2001-07-24 - 11:50 p.m.

Bad Arm

Recently, I've been having problems with my left arm.

At first it just was an occasional twinge of pain. I used to like to sleep on my left side with my left arm stretched out, but that started to become uncomfortable, and often times I'd wake up with my arm stiff and hard to move. It finally got to the point where I couldn't sleep on my left side any more, and had to sleep on my back. Sometimes I wake up with my back all cruddy, but at least I can fall asleep that way.

Recently though the pain has become more severe. I find myself taking Ibuprophen every day, sometimes twice a day. Occasionally I will bend my arm in a bad way and I'll get a bolt of pain that shoots right up my spine into my skull. That's definitely no fun.

I'm pretty sure that I know what the problem is. Diabetics, for some reason, are prone to neuropathy - problems with their nerves. This doesn't mean I am more nervous, it means that I get occasional bouts of numbness, tingling in my extremities and the occasional pinched nerve.

In 1998 I had a pinched nerve in my neck, and this gave me a lot of back pain. I remember the pain started in my shoulder one day, and then moved to my back. At its worst I could find no position to be comfortable in sitting, lying or standing. I was gobbling non-prescription painkillers like M&Ms. It went on for months.

It finally got so bad I went to a physical therapist and three times a week she put me in traction. She'd rig me up in this harness and have a machine gently pull my head away from my body. This was actually kind of relaxing, and because my spine was getting stretched, the nerve pain stopped for awhile. However, my least favorite part of the process was when the therapist turned the traction machine off and I could feel my spine grind back into place. Ick.

Eventually the back pain stopped. I'm not sure if the physical therapy helped, or whether it just went away by itself.

I have to say that the problems I'm having with my arm are nowhere near as severe as the back problems were. Sometimes my back hurt so much that all I could do was suffer, and that added joy to what already was a not very fun time for me.

But the problems with my arm are annoying, and it will have sudden bouts of weakness because of it. Anything heavy I pick up with one hand I now have to pick up with my right hand.

It's more annoying than anything else, but I still plan to ask my doctor about it when I go to see him in a couple of weeks.