Happy Birthday FS

hi claire

i've been told the same thing - that I just have to wait this thing out. i live in Canada and have great medical coverage.  i've been to a doctor, joint specialist, physio...i've had xrays, IMS, and cortisone injections.  Nothing relieves the pain at all.  I use heat for temporary relief; a TENS machine seems to make it worse.  I've just made an appointment to see a chiropractor because I've heard recently from two people that one in town specializes and seems to speed things up with manipulation and laser therapy which breaks down the scar tissue.  I'm skeptical, but I'll go anyways and find out.  I'm five months in and hoping my first FS birthday will be spent celebrating the death of my FS

Yup, all that is true. The only cure for FS is time. All those other things are simply coping mechanisms. I'm currently using a topical cream called Capzaison HP on my frozen right side. It burns pretty good, but works well before sleep. I find heat a real relief, and it seems to temporarily improve range. When I had it in my left side about 5 years ago, I used a tens unit. Out of anger and frustration I would place the pad directly over the capsule and crank it. That only inflamed the area even worse and probably increased the time it took to heal. Not doing that again this go round. I'm not quite a year yet, but I won't be throwing any parties any time soon for this sucky condition. We just keep fighting the good fight. :D

I have had Physio and found it helpful. It is not a cure but it does alleviate much of the surrounding stiffness and pain. When your shoulder is frozen, you start to hold yourself different and your back and neck come under strain. I found physio helped a lot.

Problem lies with the fact that NHS physio has now passed me on to a surgeon to see IF surgery would help - waiting list to see him - over a year! Hopeless!

Had a back massage yesterday - wish I could afford one every week! Whole back feels better today and I feel less like Quasimodo!

Sorry to hear you are still suffering Claire.  What gets me is that even the so called professionals cannot seem to agree on treatment.  Some seem to advocate aggressive physio - some say none at all.  Some say hydrodilatation doesn't work, some (including the consultant I went to) claim very good results for it.

It's probably about a year since mine started - hard to say for sure, as it crept up without me realising what it was.  Fortunately I'm now well on my way to recovery.  I think we're all different and may well react differently to certain treatments but I know what did and didn't work for me.  From personal experience, physio didn't help and could in fact do harm at the freezing stage.  Gentle excercises, stopping if it hurts, makes sense to stop the muscles wasting away but pushing too far, set me back.  Excercise may well be more useful at the frozen to thawing stage, to slowly get everything moving again - but again I'd personally say keep it gentle.  Hydrodilatation did work for me - I had mine done in December, over 4 months ago now.  Within 2 days of the injection, I was without pain (and able to sleep) - and still am.  There wasn't a dramatic release of the capsule, which I have heard happens sometimes but within a month, I was once more able to put up my hair and fasten my bra again.  The improvements continue and I can get my arm up in front about three-quarters the way to vertical.  I do some gentle stretching and strengthening excercising to try to get my muscles working again and am pretty much using that arm normally.  I'm also pretty sure that HRT played some role in speeding up my recovery - but I'm sure my doctor would laugh at that!

What works for one may well not work for another but this condition is poorly understood - even by the professionals.  For most, time will heal (though it's worth ruling out underlying tears, etc) - there are others on here who have recovered without any treatment or excercise.  I really do feel for those still suffering - the memories of those painful. sleepless nights are still clear - but there is light at the end of the tunnel - unfortunately that tunnel is just a bit longer for some than others.  Best of luck to you Claire and the other sufferers, wishing you a speedy recovery.

I had surgery 2 days ago glad i did im in less pain now than i have been altbough its stiff, exercises help feeling mych vetter alreadyvapart drom the chronic tooth ache i woke uo with which is worse than my shoulder x

Hi Claire and all others affected.

12mths ago I recovered from Frozen Shoulder. It was every bit painful as you all have mentioned. It lasted from start to finish approx. 20mths. It was was originally brought on by falling backwards to land on the ground with a leading right elbow. Pain factor was enough to bring tears to my eyes, but that didn't stop me from continueing on with the task at hand - painting 2 extra rooms of house. Bloody Idiot! 

Although I still had all movement, the shoulder was extremely sore all week. Off to doctors, first course of action scan. No apparent tear so to eleviate the pain I had a cortezone shot. This only made matters worse. The next day the shoulder had frozen. I then tried 6 mths of physio. No better. From there on in I self managed the pain and shoulder with occassional doses of paracetamol and regular stretches and exercise. 

At night when the pain drove me nuts I would get up and let the arm hang loose like an elephant's trunk and slowly rotate it for about 1 minute. This actually works well enough to ease the pain for another short period of sleep.

Heat packs and blasts of hot water onto shoulder whist showering also brings welcome relief. So hang in there, keep as chipper as you can, the shoulder will mend eventually.

I only hope that you don't end up with another dose of frozen shoulder like I did six weeks ago. First the left shoulder and now the right. Thank God we don't have 3 arms.

Oh, by the way before I go I need to mention that I just recently tried a few sessions with a chiropractor. This certainly relieved a lot of stress around the neck and back area. I will continue this treatment on a monthly basis.

Bye for now, off to do some light stretches.