. I did it ok 3 years ago last time I had an Ofsted inspection.
A friend from the Alzheimer's Society filled in the DLA form for me about 4 weeks ago and I decided there was no point sending it off but haven't dared tell her yet lol.
I did read on here today that you can sometimes work and still get lower or middle rate (?) DLA so I might try it. I'm 60 too this year so I don't think young Mums will want an old crock looking after their children. Sorry to anyone my age out there lol.
I'd love to retire and buy a bungalow, get rid of the stairs and the 200' garden.
Sue x
Bloating is something which really bugs me. I get up in the morning thinking I don't look too bad and by the late afternoon/evening, I'm huge around my stomach. I know it's because I eat the wrong food.
I do dread having gallstones, you really have my sympathy there.
I was diagnosed with IBS after having a colonoscopy a few years ago. My Mum had bowel cancer when she was 60 and I had problems but it was IBS.
I once saw someone in A&E with gallstones and he was in absolute agony, I thought I hope I never get those. If they get stuck in the tube, do they have to pass through or can they be zapped?
Sorry to hear about your heart attack and bypass.
I'm very glad to have found this blog as I too have a very painful left elbow and my right is not as bad. I thought I might have tennis elbow but couldnt understand how. I thought I was being silly as I hadnt seen anyone else mention sore elbows. I also have OA in spine left knee right wrist and thumb. I dont know if I have it anywhere else because I just have pain all over and was dx with fibro last summer (have had CFS/ME for over 7 years) I have just turned 60 and I had to give up working exactly a year ago, I couldnt remember things and used to seize up at my desk and couldnt get up and the pain affected my concentration as well. Sue, I have been reading your replies and we seem to have a lot in common with the various conditions we have,
Hi Cheekybeatle, you're right, we do seem to have a lot in common. I was exactly the same, I felt a bit silly as no-one else had mentioned pain in elbows lol. My right elbow is worse than my left and I have OA in my fingers and thumb and my knees. My lower back and hips are very painful. I also ache all over but nowhere near as most people in the group. I would ask if it will get worse but I know now that no-one can answer that. I was diagnosed with fibro and OA in August, the day after my birthday. I too have a problem remembering things and repeat myself or say the wrong things. I seize up in bed and also get lying on the sofa and then can't get up nor off!
I clicked to answer this and then saw just how many of us have the same pain. I have fibromyalgia, osteo arthritis, psoriatic arthritis, cervical spondylosis, raynauds, IBS and carpal tunnel. Apart from that I am apparently healthy!!! It is really difficult knowing why or which condition causes what. But as we all seem to agree what does it matter pain is pain.
About DLA I have been refused this on any level. I am of course appealing but when your own rheumatologist says 'Im not sure you will get if just for fatigue' it does not make me feel too positive.
Any one got any advice - other than change consultant?
Hi,
I have Fibro & Ankylosing Spondylosis (type of arthritis) I think that sharp pains are Fibro & the dull pains are the AS.
I get pain on the inside of my elbows as in your initial question Sue & also on the tips of my shoulders which is excruisiating & under my shoulder blades & that is one of the worst pains.
I also get it frequently in my ribcage & diaphram, which encourages me to shallow breathe ..
Here's hoping you all get some form of relief soon
Hi Kasp - sorry, it would take me ages to read the number and type it in lol.
I honestly thought I was on my own with my elbow pain as I hadn't heard anyone else mention it but I'm glad I asked the question now. My elbow pain is constant, it never goes, very annoying when I want to stick an elbow on a desk or table or even a soft settee arm.
You mention under your shoulder blades too which is interesting. I get pain there, specially at the right side and it worries me sometimes as I didn't know if that was fibro too. Sometimes when I'm having a bit of a worry day I wonder what it is, I just lost my Mum to cancer and I'm definitely not one to think I've got anything seriously wrong like that but on bad days, it slips into my head sometimes which I know is daft.
Is there anywhere it doesn't hurt sometimes! lol
Have a good day.
I am in constant pain in shoulder blades and the worst is across where roughly the back of your bra is. The minite(?) I move about it starts,also my ribcage.But I have the most amazing muscle spasms that I have been told they have twisted my rib cage (also have curvature of the spine) And as soon as I start walking I start to burn from the the very top of my spine and across.It is as if someone has taken a layer of skin off and rubbed sand in me.Ho Hum such is life :-)xxxx
Who do you see, in which department?
JUST FOR FUN: EASTER QUIZ - What and how much do you know about Easter Eggs?
How do I find Rheumatologist who knows about fibro please?
How do you cope with the pain?
