has anybody diagnosed with pots experienced sharp, throbbing, or shooting pain from their elbows to their wrists, and occasionally in my hips. newly diagnosed and trying to figure out if this sounds like a pots symptom or something else. anybody else have this kind of experience?

Funny, I've been experiencing a lot of wrist pain but am unsure if it's carpo tunnel syndrome or not-- just my right wrist and I've done a lot of manual labor in construction that may have damaged it. And my hips are really acting up. Whenever I climb stairs or hills or any kind of incline they get incredibly stiff and painful and I have to use a cane on any kind of hike over uneven ground. Our last hike I had to use two canes. All very worrisome and I have no idea if it's POTS related or not-- could be lack of blood flow where it's needed or maybe some kind of myopathy.

I get these pains sometimes. I've been attributing it to my neuropathy. I also get really bad stabbing pains in my left side sometimes, too (around my ribcage). They come on like spasms & hurt when I breathe.

stupid trigger words!

anyway, if you have connective tissue damage, nerve damage is fairly likely. high homocysteine levels can cause damage to myelin sheaths, and demyelination of course isn't good for the nervous system.

There are other factors that can cause demyelination.........
You may also want to check out this (although I cannot seem to post the article due to trigger words). WHATEVER.

http://www.answers.com/topic/peripheral-neuropathy-caus...-symptoms?cat=health

Or before jumping to conclusions that it's just POTS - elbow to wrist pain can be cause by nerve entrapment that can be caused by several repetitive task and/or arthritis. Depending on where the hip pain is - outer side/across the hip girdle as opposed to pain in the groin area, you could very well have some underlying back issues. It will cause stiffness in the hips too.

mcaimless - If the pain is more in your wrist/forearm and there isn't numbness you might have tendinitis. My husband has been dealing with that for nearly a year now. He tries to limit computer use as that's a main trigger, but since the damage is already done lots of stuff sets it off.
Get your hips and back x-rayed if you haven't already, if nothing shows on that you may have some nerve problems that will only show on mri.

Thanks Strange-wings, The wrist is likely as you say, an injury from repetitive stuff.

I have had two MRIs done of my spine which show mild degenerative changes in L5-S1 but this really does not explain the incapacitating pain and weakness of my pelvic girdle from climbing of any kind. I've been researching about this (including my weakness and pain in my upper arms/shoulders that won't allow me to hold my arms over my head for very long) and Lambert Eaton Mysasthenia Syndrome seems to jump out at me repeatedly. LEMS is also associated with autonomic dysfunction. Strangly enough, searches about Lambert Eaton on this and other forums doesn't seem to bring up anything, which I find pretty surprising. In fact the POTSPLACE site doesn't even mention it anywhere. Very strange.

I'll keep researching (as I'm wont to do!).

Amy

^ Actually even mild changes can be enough in some people - everyone feels and perceives pain differently.

Mine is mild too, L4-L5 bulge with a small tear and some facet hypertrophy (arthritis), yet it's enough to make it really difficult to move some days. Luckily there's no pain that shots down my legs. I also have SI joint arthritis and dysfunction, SIJD is just another way of saying the joint is too mobile - that can cause a lot of pain and will really act up on uneven ground or when climbing.

This site has some information on exercises you can do for the lumbar spine to strengthen that area http://www.spine-health.com/ They look identical to the diagrams I've been given in physical therapy in fact. If you haven't had PT, be careful but try to strengthen that area as lax muscles makes everything hurt a lot more - muscles themselves, if too lax or too tight, can press on nerves. Between slacking on my stretches and some hard falls over the last few months, I unfortunately got myself stuck back in PT again.

I'll have to look up Lambert Eaton Mysasthenia Syndrome - sounds interesting.