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At some point during the day yesterday, my left shoulder started bothering me. Unfortunately, I don't think there was a single catalyzing event so it's not easy to pinpoint when the pain started or what might be causing it. Of course my first thought, short of a bump or strain that caused it would be that it is a side effect of my Ankylosing Spondylitis.

I would compare the pain to what I was feeling in my right hip in the weeks and months leading up to my first visit to Dr. R's office and my A.S. diagnosis — it's very similar. I'm not sure if I've blogged about this before — I'm not finding any entries that I can link to, at least… but I did find out that I started Remicade around August of 2007, so I'm coming up on 2 years of treatment. Time flies!

So what does this pain feel like? Before I started Remicade treatments, my hip was in pretty bad shape. I couldn't even walk normally without a limp, let alone walk up a flight of stairs. Drying my right leg off after a shower was a challenge. It was starting to affect my life in profound ways. Some doctors thought I might have Sciatica. I later found out that I was taking enough Tylenol to kill someone and was lucky that I hadn't hurt myself. (My doctor literally asked me, "Are you trying to kill yourself?" when I told him how much I was taking!)

My shoulder feels very close to the same right now. For the most part, if I use my right arm to move my left arm, I have the full range of motion with almost no pain; but as soon as I try to lift my left arm under its own power or use it for simple things like turning the faucet on or turning my steering wheel, the pain takes over and I'm physically unable to complete the task with that arm. I feel lucky to be right handed — but at the same time, that may be why it's my left shoulder that's hurting, because the right one gets used more as the dominant arm. I'm also thankful that my job doesn't require heavy lifting or anything else that would be troublesome. I can sit and type all day and completely forget that my shoulder hurts.

I am definitely going to seek medical attention if this doesn't go away after another day or two. I used a heating pad yesterday evening and again this morning to help take the edge off, but just like with my hip, nothing seems to make a substantial improvement, even for an hour. I've taken (the regular dose!) of tylenol twice now (in 24 hours!) in hopes that it helps, or even just for a placebo effect… Here's hoping that happens.

I figured I should write these thoughts down so that I have some semi-organized information if and when I do have to talk to my doctor about it.