Does anyone have arthritis? or bursitis? I've been getting on again off again pain in my shoulder and my dr said it's "calcium on the tendon". He didn't do any kind of xray or mri though. If you have it did they xray the area first? My dr just gave me a bunch of samples of celebrex and sent me on my way. I'd rather deal with the pain that comes and goes than take a pill every day, but I'd like to be 100% sure it's arthritis before I resign myself to just dealing with it.

By Imamommyx4 on Monday, October 31, 2005 - 09:57 pm:

I've got bursitis in my right hip joint. The pain comes and goes. The Celebrex gets the pain, but I only take it when I hurt and for a few days after it goes away. Then the pain is gone for awhile depending on the weather and what I am doing to inflame it. Just be sure to take the Celebrex with food.

By Ginny~moderator on Monday, October 31, 2005 - 11:32 pm:

Definitely I'd want a diagnosis based on something other than a guess, even an "educated guess". If it were me, I'd be heading for a good orthopedic doctor.

For what it is worth, I had off&on pain in my shoulder, sort of around the shoulder blade, and then going down my arm and into the wrist, so I went bopping off to the hand specialist who'd done surgery on the wrist on the other side. He said there was nothing wrong with my arm or hand and sent me to my orthopedic guy, who did x-rays and said I had cervical arthritis (upper spine). Which, at my age, is not astounding. He sent me for physical therapy, and I learned exercises that I do every time it comes around again, because it is not a constant thing. (He also gave me stretching exercises for the bursitis in my right hip, and they help.)

I agree about the Celebrex, Colette - though if it works for you, Debbie, then I'd say that's fine. But my rule of thumb with pain meds is to use the simplest one that works, and the one that's been on the market the longest time. So as long as arthritic doses of aspirin work for me, or over the counter Motrin (and both work for me so far), that's what I'll take. I especially don't like to take meds that have not been on the market at least 10 years, because I worry about after-FDA-approval stuff that shows up. Turns out to be a good rule - my orthopedic doctor asked me a few years ago if I wanted Vioxx and I said I'd stick with Motrin, and I am sure glad I did.

As for "calcium on the tendon", is he talking about chondrocalicinosis? Which is what I have in my knees - a form of arthritis that is because of calcium crystals in the cartilige in my knees. That pain comes and goes too, depending on how much I've been doing, the weather, etc. and I medicate the same way. But mine was diagnosed after x-rays, where it shows very clearly.

By Karen~moderator on Tuesday, November 1, 2005 - 07:48 am:

I have arthritis - lots of it. And though many doctors will give that as a diagnosis simply based on pain you are describing, particularly as you get older (which you aren't!), my doctor has had me get Xrays of all the places I have it for a definitive diagnosis. I'd definitely want to be sure that's what the problem was, can you ask him to order some Xrays?

By Conni on Tuesday, November 1, 2005 - 08:37 am:

I am positive I have arthritis and it is in almost all of joints. I have popped all my knuckles, etc since I was a child and wish so badly I could have stopped. When the weather changes or it is about to rain, I can barely get to sleep at night. Its miserable...

Isnt Celebrex hard on your tummy if you take it regularly?

By Ginny~moderator on Tuesday, November 1, 2005 - 08:42 am:

I would add that for a while I was seeing the rheumatologist (doctor specializing in arthritis and rheumatism) my mom was seeing, at a time when I was complaining of fairly frequent and noticeable pain in my left shoulder. He put me through a bunch of treatments, some sort of medication to be absorbed through my skin by electrical current, and gave me a diagnosis of (I can't remember the name, but it is one of the popular diagnoses for unexplained pain, and is sort of mysterious).

At any rate, the pain went away after my father died. Dad was bed-bound and wheelchair bound, and I was moving him several times a day, both in the bed and from bed to wheelchair, wheelchair to recliner, and reverse. Because of the location of the various pieces of furniture involved, the brunt of the lifting was done with my left arm and shoulder. So, no major left-side lifting, no left shoulder pain. I must say, the lifting was so much a part of my daily routine I didn't think of it, but neither did the doctor ask what I did for a living and what my day was like - and he at least should have known better.

I get really annoyed with doctors who hand out diagnoses and medication without doing the appropriate tests - and it seems to me that this happens a lot more with women than with men. I had doctors blithely offer me tranquilizers when what I was having was problems with depression (and tranquilizers are, it is my understanding, a real no-no for depression), the experience with the rheumotologist, pain meds for conditions that were resolved much better with physical therapy, and so on. Oh, and the pediatrician who said I was an overanxious mother when I was concerned about my son and (a) his crossed eyes and (b) his lack of speech and vocabulary - a son who was later diagnosed (by another doctor) as being cross-eyed because he was extremely farsighted, and lacking speech because he was pre-autistic.

Good for you, Collette, for asking questions. Even these days, far too many people don't question what their doctors say, and sometimes things turn out badly - not often, but often enough.

By Colette on Tuesday, November 1, 2005 - 09:36 am:

thanks - I won't take celebrex, I am also not confident in Rx that haven't been around for a REALLY long time. I did ask about xrays and he said only if it got worse to make sure it's not something else. I might just tell him it's worse (it's not) so I can get the xrays. I think it's time to start looking around for a new dr.

By Ginny~moderator on Tuesday, November 1, 2005 - 07:18 pm:

Fibromyalgia - that was the rheumatologist's diagnosis. I know it is a legitimate diagnosis, and people who have it suffer terribly, but it is sometimes (all too often) a convenient diagnosis, and I didn't have fibromyalgia. Come to think of it, my neighbor, who was Lupus, got fibromyalgia as one of her early diagnoses.