Frozen shoulder

[surlycurly]

I've just been diagnosed with one and it's making me miserable. I'm not big on meds but I can't sleep with it. Any tips or stories for me? How long did yours last?

A hot water bottle to ease the pain.

I have a wheat cushion thing that I microwave! Wine is a plan I hadn't tried... it may be necessary 😂

Yes I used a wheat cushion thing. Alternate hot and cold (frozen peas thing) if necessary.

The sharp pains and struggles yes.
I did some physio nhs and private and private physio did some acupuncture...eventually it got better.
Anecdotally I don't see much difference between people who had ops or injections and not...it s a long haul of around a year.
It will get better.
Be aware and try avoid sharp movements

OP, I have PMed you.

I'm sitting in the hospital right now while my dh has an op for frozen shoulder . He has been in a lot of pain so we are hoping this helps . Physio didn't work for him . 😩

@hendricksy I found the worst thing after my op was that my arm was useless until the nerve block wore off fully. I had to wear my sling to immobilise my arm for a couple of days. Most things were fine - no issues with hygiene/toilet stuff but DH did have to help me get dressed for a day or two.

The pain relief was immediate though. I hope your DH has a speedy recovery.

Yes they have said about that ..thank you ! .. is your shoulder better now ?

Yes thank you. I'd say I have about 95% of the range of movement I had before it froze. I can't touch my shoulder blade with my hand behind my back if I'm putting my bra on - but I can if I'm taking it off maybe I get a bit more supple as the day goes on

I have the full range of movement forwards, upwards and outwards though.

@TheWoollybacksWife when did you have it done ?

I had 18 months of pain - pain cured instantly by hydrodilation on the NHS - it felt like a miracle cure!!

I had my op late August 2017 and was discharged from my follow up physio by the end of September of the same year. I saw the physio before I left hospital after my operation and had two sessions afterwards. They gave me a leaflet of exercises to do every day during my recovery period.

My surgery was on my non dominant side.

I had a cortisone injection on new years eve for mine, after a year of horrible pain. It's now about 80% better. I still can't sleep on it but I can pull my seat belt across and hold my hairdryer which is a huge improvement. I had physio first but tbh it didn't help.

The steroid gave me hot flushes.. horrendous ones for a few weeks but they have now stopped. Push for the steroid jab!

DH had an op to release his frozen shoulder after all other treatment failed. The change was incredible.

I've had a bad night. To be honest it's the arm pain I struggle with more than the shoulder. It's a gnawing, constant ache. It's getting me down 😢

Horrendous pain and so debilitating, I feel for you.

I ended up getting a cortisone injection, 1st one didn't work, 2nd one a few weeks later did the trick, immediate pain relief and then intensive physio for several weeks.

The doctor had been a bit useless- they gave me co-codomal and that was it. No suggestion to go back- just a physio referral

We went private , I don't think the nhs will offer .. in my area you can self refer for physio , is that an option ?

Yeah I called the self refer line the other day, and I have OH referral through my work too... hopefully I'll get something soon. But in the interim it looks like I'll have to just get on with the pain. I've had no luck physically these past few years after a big knee injury, following a bigger back injury. My body hates me.

Like a PP, I had 6 weeks of physio with infrared light, and a cortisone injection. It was on the NHS. The injection really did the trick for me. All in all it took a year and a half to resolve.

Hope you can get the medical care you need

I have been referred for urgent keyhole surgery as my frozen shoulder is so acute - is it worth it? Should I opt for steroid injection first? I am so desparate, BB unable to work or barely drive or sleep.

Any advice so welcome on success of operations. 🌸🌸🌸

I had a frozen shoulder for 3 years. The two steroid injections I had did not work, although for some people they work fine and they don't need surgery. Physio helped a great deal, although was incredibly painful.
I had the surgery and it was amazing. Nearly a year down the line and my shoulder now is probably around 90% of fully functioning. It will improve a bit more too.

Me too! I'm convinced my symptoms started after a flu jab was done too high up but anyway, it started in 2016 then I had hydrodilation in late 2017. This worked for around 6 months then I started to have problems again. Fast forward to now and it's been diagnosed as acute bursitis and I've recently had another steroid injection following another ultrasound and got some imorovement in forward movement. My problem is that the exercises are just so painful. Years of shoulder problem have really affected my posture

I had surgery on my frozen shoulder in May of last year, after suffering for nearly 3yrs. Surgeon said it was one of the worst they'd seen. I tried physio and steroid injections but nothing helped.

A year on I have full range of movement and am swimming about 2km per session. For me it was a miracle cure! The range of movement immediately after surgery was amazing. I was fastidious with the exercises, my physio gave me lots to do with a broom stick so I was stretching it a little bit more each time and various things using the wall to build up strength. I often used to do the exercises in the shower at the start as the warm water seemed to help.

Things that I found helped before surgery included using volterol gel on the shoulder and I second what a pp said about getting a really supportive pillow to raise your head when sleeping in your side which seems to take a bit of pressure off your shoulder. If sleeping on my side was too painful I'd be on my back with pillows under and around my arm to support my shoulder. It was a hideous time and you have my sympathy.

Mine got yo a point so bad that no ultra strength pained worked, local anaesthetic did little. I couldn't move. It was undoubtedly the worst pain of life.i was crying daily. I had a nerve block(scary). They fail on some people and did on me. I 4 rounds of hydrpdilststipn which ruptures the shrunken shoulder capsule which causes frozen shoulder( injection of saline -about 20ml, and a small amount of cortisone in back of shoulder and you sometimes feel the capsule pop) which were all painless eccept the ladt one which bloody hurt but it was magic. Suddenly cured. I can't move still but no more pain. It is slowly defrosting and mobility is returning.
Accordi g to my shoulder specialist tries frozen shoulder (there are lots of misdiagnoses) kast approx 3 years. A year of freezing stiffenening wig excruciating worsening pain which prevents all movement etc); the frozen stage no pain but rigidity and l9sz of range and stiffness and then defrostingwhere it returns to normal.
Hydrodilaattion is the normal treatment given not cortisone injections. It doesnt cure it but super speeds up the whole thing. Instead of three years after about 1 mine is almost better and almost defrosted.

You should absolutely be on pain medication meanwhile. Insist and if your GP is certain it's frozen shoulder ask to go to the shoulder clinic at hospital.