Pain in my calf!!

spidey23972

I have recently been diagnosed with RA, and next week I will be going back to hospital to hear the results of my various x-rays and my blood test. Anyhow, i have recently been suffering from pain in my calf. Is this normal, as i thought RA just targets joints, not muscle?
Are there any suggestions regarding easing the pain. Thanks in advance.

dreamdaisy

If I recall correctly you have trouble in your knees, yes? In my experience (my auto-immune began in my knees whereas it was supposed to begin my fingers and toes) once my left knee was in trouble I was moving differently, throwing pressure onto my other knee and my ankles, and thus using my muscles differently. This would lead to aches and pains (still does on occasion) but nineteen years in I'm used to it. You are still very new to the whole malarkey and it's a steep learning curve.

I don't know if you are already doing so but it's worth keeping a brief daily diary of pain and tiredness levels, what helps and what aggravates (if your joints swell and are hot to the touch then ice is the usual temporary remedy) and other troubles (such as the current one) that crop up. This will help the rheumatologist gain a better overall picture of how you are being affected. We are given our various general labels but my psoriatic arthritis is not the same as someone else's.

Helping the pain? The key word is 'temporary' - anything we do will bring a degree of relief but it won't last. I take a minimum of four 30/500 cocodamol per day to help me function, they dull the edges sufficiently for me to get on as best I can. It's true that if you do have RA then you will taking medication/s for the foreseeable future (and maybe beyond) and I think it's sensible to include a steady, low dose of pain relief in this regimen but this is something to discuss initially with your GP. Males have more pain receptors than females so feel things more keenly. Pain is frightening, isolating and debilitating but we have to adjust to some level of it, which is far from easy. If you are hitting this from a healthy background then it must be considerably harder for you to adjust to this new way of life: there is life beyond arthritis, it's a different one is all. DD

stickywicket

My experience is the same as DD's ie if calves are painful it's because I've been trying to 'spare' a joint higher up or lower down and so used different muscles to walk, or used the same muscles differently.

If you are not very active you'll find some exercises here which might help. http://www.arthritiscare.org.uk/LivingwithArthritis/Self-management/exercise-and-arthritis If you are active they might still help but you'll probably also need pain relief if it's regular.

spidey23972

Thanks for the replies, and helping me understand the pain. I think calling it pain though is perhaps an exaggeration, it's hard to explain, but uncomfortable would be perhaps the best way to describe it. When I do get pain, it's never hot to the touch, so I guess I'm fortunate in that respect. What I'm going through though is nowhere near the pain and discomfort that a lot of you are going through, is this because I have early onset of RA? Will it get a lot worse with time? It's hard for me to understand why RA has chose me. I'm never poorly, it's very rare that I get colds and coughs yet I seem to have jumped up from a level 0 in the illness scale to around a 7 now!!

dreamdaisy

The only answer to 'Why me?' is 'Why not?' Arthritis cares not who it affects, it ignores class, gender and income but ensures that its filthy ripples affects not only us but those around us too. The youngest person I have come across on here was too young to post: his mum had to inject him with methotrexate because, at 18 months old, he was unable to swallow tablets.

I've had auto-immune troubles all my life so for me, although it was a touch left field, once I knew what was going on it was no surprise. For you, however, it's a very different story. We'll be here to help and encourage as much as we can because whatever you feel I reckon we've felt it too. DD

jenniet

Before I started on medication and every now and then now, I experience a dull ache in my calves and my legs find it difficult to make the effort to step over things etc. No acute pain but an awareness that something is wrong. The only time I have had acute pain was when a bakers cyst decided to burst behind my knee.
RA can affect other parts of your body as well as your joints so it's always worth checking with your rheumatology nurse/doctor if you are worried about something.
It's all a bit scarey at first, especially if you start looking up things on the internet, which we all do. However you learn to live with it and life can still be great! Good luck!

tkachev

When I first got RA and before diagnoses I had aching calves, felt like I'd run a marathon. I had trouble standing up from sitting, was weak and felt like I had flu. At the time I thought I had sustained an injury as I'd been jumping on the trampoline a few days before.


Elizabeth xx

lindamay

You have all my sympathy. I have arthritis in my hip and I know it is getting worse. I go this week to see the consultant again and see what he says this time. I seem to get pain down my shin. At times it feels like a tight band around it other times it shoots down my leg to my foot. I assume this is all related to the same problem. I take Ibuprofen and Paracetamol. Not making much difference now. Someone recomended Comfrey cream to rub on, have yet to try it. Has anyone else tried this please?