Tendonitis - an archer's worse nightmare, explained...

[JHbowhunter]

in 2015, I had quite an ordeal with really bad elbow tendonits in both arms. It was hard to run a chainsaw, and shooting the bow was painful as well. It really burned.   I had thought perhaps I was benching too much, too many pullups etc... But I had been doing that for years, why all of a sudden? I was wondering if I would have to move over to the dark side and hunt with cross bow(I would do in a hearbeat if I could not pull a bow), but lowering my weight and limiting practice got me through the season with success. Saw an ortho guy, he gave me some anti-inflammatory drugs and some PT to focus on which I did in moderation. I stopped benching and did pushups instead.  It took over a year for it to clear up, and last bow season I felt no pain, and running a chainsaw doesn't bother me either.   

 

I had been coming across some reports of the hardcore antibiotic Levaquin being a major cause of tendonitis. It's used to treat Bronchitis and Pneumonia... I started to think about it, because I had taken that drug at least twice in my life and I think I took it early 2015...

 

I was at the doctor this week with bronchitis, and he was about to prescribe an antibiotic and I said " not Levaquin please - I think it may have caused my freak tendonitis a few years back".   He said "no we don't prescribe that anymore unless it's the last resort for that very reason, too many cases of bad tendonitis".

 

So there you have it.... Try to avoid that antibiotic especially if you are a bowhunter - doctor confirmed.

[Axiom]

tendonits

 

 

 I'm just now getting over shoulder tendonitis.. Never mind a bow, hurt so bad I could barely shoulder a shot gun... or anything else for that matter... Been a little over a year and there is still some soreness there but i think i'm ready for Bow Hunting again..

 

Anyway, i had taken Levaquin for lyme disease almost six years ago.. Powerful stuff, didn't Sh*t right for months.. Kills everything... even all the good bacteria in my digestive system.. I wonder if that had anything to do with my shoulder ...

[mazzgolf]

I don't like doctors because I don't think they know as much as we think they do. I've had soreness and stiffness in the knuckles of hands since a year ago this month. Literally every day for a year I wake up with stiff fingers - there was a time a few months ago I literally couldn't open my hands in the morning until I stretched them out slowly - I was like the frozen tin man who gets oiled. Was in both hands, but my right hand got better after like 9 months. Left hand still has it, got worse the last few weeks. Now my right thumb's knuckle hurts. Went to my primary care dr last fall got X-rays and steriods. Nothing. Last winter saw a rheumetologist  and got tests - "its not rheumatoid arthritis - you should see an orthopedist." Went to a orthopedist next. "X-Rays look fine. Sounds like early stage trigger finger - if it still bothers in a few weeks we can give you a shot". Go back in a few weeks, get two shots. Still nothing. Go see a second ortho for second opinion - "your first ortho sounds right to me - your X-Ray show nothing, nothing really to do."

 

Getting fed up, so just this week I went back to my primary care dr. I've read that statins (cholesterol drugs) can cause pain in the joints and muscles, so I want to ask if I can get another round of steroid pills and if I can get off the statins to see if that's causing it. He says, "Doesn't sound like it is the statins. And steriods really screw up your immune system so I don't recommend it for this. Oh, and BTW, your X-Rays say that you have early stage osteo arthritis. Nothing you can do about it but just manage it - you are going to have this the rest of your life" ?!?!?!?!? Rheumetologist and both orthos didn't say a thing about osteo arthritis!

 

*sigh*

 

Well, screw the doctors. I'm taking myself off the statins - I'll watch my diet and try to exercise to keep the cholesterol in check. I want to see for myself if the statins are causing it. I'll see if the stiffness (and pain, starting to get pain now) goes away by fall.

 

[Rusty]

The list of problems plaguing society from the overuse of antibiotics is scary.  Doctors hand them out like candy.  Antibiotics don't discriminate they kill both good and bad bacteria, I don't take them.

 

In the past 25 years I've been to the doctors 3 times.  I got a check up at 40, a check up at 50, and routine blood work at 53.   With my last blood work the doctor said that he was concerned about my sugar and that we better keep and eye on it.  When I got home I checked the results and my sugar level was smack dab in the middle of the normal range.  I won't be going back to him any time soon.   

Edited June 9, 2017 by Rusty

[Greybeard]

Just taking the OTC stuff(can't remember the names off hand) that's suppose to help your joints made the knuckle in my pinkies feel like they were hit by a sledgehammer.  It went away as soon as I stopped taking it.  Although something works for most people, you never know how your system will react to a drug.  Docs want to keep you on meds.  Must be nice kickbacks to it.  When the nurses ask what pills I'm taking, and I say none, they give me with a strange look.  Took myself off a lifetime of taking pills for crohns, 6 years ago.

[Bucndoe]

8 cortisone shots in both shoulders last year, front and back. Then bought a crossbow.

Adapt, adjust, and overcome

[not on the rug]

I dealt with bad shoulder tendonitis in both shoulders for a couple of years when I was 24-25.  I was doing a lot of heavy benching and heavy wide grip overhead presses.  I stopped benching and started doing more weighted dips and pushup variations.  I also learned how to press overhead properly the way Mark Rippetoe teaches and like magic my shoulder issues cleared up.  Haven't had a problem since.  

 

Every once in a while when I'm hitting pads or working a bag and the timing is a hair off, I'll feel a twinge in my right shoulder, but I'll usually just back off a little and give it a week or two without pushing it too hard and I'll feel as good as new

[bigwuhead]

I avoid antibiotics like the plague.  You spend 15 years doing product liability work you see and read some crazy stuff.  

 

I slipped a disc in my neck a few years ago and coincidentally ended up with tennis elbow.  The pain was unreal, it was a somewhat mild case but I literally begged for a cortizone shot and thankfully helped and 3 months of PT to heal and avoid it forever.   

[not on the rug]

On the antibiotics note...I've taken them once in my life.

 

It makes me sick to hear about people being given them left and right. Antibiotics are bad news. There are literally only like 30 strains of bacteria on earth that can make you ill, and odds are you probably weren't exposed to one. Most illnesses are viruses. Taking an antibiotic will not kill a virus. In fact it will weaken and damage your immune system and make it far harder for your body to fight off the virus

[JHbowhunter]

On the antibiotics note...I've taken them once in my life.

 

It makes me sick to hear about people being given them left and right. Antibiotics are bad news. There are literally only like 30 strains of bacteria on earth that can make you ill, and odds are you probably weren't exposed to one. Most illnesses are viruses. Taking an antibiotic will not kill a virus. In fact it will weaken and damage your immune system and make it far harder for your body to fight off the virus

 

I am just getting over bronchitis, it was heading toward pneumonia, and once I started taking this new antibiotic CEFDINIR, I could see the infection resolving itself quickly. It definitely helped.  Hopefully no other side effects.  I can't make the leap and say they are all bad.

[not on the rug]

I am just getting over bronchitis, it was heading toward pneumonia, and once I started taking this new antibiotic CEFDINIR, I could see the infection resolving itself quickly. It definitely helped.  Hopefully no other side effects.  I can't make the leap and say they are all bad.

They aren't all bad. Medications are necessary when your body can't resolve it on it's own.

 

The thing is, most people fall in to this timeline and then associate the antibiotic with them getting better. Could you have contracted a bacterial infection in your lungs? Possibly. What more than likely happened was that you got sick (a virus) and it got bad, so bad that after 5-6 days you eventually you went to the doctor. You got the antibiotic, came home and took a dose. Woke up the next day and took your 2-3 doses, woke up the next day and felt a bit better, took your doses and woke up feeling even better the next day. Well...by now you've hit day 7/8/9 or so. Most viruses run their course in 7-10 days, even if you did nothing.

 

I'm not saying people shouldn't take illnesses seriously, I'm just pointing out the fact that most illnesses are NOT bacterial and those magic beans the doc gave you didn't do squat to fix you.

 

There are a handful of bad bacteria that can cause things like strep, ear infections, and things like that. Most healthy humans can fight that off without antibiotics anyway.

 

I dunno...I'm glad you are feeling better and hope you are now using a probiotic and eating tons of raw fermented veggies like raw kimchi and raw kraut to rebuild those good gut bacteria and rebuild your immune system

[Axiom]

hope you are now using a probiotic

 

 

 Yeah like strawberry or peach Yogurt....

[JHbowhunter]

HH told me there is lots of good probiotic in beer - so I'm good...