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| Swelling in neck pain into shoulder down arm |
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Question:
Doctors have tried Oral cortisone, (only works to a degree on decreasing
the swelling in my neck) which is causing a burning pain into front of
left shoulder and down arm, which they say is not bursitis. They were
thinking of putting me on Methotrexate, but my liver function is not
good as I have Crohns, and had some of my small bowel removed a few
years back which means sometimes I cannot process fats through my system
as good as a healthy person.
Anti Inflames do not work, plus stronger ones also up set gut due to
Crohns,/
Tried Clebrex and Viox, they do not help.
Funny thing with this problem, is maybe it's not R.A, as my Rheumatoid
factor is not high, Sports Medical Radiologist has done injection under
CT scan into right neck C6 disk, this has overtime seemed to help pain
down right arm, he is thinking of doing same on left side, probably C3
disc or whichever one is being pushed out of place by inflammation and
hence pinching nerve.
He has also suggested Nerve blocks, actually killing the nerve.
Anyway had this done in the neck area?
How did they do it, under CT or and what feeling did you have
afterwards,
I'm told I would have normally momvment etc., just hopefully not feel
pain.
I would love to hear from anyone who has had this done?
Answer:
have you looked into remicade? I take it for RA but it was
originally used for Crohns. As for the r factor, it doesn't necessarily
correlate with disease severity or even the disease itself as many of us are
seronegative.
My rhuemy has not mentioned Remicade because Arava has been The Ticket for me
over the last 14 months. My issue on the horizon is brand name medication cost
limits being lowered to $1000 for 2002. Arava is about $2700 anually which
poses a problem with my current medigap/medicare heath insurance. Many other
HMO plans have lowered their limits too while PPO plans have raised their
monthly premiums in a compensatory manner.
By the "r" factor, you are referring to "rheumatoid factor?" In my case
(polymyositis), the serum Creatin Phospho Kinase (CPK) has proven to be an
excellent inflammation indicator. The r/f factor presented as elevated sed
rate and musle atrophy, not in stiffness and pain. Also, the sed rate didn't
fluctuate in a reliable manner compared to CPK.
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