Shoulders are a pain! While getting house ready for the big dinner I tried cleaning the blades above the table I could barely sleep because both shoulders went. Long night. I take mtx and no lymph node involvement (since Feb). I use heat,, one of those small ones you microwave.. Have a wonderful Thanksgiving. Trish

I'm been having issues with my right shoulder for well over a year now. I really haven't found anything to help much. I've had a couple rounds of different injections. It's considered "frozen" now, ugh. So it could be several more months before I get full movement back. Hopefully yours won't last that long!

I never experience swollen nodes while on MTX. Glad you're seeing the rheumy about it!

I have had terrible shoulder pain off an on for several years now even though I was just diagnosed. I haved used various things at various times. Sometimes ice helped but no so much anymore. Heat seems to be better (I use a heating pad). I take a NSAID and Tramadol if I need to. When none of these help and the pain has been so severe I cannot move my arm I have gotten steroid injections which helped greatly for several months. I have also used lidoderm patches with good results however they can be difficult and expensive to get.

I hope you feel better soon. Lori

Shoulders are tough. I have been able to control most of my other joint pain with MTX and humira but my shoulders still give me daily issues. I have a spur in one of them that digs into a tendon and is made worse if there is inflammation. Both have tears in them also. Guess I was a little rough on them when I was younger. The only thing I have found for long term relief is prednisone or a shot directly into the joint. Unfortunately long term steroids use doesn't work well for me so I live with the pain as best as possible and do the steroids when the inflammation gets really bad.

If you are having problems sleeping because of them (as I know I do) you may want to try a sleep aid or get a script for something like Ambien (I swear by it) and at least if your shoulder pain wakes you up 10 times a night you can fall right back asleep.

You may want to get an MRI done on the shoulder(s) just to see what you have have going on so you can better decide if you want to seek further treatment options.

Yes, shoulder pain is an issue. I take nsaids and tramadol but sometimes at night they are still buggin.
I get relief from IcyHot, heating pad, yoga stretches , dry sauna, ( i do not want them to get frozen), sleeping with a body pillow so I'm not putting complete pressure directly on my side, and massage therapy.
I have to limit how much i use my arms...listing, etc.
The shoulder pain goes into my neck too....
I know sometimes i just have to take extra care of myself in that area.
Best of luck and let us know what is working for u.
I'm glad u are seeing ur rheumy asap.... swing lymph nodes does not sound like something u want to let go. Take special care of you.

Thank you all... appreciate the encouragement and advice!
I've have had a cortisone shot for my shouldern before but not something I want to make a habit of. For short term relief Voltaren Emugel really does seem to help so I've been using that, but I may need to ask for a sleep aid because it's definitely affecting my sleep and I have enough fatigue already! I do use a pillow to help position my shoulder the best way possible, and I wear tensor bandages on my wrist because they seem to flare up when my shoulder does.
I guess on the positive note it's really only the left side that causes me trouble - the right isn't too bad at all.

Got a cortisone injection today in my shoulder. Wow is that ever a painful experience, but will help in the long run.

I'm not on MTX but I have swelling of my lymph nodes regularly. They were large enough that my gynecologist sent me to a specialist to see if it was lymphoma. I also take Vimovo.

I have been getting terrible shoulder pain----not sure if it is tendonitis , bursitis, or RA -------I get swelling in that area as well as it is very painful to put pressure on the joint itself. Lifting , raising arms to do hair etc is painful ...when oh when will I get a diagnosis and when oh when can I get something to help settle the swelling . I am not huge on taking pain killers so I always look for alternative ways to alleviate pain ----warm baths help ---- pool warm water excercises helps , but my life cannot be spent in the pool I do have work to do ----I shoulda been a fish LOL

Just recently my shoulders have joined in the pain game. Left is worse then the right.
Because I have bulging discs in the cervical & a pervious fusion I'm not sure what's causing what.

Had surgery on the left one several yrs ago. Bursitis, tendonitis, arthritis & bone spurs. The surgeon did decompression & removed the bursa.
I can say that pain from the shoulder made me toss my cookies.
Kept it moving as hard as it was as the doctors warned me against frozen shoulder.
Put it in sling when it got to the point I could not even let my arm hang down at my side.

My physical therapist said the shoulder & knee are the toughest & can be the most painful as they have the most range of motion out of all of the joints in the body.
Because I could not rehab that shoulder properly due to unknown injuries in my neck I lost the ability to raise it above my head on most days & any real length of time.
Very important to keep that range of motion to the best of your ability.
Most painful injury, surgery & recovery I've had.
I constantly rotated heat & ice. Tried thermacare patches & a prescription anti inflammatory patch Flector, which did provide some relief.

Since the diagnosis of RA I'm fearful of problems with the shoulders.
You have my sympathy it can be a painful experience.
Wishing you the best of luck,
Sammy

My shoulder started playing up about a year ago and it has been on and off. Had a steroid injection a few months back which helped a little but recently quite bad again.

I agree about sleeping issues. I have had to move into another room at night to sl4eep and spread eagle myself and prop up arms with pillows. (Have massive carpel tunnel like attack for a couple of weeks now in the other arm. Just had steroid injection for it)

I take mtx which is losing its efficacy but I am not yet bad enough for biologic under our state system. I occasionally get nymph nodes swollen under my arm and sometimes to the side of the jaw under the chin. Have put that down to immune system and
RA rather than mtx.

I have been told to manage pain by taking extra pharmacy available drugs which I had been previously warned off of as taking prednisone. This is voltaren (diflonec) and ibuprofen plus paracetamol.

Your shoulder pain may be complicated by fibromyalgia. This is when the muscle leading down from the shoulder starts to really hurt too.

I also try a heated wheat pack which sometimes helps. Why only sometimes I have no idea!

It looks like you arent on prednisone. High doses of that could sort the shoulder for a while but of course you cant stay on those high doses and the pain returns after a few weeks.

know what you mean indycarr. RA does/will run down the tendons, when it hit me, both shoulders, elbows, wrists, fingers up the tendons in both arms and across the tendons of upper back. It will freeze if you don't move enough to break up the calcium deposits. My suggestion is two fold; move and go night shade free.

One of mine has gone from "hurts if I move it wrong" to "hurts much of the time" to "sapping the will to live". A miracle cure for the holidays would be welcome!