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Pain Management for True Frozen Shoulder

Posted , 4 users are following.

Rologirl
Rologirl

Hi there fellow suffers, I thought I would tell my story.

In 2007 I had true frozen shoulder in my left (non-dominant shoulder). After freezing and while waiting for arthroscopic release I spent five months on dihidracodeine and tramadol and didn't sleep. No sleep. None. I don't really remember much about 2007, I was 42. I continued working, but like a zombie.

I had the arthroscopic release and was off all pain meds within 2 days – was magic.

Surgery performed by Mr Cameron Hatrick in Sussex on the NHS.

However I had severe muscle wastage and was very unfit, so months and months of physio followed before I regained full movement and fitness.

Exercises I found particularly useful was being able to windmill my arm – simulating swimming movements in addition to the other recommended exercises.

In October 2014 I suspected the onset of frozen shoulder in my right arm. I completed as many of the exercises I did post op last time, as possible and went to gp and physiotherpist.

I maintained mobility much longer but had pain when sleeping and lying down, so disrupted sleep.

In late January I lost al mobility within 2 weeks, much more rapidly than last time, but I assumed it was because I had been keeping the strength and mobility exercises up. Up till this point I was coping with just paracetamol.

I was referred to Mr Hatrick again. In the meantime, while waiting, I was back on the dihidracodeine, then back on the tramadol too. I also used heat patches – the kind that last 12 hours and you wear on clothing, not skin. Still managing sleep in 2 and 3 hour spells to add up to 6-8 hours a night.

However I felt my whole health was deteriorating with the use of the dihidracodeine and tramadol, as they made me an idiot and I was in a new job and trying to impress. (Well at least look professional).

When they recruited me in February I explained about my condition and that I was waiting for key-hole surgery and would expect to be back at work in a few days. The new job was great because I could go by train as I had given up driving as could open and close the drivers door or use reverse gear.

Before seeing the consultant, I returned to my GP and he wrote a letter to point out how this was adversely affecting my mental health, recommending the procedure be done quickly. I saw Mr Hatrick on March 30th and had the op on April 1st in Brighton.

However, this time the discharge included notes and graphic images and explained the complications encountered. I did not only have arthroscopic release and manipulation under anaesthetic. As I had inflammation ++, impingement ++ and a thickened bursa, I was given a nerve block and had bone shaved.

I went home, tried the dihidracodeine and tramadol and suffered. Went to the gp twice, spoke to the gp twice, saw the nurse to have my stitches removed and returned to the hospital for examination by a duty registrar. I saw the physiotherapist for an assessment who looked at my discharge notes and said I had had two real extremes of experiences of easy and complicated. I then had a follow up with Mr Hatrick on day 17, who said in 14 years he had never recommended a steroid injection any sooner than 4-6 months post op as there was a risk of infection. However, he recommended it as urgent and on day 20 I had a steroid injection under x-ray.

Now it is day 22 and I am still suffering and am still off work.

Since day 5 I have been on Morphine, Naproxine and Paracetomol. Since day 17 I have also been on Gabapentine. This cocktail will sometimes mean I get 3 or 4 hours sleep. I certainly have better mobility since the release, but pain is still awful, despite the meds and plenty of ice.

Given up taking one day at a time, I now take every 4-6 hours at a time.

No idea when I will be able to return to work.

0 likes, 7 replies

7 Replies

  • jiminpain
    jiminpain Rologirl

    Posted

    i think most on here can empathise with you , it is a horrid and very painfull desease and i think it seems little understood by the medical profession , i had it in my right shoulder 3 years ago , it took 18 months from start to finish and is now 99% normal , but now my left shoulder has gone the same way , and i fear another 18 months of misery :-(
    • Rologirl
      Rologirl jiminpain

      Posted

      Poor you - I hope you are able to keep excercising so you can prevent the muscle wastage that seems to make everything worse.

      Take care

  • Carly1313
    Carly1313 Rologirl

    Posted

    It sounds like you are having a hard time like I had with my first FS. I feel bad for you and can only tell you it does get better with time. I had rotator cuff surgery on my left shoulder in June of 2013 and was in a sling for 4 weeks and started therapy at 3 weeks. But by 6 weeks in constant pain my therapist sent me to the Ortho who diagnosed FS. I went in for the capsular release 3 weeks later in Aug but I had a longer then normal recovery according to my dr. It took lots of PT and daily at home exercises along with cortisone injections to get full ROM and be able to return to my physically demanding job and that wasn't until January 2014. So imagine how scared I was when in spring of 2014 the RT shoulder started feeling some pain! I went back to the dr and we started with PT but no relief. He did an MRI and said I had impingment and needed to have the bone shaved also, as you did. But he was hesitant to operate because of my past experiace with FS so he would do everything to prevent it. You can imagine my surprise( and he said his!) when I woke up in recovery to not only the acromioplasty but also a rotator cuff repair, bone spur removal, and bicep tenodesis. We started PT the very next day in the hospital and 3X a week thereafter, but 4 weeks later I developed FS. This time though he opted to NOT do the capsular release, he said 4 surgeries in such a short time was too much on my body and he was afraid that my shoulder would just do what it did last time and keep making scar tissue and take just as long to heal. So I am 7 months out from surgery and still waiting for this to thaw on its own. I almost wish that we had gone that route sometimes?

    I think sometimes things just go easier then other times. But I will tell you I made it through that capsular release, I know what u are going through. I too read how so spells come out and can move all around, shoot I think I could in the beginning! Just keep going! Take all your pain meds so you

    stay on top of it as much as you can! Every day you make it thru is one day closer to healing! Hopefully the cortisone will start working and give you a jump start! I used LOTS of ice pacs! Try and sleep whenever you can, that will help you feel a lot better. I hope you get some pain relief soon.

    • Rologirl
      Rologirl Carly1313

      Posted

      Thankyou for your message. i realy appreciate it. How are you now? What an ordeal you have had. How much do you have to take each day? I think my surgery proved being 50 is not really relevant - idiopathic and idiosyncratic. How have you managed work-wise?
    • Carly1313
      Carly1313 Rologirl

      Posted

      No being 50 is not easy!! I watch my grandchildren full time and since the baby was only 5 months and the others both under 6 I have not been able to go back to watching them. What we were hoping this time would be a 3 month absence, has now been 7 months. But what can I do? I visit them weekly and hope to be back as soon as this crazy process is over. I see my dr in a few weeks and he said at the 9 month mark he will decide if I have to have the capsular release.

      I have felt a little less pain this week so I am hoping maybe I am going into the next stage? The pain management dr thinks it's just from the new meds? We will see?

      But I have learned through it to be patient and to appreciate every little break from the pain and every little victory! Even if it is just being able to brush my own hair! Be patient. And do all your exercises. I can't stress that enough!

  • Louise1923
    Louise1923 Rologirl

    Posted

    Hi firstly I've read lots of painful stories on this forum, thank goodness we can share our personal symptoms & feelings about this awful condition, that unless one has suffered ...generally I find little sympathy out there!...I'm sorry to hear your storyline sounds horrendous especially as you have gone through physical & mental distress, as many including myself have. Obviously I have my own Frozen shoulder input and this is what happened to me, as in sharing we may find ways forward it will enable us to DIY treatment, and it's so practical to give this info to medics etc! Being informed is key as half the time there's so many conflicting treatments, depending on who you talk to on them days!, very worrying in itself!

    I had a Frozen shoulder left sided 2 years ago, aged 50, which correlates with the menapause angle, I'm sure it's related, never any previous arthritis joint medical history..the symptoms are as we all describe, acute  pain unable to sleep, lift, move normally, and a ache which was wearing and intense. I was at a loss to know what to do to help myself tried heat and ice packs, painkillers propping myself up, excercises acupuncture, oesteopathy, all at my expense with no real support, although family listened to me , after a while no doubt it becomes boring to hear over and over as it's the same story, a drag in every way especially for me! Literally dizzy with the sleep deprivation having to move beds sleep on the sofa etc...just trying to get some rest, and dreading the night ahead. After months of physio referred by my GP , the head of physio eventually referred me for hydro dilation, which I feel should have been offered much earlier, as this is such a common complaint, why drag the patient through such agony? At the very least no one should be in pain & sleeping tablet would have helped in retrospect. ( (I have a nursing background I will add) to enable sleep & rest is paramount alongside being pain free. I went for the hydro dilation which I can honestly tell you was quite the most painful procedure in the moment, ask for extra painkiller!! a absolute must, the local anaesthetic is quite useless as only superficicial. However on the positive it absolutely worked. I've read many stories about surgery & I'm so relieved I never went down that route as Frozen shoulders eventually do rectify themselves, obviously there will be cases that don't I'm saying generally, freeze,Frozen, thaw..

    ok 2 years on and I'm the 1 in 5 that gets 2! Horror of horrors the other side the same agony, however this time it started in my right thumb of all places and I was send to a and specialist who diagnosed very painful De quervains tendonitis, which I duely had nerve conduction test, etc and eventually a steroid injection...soon after that was resolved I felt the FS start in my upper arm muscle and gradually took over my whole shoulder..now I'm at the been to GP stage on anti inflammatory Naproxen, I've also applied Ibuprofen gel which definitely helps if used regularly & I bought some estrogen cream which I'm trying ad hoc...if hormone related...physio recommended excercise again...he said he disagrees with surgery and let's try excercises...which I feel worse after trying to be so regimented, I do swim twice a week which really helps, also I made myself a sling which I wear at night as supporting the arm is much better for me...and avoiding any lifting stretching etc I don't want to aggregate my arm any more than necessary! I'm going back to my GP Monday to insist on another hydro dilation I'm certainly not prolonging this agony for the second time...let's face it if I'd broken my arm I would be assisted immediately to aid it's full recovery, I really don't get it why this should be such a drawn out painful complaint & so so common. It's not right that you or I or anyone should have this debilitating complaint to have to deal with it over years...when this can be sorted SO much quicker!! Why are we suffering like this because of the medical incompitancy & conflicting treatment offered...if something works for the patient, share that information and use it!....that's basic healthcare! Good luck I hope my sharing may help in some small way...it's all we have !& positivity + best  wishes for a full recovery. Louise 

    • Rologirl
      Rologirl Louise1923

      Posted

      thank you for your repoly, I hope you get the response you want on Monday.

      When I got to the consultant this time, i asked about the timing of thesurgery,a s I felt it should have been done weeks earlier - but he said there was a trend to do it earlier which was leading to people re-freezing. 

      His experience of 14 years was that you have to wait until it is locked enough that thepain starts to subside - as tehr is so little moevemnt - and thsi is the perfect timing to do the key hole surgery.

      This is what I had - but having complications has led to the very slow recovery - or going backwards I amj now suffering.

      I will be calling my consultant on Monday -as he said last Friday I would be fit to return to work 7-10 following the steroid injection - yet am worse and now on day 6 - and obviously am still on morphine, naproxine, paracetomol and gabapentine - so can't work while doped up like that - and have barely slepf for 4 days.

      take care

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