I have a frozen shoulder

Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share
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… but a warm heart. My right shoulder has been bothering me for some small time now (seven months). It was no biggie at first, just a bit sore when I reached up. I figured that I had slept ‘wrong’ on it, and when it didn’t get better on its own within a couple of weeks, I figured that my purse must be too heavy and aggravating it, not that I lightened my purse or starting wearing it over the other shoulder.

It got progressively tighter but I clung to my hope that it would just clear up on its own, which some problems do, you know. sigh When I couldn’t fasten my bra behind my back any longer, I thought it might be time to check with a doctor. When I couldn’t shrug off my coat on that side any longer, I thought I should really think harder about checking with a doctor. When, shortly before Christmas, I starting to get a tingling feeling in my fingertips and had a hard time finding a comfortable position at night, I thought it was TIME TO FIND A DOCTOR NOW YOU FREAKING STUBBORN IDIOT.

Naturally the orthopedist that was recommended to me was on vacation until this past Monday.

So I had an appointment yesterday, she instantly determined that it’s a frozen shoulder, checked it out with x-rays and ultrasound and didn’t turn up anything scary, and worked out the treatment for it.

Foolish me, one reason I had dragged my feet on going to the doctor is that I’m mortally terrified (in the sense of being mildly fearful) of needles, and I was nervous that the solution was going to involve a shot. Well, no worries there, and don’t I feel silly for putting it off so long: the treatment is going to be FIVE shots, spaced out at a rate of two a week, plus probably 20 sessions of physical therapy. :smack:

The silver lining is that after my first shot, she gave me a gummi bear for being a brave patient.

I have learned a valuable lesson about dealing directly with problems when they’re small and more easily remedied, although I remain a fan of ignoring problems until they go away on their own.

Aging = lavish fun.

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So what causes a frozen shoulder?

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It’s interesting; my trolling the internet turns up that some cases start with an injury or surgery, but most cases don’t have an obvious cause. However, it is more likely to affect people between 40 and 70, more likely to affect women than men, and associated with certain illnesses such as over- or underactive thyroid or diabetes. I’m a 43-year-old woman whose only meds are for an underactive thyroid, so there you go. Also, it will usually resolve on its own eventually, but here ‘eventually’ means ‘after about 2-3 years.’

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I thought this was going to be about defrosting and cooking hilarity. Good luck on the rest of your therapy, I hope it goes well.

5

You have my empathy. Mine is nothing like yours, but a few days ago I pulled a muscle in my shoulder. I don’t know how (but it may have pulling my chubby little dog into my lap.) I am having trouble turning my head. It is slowing getting better, but it makes it tough to drive.

Sending healing thoughts your way.

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A frozen shoulder is extraordinarily painful. More than you would think although only if you move the wrong way. My massage therapist worked mine out for me although it took quite some time and it is still not 100%. But better than previously, when I could not lift it at all!

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I had the same thing about 18 months ago (and also posted about it). It was bad enough that I seriously thought about surgery. The shot and about six months of therapy and the more months of just being patient…aging does suck!

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I had that. I had a cortisone shot in my shoulder and it did no good at all; a shot directly into the joint guided while under X-ray did the trick. The shot hurt like a mother but it really worked. I hadn’t been able to lift my arm over mid-chest for months, or put my hand behind my back. Shantih, I understand your fear of needles, but it was like a magic wand.

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Very interesting. I injured my shoulder about two years ago when I slipped and fell and it just got worse and worse. I thought I’d torn a ligament or something but, no, my doctor gave me a course of exercise to do, one of which was walking my hand up a wall. It worked quite well but since I was diagnosed with hypothyroidism a year ago, it has somewhat returned. Must discuss with my endo.

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Thanks for the kind wishes, all!

I just dug up that thread: Any suggestions on how to fix "Frozen Shoulder"? - In My Humble Opinion - Straight Dope Message Board Do you have any residual stiffness still?

And that answers a question I had had – I’ve heard tell over the years of people having joint problems, then getting a cortisone shot into the joint that was hideously painful. I couldn’t reconcile that with the shot I had yesterday, which was honestly no big thing. I’d be pretty happy if it doesn’t need to go to the more dramatic shot, but I suppose regaining the full use of my arm at some point would be pleasant.

First it was trouble making out fine print, now a frozen shoulder … I always said that I was going to make a point of aging gracefully, but as I recall, when I made that decision, I was still young, so what the hell did I know, whippersnapper that I was?

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Chiming in with the chorus of “interesting!”. I’m 50, have a hypoactive thyroid, and had a recent high blood sugar reading (partly due to a gallbladder flareup we think, as 2 weeks later with a weight loss of 4ish pounds it was down to just above normal).

And my right shoulder has been hurting for months.

We think it’s a rotator cuff issue vs. a frozen shoulder (as in, I can move the arm in the various directions, it just hurts like a bitch). But I suspect there are some similarities in what causes them to develop.

I just had an MRI for the shoulder as well as one for the knee (on the other side) and will be interested to see what the doc says. I’m hoping “just” therapy not surgery.

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My mom has (had?) a frozen shoulder. My husband’s a PT and he recommended some sort of treatment the orthopaedist does that involves one shot into the shoulder and about 1.5 months of PT. The injection was not cortisone and it had to be done at the radiologist’s office. I’ll ask him exactly what it was called.

Anyway, my mom had it done last week and had almost immediate relief. It’s still painful, but she’s moving it a lot better and she said an Alleve is enough to make her comfortable.

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Hydrodilitation. I found an articledescribing it.

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I was coming in here to move this to Cafe Society! :smack::slight_smile:

And now the pain I’ve been having in my shoulder is starting to worry me. Today I couldn’t close the car door.

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I’ve got about 90-95% of my range of motion back (for example, I can lift my arm up to about 165 degrees easily and then another 10 degrees with effort - it won’t go straight up unless I brace it against something; or I can put my left hand as high as my lower back and if I strain, maybe another inch; my right arm can go as high as my shoulder blades); and the pain is totally gone except for hitting the limits of my motion. The shot was bad but not incapacitating (not sure if it actually went into the joint capsule, the doctor definitely didn’t use an x-ray), the initial physical therapy was horrific - I could see results within a week, but it was like giving birth three times a week.

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I’m not sure if you will or won’t want to hear about my frozen shoulder - it came on quite quickly (a bit of pain for about a week, but nothing I couldn’t put down to overuse), then one night it got so bad so quickly I ended up in the emergency room, crying from the pain (I’m not a “crying from the pain” person, either). I was on the heavy-duty anti-inflammatories and in physiotherapy the next day after the diagnosis, and physio and medication alone took it down from a nine to a two in about a month. My range of motion behind my back is not great, though, and I’m not sure I’ll ever get that back.

It’s about two years later now, and the damned thing still bothers me when I overuse it (whatever caused the original condition is still obviously in play), but when that happens I take a couple of anti-inflammatories right away and it subsides again. The kind of funny thing about my frozen shoulder is that I had a fairly serious injury in the other shoulder years ago; I would have thought that would be the weak one, but nope.

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I forgot to mention that the last thing they did yesterday was stick long strips of blue or yellow tape from the back of the shoulder to the front, along the front collarbone, and from my shoulder to my elbow, with a cutout for my elbow that is, if I don’t sound conceited for pointing it out myself, dead sexy. They said something about it helping the lymphatic flow and providing some pain relief, but I can’t help but wonder if it’s all part of an elaborate early April Fool’s prank.

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That’s kinesio tape. It’s supposed to prevent lymphedema (among other things).

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I also have had frozen shoulder. I had to go to about two months of physical therapy, but that did work.

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I had this also, but my Dr called it Adhesive Capsulitis. I did the physical therapy thing, and within a few months, I was as good as new. Dummy me - when it started hurting, I assumed I should just rest it. Turns out I should have stretched it gently. Anyway, once it got to where I couldn’t reach the lowest wall cabinet shelf with my left arm, I got scared enough to get it checked out.

I was over 50 when it hit me. And the best part of PT was the little zapper pad they put on my shoulder at the end of each session.