I have found that I have 2 areas of major pain: peripheral neuropathy and "tennis elbow" (tendonitis) all over my body! Yes, high heels will shorten the tension on those tendons, it will turn around and hit you in the hips. I guess your doctor skipped the class "leg bone connected to..." lol. Theoretically, magnesium, calcium, vitamin D, etc. should help, improving your diet, heat, being nice to yourself, learning to say no to requests that are detrimental to your health. I don't have any answers to the goofy symptoms that I experience. I just keep doing research on line (bearing in mind that everything you read may not be true) and occassionally dropping in on the medical community to see if they have any new answers. I have just about reached that age where the combination of Medicare and chronic illness disqualifies me from having a meaningful dialogue with a physician about helping my condition, let alone a cure. Doctors don't like patients that can't be cured. It makes them feel inadequate and they will eventually turn around and blame you for not getting "well". Sorry for the rant, occassionally it just bubbles over. I haven't given up but I am weary of being an outcast because my symptoms don't match the medical books. I hope you find peace.

I've been going to Physical Therapy and what they do with me is apply a heating pad to the area and after that when the muscles/tendons are loose they have me stretch and work on range of motion. Get a referal from your Rheumy for PT because they can help you. Then make sure you ask them for excersizes you can do at home when you stop PT. Hot tubs also are great along with the hot water pools where they hold arthritis classes. Search for these arthritis classes in google because the hot pools are only at certain locations. I hope this helps.

You havent really said what kind of teninitis you have,, is it plantar faciitis.. the pain in your feet and heels that cripples you... if that is the case.. I have done extensive research and therapy for this.. you do need to rest.. but only slightly.. you do need to stretch the calf muscles, and do foot stretches... ibuprofen type meds help.. and use ice.. I freeze a bottle of water.. and roll it under my arches,, only for about 10 minutes then wash the battle and refreeze.. I stored mine in a baggy to keep it from contaminating anything... the other thing is lifts in your shows and arch supports.. I use soft ones. as the bottoms of my feet hurt too much for rigid supports.. I do tolerate heels, but only for a short time and I test them before wearing.. if my legs ache or my feet hurt I wont bother wearing them.. and it shouldnt be higher than 2" for comfort. that way is will relax the muscle and tendin in the heel, arch and calf.. but the ultimate goal is to stretch those tendins so that you can function normally again.
When I first got this condition,, I would soak my feet when I got home from shopping in a pail of hot water.. it made the pain worse.. the ice though uncomfortable takes down the swelling and removes the heat from the inflamed tissue.
I searched online for exercises and found some on a physio/rehab website.. for plantar faciitis.
I have tendinitis in many joints of my body.. I think it is self injuring from being unstable and weak with having Fibro for so many years. I have done some serious injury to my arm/elbow with renovations and recently work.. so I use Nsaids and ice as well as splints and wrapping the joint to keep it supported. tendin injuries take a long time to heal if you dont rest them,, at this point I am unable.. but in a couple more weeks I will ask for some time off to really give it a good rest.. I find my arm is weakening,, something I dont want to happen. And I do use heat on it as well.. but not until It has been iced to remove some of the inflamation... Hope this is helpful.. Rachel

Thanks to all of you for your comments. To answer RSHagen, I have been diagnosed with Bilateral Achilles Tendon Enthesitis which is an inflammation at the insertion of a tendon, ligament or joint capsule into the bone, in my case the heel. Enthesopathy may be due to an inflammatory condition like psoriatic arthritis (which is true in my case but, I am told rather rare - yah me!) Most recently the use of anti-tumor necrosis factor inhibitors,(Humera, Embrel and Simponi) seem to be able to suppress enthesitis completely in a significant number of cases. The optimal use of these agents for enthesitis seems to remain poorly defined and thus often are cause for a battle with insurance providers for coverage.

Hope this update helps and if others are afflicted or have other treatment suggestions I would appreciate hearing from you.

Jeanine

One other thing we get is bursitis inflammed bursa's. VERY common amongst SjS sufferers. RA factors contribute. Might want to read up on it if you have RA. Even if you don't and high inflammation.
We can have it for a week or several weeks at a time. I had foot problem for weeks then it went away and right after that my elbow flared. All related to SjS/RA.

Mine always are joints though. Elbow, knee , shoulder, wrist, hip, foot.....and always last a week to several weeks. Extremely painful too. I just use heat and massage followed by ice.

They've been coming for about three years now and I never know which joint is next. It's almost a joke here when I wake up what hurts today.
http://www.medicinenet.com/bursitis/article.htm

This is really interesting. I've been suffering from tendonitis in my shoulders and feet and was diagnosed recently with Sjogrens. I also have Reynauds. Is the tendonitis part of SS? Is there a direct link? It's hard to tell what's brought on by exercise/age and what is associated with the SS. I have gotten cortisone shots and therapy recommended (the follow through for me is tough on that) but no real cure - especially for my shoulders which seem to always hurt.

Every so often I'll have an attack that may or may not accompany joint swelling. Usually, if it's severe enough, only a blast of Prednisone will calm it down.

Another very painful foot issue can be Plantar Fasciitis. My husband is plagued with it, and has a special boot to wear at night when it bothers him the most. Also good insoles and enough arch support are also key.
http://www.plantar-fasciitis.org/

I get ligament tears in the arches of my feet and was just recently diagnosed with both frozen shoulder along with tendonitis. I most certainly do believe that it is part of the sjs process. The inflammation from this illness can and does go anywhere and everywhere in the body, then add a little age when there is more fraying of the tendons, ligaments and muscles and there ya go. I have also read that the risk for frozen shoulder (loss of mobility) is higher for people with diabetes and autoimmune disorders. Cortisone injection and PT are the way I am going right now. I will see the orthopedic doc again at the end of October. Both shoulders hurt equally but the right one became frozen. I am left handed.