Plus they put the moist heat on and those prickly electric things, and it feels better when you go home.
Oh, fer the love of - I carried groceries home today, and my shoulder has flared up badly. Dammit, is this ever going to get back to normal again? It gets better, it gets worse, but it always seems to be susceptible to getting sore far too easily. I’ve taken two of the mega-anti-inflammatories today - we’ll see if the flare up goes down right away, or I’ll be back at physio again soon. Any sympathy, my fellow frozen peeps?
Gee, Cat Whisperer, that bites! I hope everything settles back down soon.
I went to the ortho on Tuesday and his PA confirmed what I already knew. I’m officially part of the club. 
The only upside to the diagnosis was that my GP originally thought it was arthritis. I’m assuming that I won’t have frozen shoulder for the rest of my life.
The doc prescribed PT every day if possible. I don’t think it’s going to be possible. He also told me that I needed to do my stretching exercises on my own every hour on the hour. So far, I haven’t been very good about complying. I can tell a difference in what I have done. One thing that surprised me was that he said to not worry about the pain during stretching. So, if I make a movement that takes me by surprise and takes my breath away, once the pain and tears subside, I make the same movements (albeit slowly) to try to stretch the affected area.
He didn’t put me on any anti-inflammatories. He said that they could prescribe a mild pain reliever if needed. Right now I’m hoping to not need it but since I haven’t been to PT yet, I might be overly optimistic. He did tell me that I’d hate my therapist for a couple of weeks. Oh boy.
I feel your pain Cat Whisperer. Really, I do. [[Gentle hugs.]] It’s not my fault if I can’t get my hand off your butt. It’s a disease.
Plenty of sympathy from me - that sucks!!!
Should you perhaps ice your shoulder as well? I always feel like heat would be really good on my shoulder (again, not “frozen” but rotator cuff issues), and I have no idea whether that’d be good or not, or what’s recommended for frozen shoulders.
I wonder why no anti-inflammatories - they’re lifesavers. I don’t take them all the time, but in case like last night when I had a bad flare-up, I took two of them yesterday and today it’s almost back to as good as it usually is again (I heated and iced it as well - the combo seems to have done the trick). I wasn’t doing my exercises - I had been pain-free for so long that I got out of the habit. Where’s that damned pulley again?
Copping a feel off someone who can’t reach around behind their back, eh? Nice.
I had my first PT session today. I absolutely love my therapist. She’s smart, funny, sarcastic and a golfer. I’m not sure what else I could ask for. She said that she has about a 50% success rate treating it with therapy alone and that she’ll know after a week which category I’m going to fall in.
The therapies themselves weren’t bad at all. In fact, the scapula massage treatment with the stuff that felt a lot like K-Y was probably more enjoyable than allowed by law in Oklahoma. I may hurt like hell tomorrow but right now it’s not too bad.
Bumping this. The PT didn’t work. I go in for a manipulation under anesthesia tomorrow. I’ll let you know how well it works and how bad it hurts.
Ouch That doesn’t sound like fun at all.
The PT today (session for my shoulder, which is a rotator cuff / impingement thing) asked if I’d been counseled on frozen shoulder - I gather if someone has restricted motion like I do, they are at higher risk of developing a full-on frozen shoulder. So I’m watching the thread with interest and trepidation.
The manipulation went well. The doctor said that it was really stuck but once he got through the scar tissue he was able to go through the full range of motion. When I woke up in recovery, the pain was pretty intense. I gave it 8 of 10 stars. They gave me a couple of doses of demerol and something for blood pressure. Mine was 164/105 at the time. I have high BP but it’s normally controlled with medication. I took my BP pill this morning like they told me to but it was high anyway. By the time I got back to my room, the pain was 6 or 7. They gave me more demerol and a prescription for percocet.
It’s nap time. I’m not looking forward to the painkiller in the Cortizone wearing off.
Thanks for the update. I can imagine the BP was high, pain will do that to you. Do you have to spend the night in the hospital now or will you go home in a bit?
Take care of yourself, and don’t risk overdoing it while the shoulder is still anesthetized (though it sounds like you aren’t at risk of that if you’re in that much pain). A friend made the mistake, after minor joint surgery, of thinking “this doesn’t hurt, let me clean the house”. Then the local they’d filled it with… wore off. :eek::(.
Actually, my last post was from home. My total time at the hospital was probably less than 4 hours. I am definitely taking it easy at home. No house cleaning today. The percocet is working well and I guess the injection (which was over 9 hours ago) still hasn’t worn off.
Definitely keep taking care of yourself! What was the doctor’s advice about using that shoulder/arm in the near future? Should you be favoring it or using it once the first ouchiness wears off?
I should use it but not abuse it. PT starts all over again tomorrow.
!!!:mad:
Actually, I just came into this thread to sympathize with the frozen shoulder/adhesive capulitis folks. I had this, once in each shoulder, treated with PT. One of my PTs was great and I always felt better after seeing her. The other one, I tried to avoid, because I always felt worse. In one instance my shoulder felt like I was carrying something heavy–the kind of thing that doesn’t really hurt, but it does wear on you and you’re happy to put down whatever you’re carrying. Only I had nothing to put down!
When I told the first PT about it, she immediately started applying pressure to various points, and the pain eased within minutes.
I also had a whole lot of exercises to do at home, using very light weights (they suggested a can of soup, for instance).
No problems for three years now. But if I ever experience that kind of shoulder pain again, instead of letting it get bad I’m heading directly to the nearest physical therapist.
How are you doing, 3 days later?
OK, I guess. I definitely have better motion in my shoulder. PT wasn’t bad the first day but it’s getting more challenging. My percocet is making me nauseous and tired but it does keep the pain at bay. I’m calling my doctor for a different pain pill tomorrow. I’ve only been to work for 2 hours since Tuesday. I plan on working a full day tomorrow but we’ll see how it goes.
Overall, I’m glad that I did it but it has not been without its downside. If I hadn’t had a lot of sick leave built up, I would have been really miserable.