I am in the frozen stage of Frozen Shoulder & have had 16 PT visits, any one had any luck with PT?
Posted , 11 users are following.
My frozen shoulder started around Sept. of 2017. It started with a little "twinge" in my left bicep. I thought I had pulled it at the gym, so I did not think much of it. I rested it and it seemed to get better, but looking back, as well as reading the symptoms, I realize now that I was in the freezing stage of frozen shoulder. After a while sleeping on my left side became too painful, and while walking my dogs my left shoulder would hurt so bad I just wanted to lay down where I was and not finish the walk. I didn't even notice that I lost all range of motion until I was reaching for something and the pull was so bad in my bicep that I started to cry. I had an MRI done but it did not show any tears and it took 2 doctors to diagnose what I had. Everyone was saying it was my neck (I had a c6/c7 disc fusion back in May of 2013), but I KNEW that wasn't it (I also had an MRI of my neck and it all looked normal). I had 2 cortisone shots and they did nothing. I had a short round of steroids (6 day pack) and again, nothing. I am on Hydrocodone-Acetaminophen 5/325. I take one in the morning (after I finish my errands and don't have to drive) and one and a half before going to bed around 9pm. It seems it does not help too much with the pain. I tried taking Gabapentin with the pain meds but it kept raising my fasting blood sugar (I am type 2 diabetic) so I had to stop taking it.
So, to get to the point, I have been frozen for about 5 months, have had 14 PT visits and the Dr ordered 12 more. I did make some progress with ROM, but that seems to have stopped. The Dr told me that, at this point, surgery would be more painful than helpful. Has anyone ever had ANY success with PT? Does anyone have any suggestions with managing the pain? I can't imagine going through this pain for several more months. I am not sleeping and getting more depressed. Thank you in advance!
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kathleen20641 Guest
Posted
pain issue: your hydrocodone 5 is a low dose. 10 plus 325 helps, 2 of those at once would be effective ,-- i know people fear the opiods but if you need them you have to really insist to get an effective prescription. best wishes.
colin1964 kathleen20641
Posted
hi colin here .
butting in here on the pain issue . a customer of mine see that i was in pain and asked what was wrong.
she had been through the same thing. single shoulder. and was refered to have hydrodistension injection .
an amount of joint numbing stuff followed by steroid followed by up to 80 ml of saline.
as this last bit goes in you can feel the joint popping and tearing off the scar tissue.
its an instant mend. my left side in now working up to 80% motion with limited pain. dont get me wrong if i catch it bad them pains reduce me to my knees.
cost was £100 for consultation . £550 for procedure.
now in full bloom with my right shoulder just in time for christmas. only last night was up at 1am 3am 5am . in pain as usual.
i hate needles but would jump at the chance of another distension when it is stage 2
at the moment on 25/500 codipar x 8 a day and noproxen anti inflamatory.
still does not help when its caught wrong in the joint. and still having PT every friday to get the muscles out of spasm.
worst is my neck very stiff and very very clicky.
colin