My doctors started me out on Naprosyn and has just switched me to Prednisone - not that it seems to help a whole lot. The internet searches I’ve done are just depressing…unless I’ve managed to misinterpret the studies, the easy stuff (steroids, anti-inflammatories, physical therapy) hasn’t actually has been proven to help; the hard stuff (capsular distention, manipulation under anesthesia and surgical capsular release) sound like if they go wrong, they *really *go wrong; and the constant repetition of “unknown etiology” is not exactly reassuring. I just want to be able to put on a seat belt without fearing I will have to curl up in a fetal position because I used the wrong arm.
I tried massage in Hong Kong, and all I have to show for it are bruises. I also bought something topical called Shexiang Qutong Chaji (with what looks like some sort of photoshop of a kangaroo and goat on it) because the 15 hour flight from Newark to Hong Kong really didn’t do my shoulder any good and the pain made me a little desperate (though once I read the instructions about severe pain, I put the bottle down. I’m hoping it was just badly translated.)
I’d really like to hear from someone else who has done through this (and hoping beyond hope that 2 to 3 years healing is an exaggeration).
Oh, my god, have I been through this. It sucks, and it hurts.
It started out in my left shoulder, which didn’t go through the whole cycle, but then my right shoulder got involved. Extreme pain and lack of range of motion: difficulty washing my hair, putting on shirts, painful to touch, etc. Yes, it has lasted about a year and a half. I had a steroid shot in the muscle last summer, but the only real relief I have gotten is an injection right into the joint, done under imaging (fluoroscope)? That has loosened it up considerably, to the point that I can now raise both arms over my head.
I still can’t do full rotation of my arm (like reach behind me in the car when I’m driving, or take a T-shirt off over my head with both hands), and it still hurts when I sleep on it wrong, but it is so much better since I got that injection. I do simple exercises (I can do them at my desk – just like calistenics with one arm – or watching TV). I was really hoping not to have to have surgery.
I don’t think the Naprosyn can hurt unless used to excess, and I wouldn’t rule out acupuncture. But see if you can find an orthopedist who can try the cortisone in the joint. It hurt like a mother but it did the job.
The Graston Technique saved my life! I had an incredibly limited range of motion in that shoulder, and now it’s almost completely back, with only two or three treatements, which were done by my chiropractor–who is certified in this technique.
My mom had this a few years ago and I think it just took a long time to get better. She did PT and chiropractic. I think it’s pretty much back to normal now.
It sounds like I didn’t have as serious a version as you did–it didn’t hurt to use, I just couldn’t use it much, and couldn’t raise my elbow above shoulder height. I did get a steroid shot into it once, though.
I went to a physical therapist who prescribed a bunch of stretching exercises that you’ve probably seen online–
lie on your back and hold a 3’ stick with an end in each hand in front of your face, then slowly raise it over your head (towards the floor)
again, lying on your back, hold the stick and use the other arm to shove your hand out to the side and up
and a few others.
Again, your best bet is to find a good therapist and follow their instructions, particularly if there’s pain involved.
One of the things that I think had more of a positive effect than I thought it would was that I spent last summer working as a consultant, and I never got a decently ergonomic station set up. My chair was about 6-8 inches lower than I would have liked, so I spent all summer with my shoulder and arm working outside the comfort zone that caused me to develop the frozen shoulder in the first place.
I’ll start checking through orthopedists now and see if my gp will give me a recommendation - since all the ones I’ve called so far won’t see me without one. I’m a little antsy on the chiropractor as I went to see one early because I thought I might have somehow gotten my shoulder out of joint - three sessions a week for two weeks for increased pain and then a “cold laser” treatment that didn’t seem to work either.
My GP is setting me up with a physical therapist next week and I’m still trying the stretches he showed me - it’s just hard for me to judge how painful the stretches are supposed to be before, during and after.
I think frozen shoulder should counted as “totaled” under warranty and somebody owes me a new body.
I had this a couple of years ago. Let it go to the point where any bump against my arm caused shooting, agonizing pain in my shoulder. I’d roll over while sleeping and get a horrifying painful shock that would wake me up.
Finally, went to the orthopedist. He diagnosed it pretty immediately as frozen shoulder, and told me it needed immediate treatment. Here was the treatment regimen:
Anesthetic shot into deltoid.
Another anesthetic shot, deeper into deltoid, near the socket, using longer needle.
Huge-ass long needle stuck directly into the shoulder joint, to inject a substantial quantity of cortisone directly into the capsule in the ball-socket joint in the shoulder. This was pretty painful; on the level of the pain from the frozen shoulder itself
Immediate results. Shoulder felt great, and greater range of motion, immediately. Doc gave me a prescription for Vicodin. I picked up the pills, but since I felt good, figured I’d man up and not take them. Big mistake.
That evening, at around 3 am, absolutely excruciating pain in the shoulder. Worse than the frozen shoulder, worse than the shot. I went for the Vicoden. Problem is, apparently you need to take the Vicoden substantially before the pain kicks in. So I spent the rest of the night in complete agony.
Next morning, no pain, and almost complete range of motion. Did some PT to get back the remaining range of motion. Within a month or so, no pain, and almost completely returned range of motion.
This is what you want to do, and ask your doc about it if he/she doesn’t propose it.
The excruciating was from the shot into the joint. When I had it (the shot, not frozen shoulder) my doctor didn’t mention anything about pain in the joint from the shot. Just that I “may feel some discomfort”. About 8 that night, it started hurting, and quickly got worse. Any movement made it hurt, including breathing. I spent the night sitting in a chair as still as possible, breathing as shallowly as possible until I could call the doctor the next morning. I told them something must be wrong because I was in agony and the nurse said no, it was normal, and I had been told there could be some discomfort. :eek: I broke both arms at once and it didn’t hurt that bad. And they wouldn’t give me anything for the pain. I stopped seeing that doctor.
Here are a couple of simple things to try while you are pondering more serious measures:
Elephant’s Trunk. Find a waist-high ledge you can lean on. An ironing board works. Standing, lean over onto the ledge with your good arm. Let your bad arm hang straight down. Swing the bad arm in tiny circles (golf ball size,) then gradually larger circles.
Spider. Sit in a chair, with a wall to the side of your shoulder problem. Put your fingertips on the wall, waist high. Use your fingertips to slowly crawl your hand up the wall, as far as you can. After a few days, you’ll reach higher.
My family doc gave those two exercises to my wife when she had limited mobility and pain that didn’t stop when she wasn’t moving. Gradually, the mobility came back, and the pain lessened and stopped. She did them several times a day. At first, she winced and drew breath in through clenched teeth, but it got better.
The reason for the shoulder hurting like hell hours after the injection is because the lidocaine (or other ‘caine’ med in the shot) kept the shoulder completely numb for hours, while the patient used the hell out of it. Then it wore off.
Meanwhile, the steroid in the shot had not yet begun reducing inflammation. That effect takes a day or two to start and weeks to achieve its full effect.
I always tell my patients after I inject their joint that they may love me now, but they’ll curse me in a few hours when the short acting anesthetic wears off.
I don’t know if I was extremely lucky, just had a mild case, or physiotherapy is really the best thing ever invented, but I had a frozen shoulder (left one), went to physio immediately (the next day, after spending all night whimpering in the emergency room), and my shoulder was back to almost normal in about three months. I mostly did the elephant trunk one and working with pulleys for range of motion.
My sincere symathies - I’ve had pain before in my life, but I’ve never screamed with pain like I did with the frozen shoulder.
I could understand the reason for the pain. It was the them saying I would feel “discomfort” and not giving my anything for the pain that pissed me off. Discomfort is a stone in my shoe, not having to remain as motionless as possible for 12 hours while breathing as little as possible to avoid agony shooting through my upper left chest and arm.
If they had did what tristram’s doctor did and told me what was going to happen and gave me something for the pain that was coming, I wouldn’t have been upset at them. This wasn’t the worst pain I have ever felt, but it is in the top three. Their callousness about it turned me off of that doctor and his office completely.