FROZEN SHOULDER SHOULD I BE OFF WORK

Any ladies with frozen shoulder who are peri menopausal/menopausal and not on HRT should have a serious chat with a (preferably female) GP.

I suffered for ages (two male GP's dismissed the idea of it being hormonal) before being diagnosed with menopausal adhesive capsulitis by a Nurse Practitioner who researched the subject for her thesis.This is also sometimes known as menopausal tendonitis/arthritis. After a month of being on conjugated estrogen (Prempak C) it is like someone has 'oiled' my shoulder. I felt like I had completely seized up and my bicep and shoulder muscle were like concrete. I am now able to do gentle exercises to free the adhesion, and can now lift my arm (impossible for months) to wash and dry my hair/shave under arms etc. Estrogen is the WD40 of the body, and without it, in some women the soft connective tissue goes hard and brittle. Not all women suffer from joint/connective tissue problems in menopause,. but interesting it is usually the ladies who were a bit smug, because they got got to 50/55 ish with no real symptoms or hot flushes - then bam, being hit like a ton of bricks with frozen shoulder.

HRT is not for everyone, but AC was ruining my life. Given that the prognosis for recovery can be up to seven years ...I decided the risk was worth it.

Google menopausal frozen shoulder/menopausal tendonitis/arthritis and go and see your GP ladies!!

I have 2 frozen shoulders and I can't believe the pain I am in, my pain started in both my upper arms in May this year and the GP said the pain was coming from my neck and was caused by bad posture sitting at a computer for work . He referred me to physio who gave me some exercises to do and did some neck mobilisations which gave me neck and back pain, eventually was diagnosed with frozen shoulders, had a course of acupuncture on my worst side which helped with the pain a bit. Can't remember the last time i had a good nights sleep! I am signed off work as the pain had got so bad, not sure what stage I'm in now, I suppose the pain isn't as persistent in the day but it's a nightmare at night and my movements are really restricted, think the GP is going to try steroid injection, there just doesn't seem to be any urgency on the NHS! when I get up in the morning I feel about 100, I can't move, it's been going on so long now I really don't know what to do, any suggestions would be much appreciated. Lisa

Oh Lisa, that's just horrible for you. Mine has started to get much better. I had a cortison injection and at the same time started taking amitriptilyne - a low dose, only 10g. I wasn't sure which had helped at the time but now I'm pretty sure it was the amitriptilyne which has let me sleep ever since. Maybe you could ask your GP about this. Really hope you get some relief soon, it's a nasty condition but to have in both arms I really do feel for you. Best wishes Nicola

milligrammes by the way not grammes LOL

I do sympathise with you. I am in the unfreezing stage now and what a relief it is. I was unable to sleep for so long, that now I am unable to sleep soundly any more, though! I was unable to drive for 16 weeks, was off work for so long that I lost my job. Now I am just doing some voluntary work half a day a week. I tried small doses Amitriptylline but it was of no use. Nor was acupuncture. I just realised one morning that it was slightly less agony, had a steroid injection two days later, and it slowly improved from then on. Many a night during those long weeks of agony I contemplated suicide, as the pain was just out of this world. I think the medical profession should take frozen shoulder more seriously. If I were a mental health patient threatening suicide I would be whisked away and cared for at great expense by the NHS but when I threaten suicide as the only escape from the torment of utter agony the NHS just turns away. It's treated with such flippancy by everyone. I think until someone in the spotlight gets it, and brings it to media attention, nothing will be done. As to whether you should be off work, we'll, everyone gets frozen shoulder to a different degree, so it depends how bad it is. My Physio said mine was the worst case he had ever encountered - my arm was literally pinned to my side with no movement. I struggled with self-care and there was no way I could have gone to work. It was too painful to drive, then too painful to use the bus then it was too painful to walk out of the house.

Two nights ago, I was happily sitting in my armchair and reached for my cup of tea on a tabe beside me.

Suddenly I felt something give in my back and a sharp pain.

It was no too bad but began to build to extreme. So I went into emergency pain management mode-

Double the tramadol, then add panadol, hey that rhymes.

Add a heat pack the usje my electric massage device.

Nothinf wa helping much, then the muscels in my shoulder startd spasming so badly I yelled out loud each time.

Every movement was agony and if it had been on y ldft sid e I would have presumed heart attack and called an ambulance.

Hours later I got some sleep then woke to find e erythi ng just as bad.

Somehow I got dressed, wishingI had smaller boobs so I did not have

le to put a bra on lol

Walked or rather oozed into the docs office and waited half an hour regularly yelling inpain then crying, something I rarely do.

Two nurses were very sympathetic so that was nice

I did think I had broken a rib but was diagnosed with inflamed rib cartlidge which in turn flared the nerves and muscles

Darn cup of tea?

So off to the physio, a charming young lady who told me that she understood because she had crohns disease and also how whe had a special interest in rib problems as they are so hard to treat , great mate

So shoulder strapped double tablets 50mg of prednisone daily....much rest, no choice really.

Ho hum sneak attack by a cuppa

On the brighter side, after much thought I bought a tablet, typing this on it, I am thrilled with it as it is so much lighter and easier ti use than a computer.

I sit it on a tray on my lap which is especially for computers and has a soft base which adjusts to you shape so comfy.Well the fingers don,t want to work so by for now

Thanks for the responses, glad to know its not just me!

I tried amitryptiline but it made me feel like I was on another planet so can't really take it :-(

Back to the doctors again today so will see what he suggests now...... Won't be expecting too much though......

The only way is physio folks , even if you have to pay , it will work if you find the right petson

Best wishes

Sorry, but I disagree re the physio. I had a course of physio, and he just spoke to me from his chair - no hands-on stuff. I think this is a disease which will run its course in its own time. Yes - using your arm/shoulder when you can once the painful stage is over, will speed up the recovery process - which in a way is your own physio, but I don't believe that my physiotherapist did any good. I really pushed myself to use my bad side, once the period of agonising pain had passed, and would estimate that since the first day of recovery I have consistently gained 1mm of movement back per day. This seems very little, but I am now 3 months into the recovery phase, which equates, at 1mm per day, to about 100 mm, which is about 4", which is about right. I can cope with 4" of movement quite well, and could manage with no further improvement if I had to, but I still think I am regaining 1mm a day. I'm hoping this will continue until I have near full range of movement back. My recommendation would be: give in to the pain during the painful stage, don't try to be a martyr as it won't do any good. As soon as you turn the corner into the recovery stage, push yourself as much as you absolutely can without causing a level of pain that makes you reach for pain killers.

Hi so sorry to hear that you did not much relief to your frozen shoulder through physio , it is vitally important to find soneone who has the skill to release the pain and stress in the shoulder , as with most things , it does take some doing but there are some excellent physios out there who have the knowledge and experience to deal with this , its just a matter of finding the right one

Hoping everone reading manages to find the right physio and treatment plan

Hi

I wrote in about four months ago at my lowest ebb - I was pretty depressed about my situation. I am on my second frozen shoulder. The first was my left arm and took two years to get back to normal but it was largely untreated apart from anti inflammation and painkillers. When my right shoulder became frozen it was much much worse as I am right handed and my job involves a lot of typing. I tried acupuncture then physio - Acupuncture had no effect and physio made me much worse as it seemed to inflame my shoulder/arm even more. I was then referred to a specialist who treated sports injuries - he was brilliant - he listened,understood and aministered a cortizone injection which I didn't feel at all and the pain began to subside straight away - My mobility hasn't improved radically and I think it will be a slow process to get back to Normal.

In the last eight months I have had eight days off work which I took off when I simply couldn't type any more. I was able to concentrated on Doctors Physio/Specialist appointments to improve my condition.

My work place were okay about this time off and paid me but there has been no support or sympathy from my management. They offered me hands free for typing e-mails but have not updated the software so I can use it. I don't think any one who hasn't had this understands the terrible pain it causes and the side affects like lack of sleep and how out of it heavy pain killers can make you feel.

I am glad i was able to find this forum as it was a comfort to know there were others out there who were having similar experiences and I wasn't alone.

Has anyone had to take a protracted period off work or had a sympathetic attitude from their company?

Was anyone offered help to work?

Lynda London

Not I. I went off sick after 2 months in a new job, and was eventually told that as I had had so much sickness in my probationary period I had two choices: resign on health grounds or be sacked on health grounds. Never having been sacked in my life, I wasn't going to start in my fifties, so I resigned on health grounds. It doesn't seem v. fair, especially as I only had sick pay for the first 4 weeks off sick, so could afford to pay someone else to do my job until I was able to resume it. Now I have no job & no money coming in, despite being more fit to work than I have been for months. I felt there was an 'out of sight, out of mind' approach.

Has anyone tried TENS for pain relief for frozen shoulder?