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Perhaps my experiences with shoulder,arm ,knee and leg pain might be of
help.

I had arthritis before I had PD.It seems that most senior citzens experience
some arthritis.This would include me. Ten years ago, I experienced knee
pain. This was referred pain and I had my right hip replacd. This was very
successful. Also learned about referred pain, A little over a year later it
was confirmed that I had PD. For some time I did quite well until about 3
years ago when I experienced great pain in my shoulder and particularily
down my arm.X-rays and a MRI showed cervical stenosis.Might add that before
this my husband retired,resulting in spending 6 mos. in MI. and about that
much time in the S. This meant gettinng new drs----not fun.In both places I
was referred to a neuro surgeon, as it seems that if I chose I was a
candidate for surgery. Not appealing especially with PD.I finally asked the
right question! Does everyone end up in surgery? Well they don't.That meant
building muscles around the area. This was done by being in a water
arthritis group and doing PT.
It seemed things were o.k.My Pd was getting worse after doing well.It also
seems that I have arthritis all over the place.
I started freezing and having balance problems.Still felt I was lucky as I
started having falling episodes I never broke a bone--just some bruises and
shaken up.Boy was I wrong.Almost all of my falls were on the side of my hip
replacement.I started feeling a small lump above my hip. Alas no one else
seemed to confirm this/.This lump became huge and I was told to go to ER.It
had become serious.I had a hemotoma ( somethiong I haven't seen discussed )
it was drained and not too long later I was given three pints of
blood.During and after this event I have experienced the worst pain of my
life, as the hematoma has pressed on various nerves, it  has triggered my
arthritis, my bursa is inflammened and my life has changed.
My primary Dr.really " sat on me"----no more driving , use a walker at all
times , as one more fall will be the pits.My pain is no longer a 10 + and in
anothetr 6 months or so my hematoma will be gone.In this case my balance
caused by PD was the root cause .Arthritis was causing the pain as many
nerves had been traumatized.Having Pd no doubnt didn't help.
Sorry this is so long.From all of this I guess asking the right questions is
most important.Also it isn't always simple.and age is a factor.
If I've helped anyone that would be great.
Needless to say my life is going thru some big changes and challenges.I'm
hoping to be part of the Unity Walk on April 24th. with my walker.

Best

Lorraine Jeffe

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