FROZEN SHOULDER SHOULD I BE OFF WORK

hi lesley

thankyou, im the same i get it in my elbow inside and out too but i do wonder how much of that is having to keep my arm bent over my stomach for comfort as letting it hang hurts my shoulder too much, had to strip my bed this morning and im sure you can imagaine pain is awful now.

i sleep with 3 pillows plus one to rest my arm on and sometimes a heat pad over my shoulder too the diazepam do help me sleep, but ive been takingthem for about 7 weeks now so trying to be careful with them.

i have notices some pains in my chest too but i used to suffer from a condition called costocondritus ( probably spelt wrong) which is inflammation between ribs and breast bone so im not sure its not a bit of that coming back because of my posture and the positions im having to get into to get undressed, wash hair etc.

i didnt know what perimenopausal was so looked it up, im not there yet, but maybe its just the round the corner, im 46 my youngest is 14 i have 4 kids so luckily they are a great help doing the jobs i cant do. .

im glad your other shoulder didnt progress to anything hopefully mine wont either.

thankyou lesley your advice is very much welcome

Gina, you could easily be perimenopausal. This is the time leading up to menopause...it can start as early as 40 and take up to ten years - most women are menopausal (no periods at all) by the time they are 54. All it means just now is that your hormones are changing and you do not have as much estrogen. Estrogen is the WD40 of the body and keeps us supple, when we have less of it it gives us women more aches and pains especially in the tendons and connective tissues as these go hard and brittle instead of soft and supple. A LOT Of women get frozen shoulder in their middle forties to early fifties, the nickname is 'fifties shoulder' and is is due to hormonal changes. Obviously this is not always the case for FS as men get it too!!I went on to HRT which sorted out the aches and pains...unfortunately HRT does not cure FS but it does help for the future and your bones and tendons. You might want to have your FSH levels tested by your GP to see where you are hormonally!

thankyou lesley i will ask him about that when i next go if it helps in the future i will try anything

PS...You should be near the turning point at 3 months duration. It can happen overnight when you suddenly wake up and realize its only aching and bearable, unlike the pain you are now experiencing. Probably a different time span for each individual, but 3 months was the longest I've had. However, it can take up to 10/12 months for it to totally disappear, although, as Lesley mentioned, most of that time it will be hardly noticeable. The other times I had FS it wasn't as severe as the first time, it resolved earlier (although there was some aching for several months), and because I already knew how to deal with it, and knew what to expect, it didn't affect me as much. There's really nothing to say that it will repeat in either shoulder, but if you've had it once its probably wise to know there's a vulnerability, and avoiding the movements already mentioned, even when you feel ok again, will help avoid any re-occurance....something I wished I'd known at the time !

Talk about learning the hard way !!

Hope yours eases soon

Gerry

hi Gerry

thankyou i look forward to the day it starts to ease , good to know the other times for you havent been so bad , i wish i did know what cause it but guess i just need to be a little more careful ,, age i guess , this thread has been a life line for me over the last few days , just knowing im not alone

as you say just need to be careful with movements hope yours doesnt return ,we all learn the hard way its called life !

i think if it does come in other shoulder i will know how to control it rather than letting it control me

thanks gerry

Gina

thanks

I had my first frozen should 4 years ago. I was treated in the aggressive way where I had to push through the pain with exercises daily that would leave me with unimaginable pain and tears for hours. This treatment seemed natural but I followed the advice of the professionals treating me. I had also 3 steroid injections and was on painkillers which didn't seem to solve or ease anything. I couldn't use my arm extensively for 1 year (no driving, cycling or sport) but I could type so I didn't stop working. which, having my own company would have been disastrous but I did have to bite through the pain very often and I had to take more breaks than I normally would have.

I think if I had been working in a company, it would have been more difficult to have kept up my job successfully as I worked very often lying down with a laptop and as mentioned taking many more breaks (every 15 to 30 minutes) to be able to keep going. Any physical work would not have been possible.

The sleepless nights are terrible, the pain caused by certain movements, unbearable.

It took 3 years for me to have full use of my arm again but about 1 and a half to get through the worst part.

About a month ago the whole thing started again on my other shoulder, this week the pain is getting unbearable when I make wrong movements. I don't believe the aggressive treatment worked for me last time. thanks for all the tips and advice I'm reading here. I would like to try a different approach this time and hopefully heal faster!

The aggresive treatment seemed unnatural not natural sorry for the typo!

Hi debbiesalty

I think you are making the right choice. The Physios feel that they must be doing something, otherwise they think they look unprofessional, and they tend to advise exercises even though any research on FS will reveal there is no evidence for effectiveness. So, why not take the easy option ! Do nothing, and most importantly don't strain the shoulder....give it a better chance to heal. It will self resolve anyway, just needs a bit of patience. Good luck with it.

Gerry

Hi debbiesalty

I think you are making the right choice. The Physios feel that they must be doing something, otherwise they think they look unprofessional, and they tend to advise exercises even though any research on FS will reveal there is no evidence for effectiveness. So, why not take the easy option ! Do nothing, and most importantly don't strain the shoulder....give it a better chance to heal. It will self resolve anyway, just needs a bit of patience. Good luck with it.

Gerry

Hi debbiesalty

I think you are making the right choice. The Physios feel that they must be doing something, otherwise they think they look unprofessional, and they tend to advise exercises even though any research on FS will reveal there is no evidence for effectiveness. So, why not take the easy option ! Do nothing, and most importantly don't strain the shoulder....give it a better chance to heal. It will self resolve anyway, just needs a bit of patience. Good luck with it.

Gerry

Hi Gerry,

Thanks for your answer........the pain is getting worse especially at night and at it's worse when I wake up in the morning I'm not following the same schedule as the first time. no over-stressing of the arm or the shoulder but I am keeping it active and in motion. No painkillers or cortisone injections, although I could possibly change my mind about the painkillers. The pain is definitely much worse than should be accepted as pre-menopausal or menopausal 'aches and pains' and hopefully somebody will come up a proper cure soon.......I really dread the idea of having to go through this possibly for another year or two

Hi again

I suspect that the treatments/exercises you underwent first time round helped to aggravate and extend the duration of the FS. Usually, it hurts for first 3 months and then gradually reduces until it disappears after 10/12 months. For most people who do the aggressive therapies it seems to last longer. I've had it 3 times and it followed the same pattern each time more or less. It just needs patience and painkillers for the initial 3 month period, and then things should improve naturally. Its important to try and avoid reaching overhead or to the rear until the pain subsides. Also I found it helpful to sleep or nap on a sofa rather than lying down....the pain worsened when I lay down horizontal. Try not to be tempted to exercise it away...it usually doesn't work and can extend the initial phase of pain. After the first 3 months or so, the worst pains should mysteriously disappear overnight and it all becomes much easier to manage. This is how it usually goes when there is no therapy or surgical interference.....those options are still there in the unlikely event there is no improvement.

Gerry

i completely agree with gerry, let nature take its course, i was offered physio but politely declined it, its taken about 8 months but its more or less back to normal now, listen to your body and dont overdo it

Hello Gerry,

I think your right. Today I had a really good day and slept very well last night. I'm working on my terrace so I'm active but I'm not overdoing anything and not over-stretching which is the worst pain! Both my doctor and therapist made me overstretch continually last time, claiming that the pain was necessary. I guess if it's painful than your bodies way of telling you not to do it!

It feels very good right now...

hi

now 7 months into my f/s movement no getting much better but there are signs of improvement, but only after I stopped going to the physio. I bought a deep tissue massager and think its great, not in anywhere near the pain I was in, and as a result getting a lot more sleep so hopefully I will be back on the golf course soon,

best of luck to you all

mike