Well,well,well...just got back from a vacation with my family and although I hoped that sun & sea will cure those nagging pains in my left elbow/lower arm/wrist....my hopes were in vain.
So off to the doctors I went and here we are: Tennis Elbow from playing guitar too much (that´s why I call it "Guitar Elbow")

Symptoms
* Pain on the outer part of elbow (lateral epicondyle).
* Point tenderness over the lateral epicondyle – a prominent part of the bone on the outside of the elbow.
* Gripping and movements of the wrist hurt, especially wrist extension and lifting movements.
* Activities that use the muscles that extend the wrist (e.g. pouring a pitcher or gallon of milk, lifting with the palm down) are
characteristically painful.
* Morning stiffness. (in the ELBOW!!! )

My doctor said it can last up to 7 months and it would be best to not repeat the motion leading to this predicament.....ARRRRGHHHH!
No way!
What I WILL do is this: try to figure out new positions of sitting and resting my arm/elbow which might not put too much of a strain on my "tender lateral epicondyle".

Anyone else had experience with this? Would be good to know how you coped?!

Cheers all
Berglmir

Ouch, I also had that. I think that good idea is to make more pauses during the playing. Instead of playing 3-4 hours in a row, one or two pauses.

I guess you can play a lot of open E palm muting! Besides that...I can't offer any help!

Man, that really sucks.... although my fretting hand is fine I do have RSI in my right elbow, my picking arm. Mine didn't arise from guitar playing but a work injury.. using a big, wooden mallet all day, every day. So any motion like hammering, using a keyboard / mouse too much, carrying heavy objects, putting force through my hand - all hurts like hell.

My symptoms sound almost exactly the same as yours except what aggravates mine is extending the wrist back up towards my forearm, rather than away from it.

The only things I can do is reduce the amount of those activities which aggravate my elbow, try and adopt good posture when using a computer (apparently, even tension in our necks and backs from bad posture can travel down to the elbow and and make it hurt there). I always stretch (gently though, especially when cold otherwise you'll just pull a tendon) my hands, wrists and arms.. and shake them a bit to improve blood flow before I play.

I also noticed that I had a really hard, aggressive picking action so I've reduced that to almost nothing and built it up again. I know your problem is with the fretting hand but try reducing the motion of what your playing to the point where you're almost making no sound and putting almost no effort in at all. Like re-training your hand to play the correct shapes but without excess muscle tension. I did this with my picking hand and it's worked wonders.. I no longer feel like I've had my elbow locked in a vice after I've finished playing !

Do you use a 'classical' hand position.. ? As that extreme wrist angle invites tension and cramp.. and maybe even just pressing the strings too hard if you're learning a new piece ? I'm guilty of that myself...

I hope your situation gets better.. and that you may be able to find some help in what I've said. I certainly never 'laid off the guitar' for a long time to let it heal.. so there is hope. You don't have to stop playing

I've never had that,
I hope you get better!

that's pretty scary man, hope you get better!

Thank you all for your nice and encouraging words.
Special Thanks to you Ben as you have had experience with my current predicament - so I´m trying to follow your advice.
It really is a nuisance as I´m also not able work out in the gym (strain on the wrist/elbow is too high) and even driving my new bike gives me problems.....WELL no use crying over spilt milk! I´m sure this will lead to something good (new picking/finger technique or something)

Well, I don't know how you play, but there is no need to play fast. Slow down for awhile, and focus on precision, and learning new things. I only listen so much to doctors. They tend to treat you as an average person, and will just say stop things completely. I would try just keeping it slow, just focusing on precision, and learning new things. The doctor will not tell you to do that, because he figure you won't stick to it. But I would give that a try and see what happens. No stress, just play slow and smooth, no matter what the actual intended speed of the lesson/song.

Ouch, really sorry to hear that man

Do as the doctor says anyway. Better a few months than a life time! Heal it properly.

Man that really sucks :S But if I were you I would let my arm rest and use the months to train right hand tapping. I can only imagine how good you would be after your left hand works again You would probably have a pretty awesome technique by then