I've been getting this HORRIBLE, MISERABLE pain in my shoulder for years now (after takedown). It's like I'm being stabbed with a red hot iron. It's not in the actual shoulder, but halfway between my shoulder and neck. I'm pretty sure its not the muscle. I have tons of joint problems in my hips and knees, and its not at all like that pain. The pain in my shoulder is so bad that I feel like I'm going to faint when it hits. It usually lasts for 5-10 minutes then miraculously goes away on its own. I don't put any stress on that shoulder ever, so I don't think its any kind of injury.

Does anyone have any ideas on what this could be? Or any ideas on what I could google to figure it out?

I'd put my money on a nerve problem. I have a nerve problem in my head (trigeminal nerve), and it will "beat me up" for a good 30 - 45 minutes then go away. It has become more frequent, but has disappeared for years at time and months at a time.

Perhaps, with all of your joint problems in your hips and knees, you have tried to compensate in the way you walk (so as to reduce the pain) and have thrown something out of alignment thus pinching a nerve. It might serve you well to find an osteopath (D.O.). They are fairly well versed in the body as a whole and the interrelation of joints, muscles, and nerves, more so than a regular M.D. They are required to endure all of the same training as an M.D. and can prescribe pain meds (if needed).

Good luck!

I just had the pouch surgery about a year ago now. In the last 5 months or so, I have horrible joint pain in my hips, knees, elbows, and shoulders. The doctor says its a type of srthritis associated with IBD/ UC. They have me on prednisone (10mg) and sulfazine and it doesn't help much. I just started taking celebrex too. I just wondered what you had experienced? Thanks!

Yeah, my hips and knees are pretty bad (I'm only 17!! ) I have a habit of jutting my hip out when I stand, and it doesn't bother me until I move it then its like oh god, my hip is going to fall off. I also have Osgood Schlautters in my knee and thats ALWAYS been painful. I just had bloodwork this week and I'm getting a sigmoid soon to see if theres any inflammation. I haven't been on any meds because I didn't know that it really could be a problem. I just thought it was daily aches and pains that everyone got.

One of the problems with chronic pain is that you get used to the pain and have a hard time distinguishing something important from the same old thing that everyone is tired of hearing about.

The fact that this pain comes on suddenly and resolves quickly would lead me to believe that it is nerve related. However, usually with nerve irritation you get some numbness, tingling, or pain that is referred along a distance. What is more likely in this case is something akin to tendinitis. You could easily have chronic inflammation where a tendon inserts into the bone, but only occasionally do you move in a way that stresses that tendon. This type of tendinitis is called enthesitis. It often occurs in multiple sites, particularly the Achilles tendon and plantar fascia (bottom of the foot) in those with enteropathic arthritis. I have gotten it in my clavicles (collarbones), elbows, wrists, knees, ankles, feet, hips, and lumbar spine.

I would suspect that your Osgood Schlautters is also related as a combined syndrome, and not a separate process. Have you ever been worked up by a rheumatologist?
http://www.spondylitis.org/about/juvenile_sym.aspx?PgSrch=enthesitis

Jan