Frozen shoulder. Fuck me, the PAIN!!! Help!

[Couldhavebeenme2]

Just been diagnosed, fortunate to have had the steroid injection which has reduced the pain to dull ache during the day (still a nightmare from about 5am though). Am still taking painkillers when I need to.

Just caught my arm on a hot oven tray and automatically recoiled my sore arm. Big mistake. Huge. Felt like I'd been struck by lightning and could hardly breathe through the pain. 10 mins later and after scaring my kids to death, it's settled down but my fingers are still a bit tingly.

Please tell me the mumsnet vipers have some sort of old wives tale remedy of dead frogs/virgin sacrifice*/spell that will make this horrible condition less painful?

*may have sacrificed the chicken that's been cooking for an hour to the dog after it fell on the floor

I thought my Physio was crazy when he suggested swimming. I could not dress myself so how was I to go swimming. Anyway in desperation I tried it and it was like a miracle cure. I also have arthritis in the same shoulder and I now swim regularly. I find when I can't swim (lockdown) pain returns.

Physio /osteopath .

Hot and cold packs alternated ,finish with hot .

Sympathy, I've had two.

try a couple of these in bed for wedging yourself into something resembling comfort

www.amazon.co.uk/Highliving-Half-Moon-Memory-Cushion/dp/B07639QQ9Y/ref=pd_day0_4/261-4785416-9947611?psc=1&pf_rd_p=8ec13b8a-30d2-48fc-8503-84c56766370d&pf_rd_r=S520MCRSTZ5Y3AY4EJWY&pd_rd_wg=fpUYR&pd_rd_i=B07639QQ9Y&pd_rd_w=mi4V8&tag=mumsnetforu03-21&pd_rd_r=07ad233e-bb6d-4854-98ed-84bdb11fed9f

I had two steroid injections and it was over a year until it felt a lot better..
Sorry op

Swimming and physiotherapy in the water has worked wonders on me.

Oh dear OP, I feel your pain. That is I felt it - have had frozen shoulder twice, one shoulder followed by the other.

What you describe in your OP is what is generally known as a zinger. These happen at the worst stage. The pain is excruciating isn’t it? Just knocking your arm ever so slightly can make you move it in a certain way and then… owwww!

The steroid injections didn’t do anything for me. I had 3 the first time and it did nothing for the pain. It was a year before movement finally came back. The second time, I had no injections and it also lasted a year.

The only thing that relieved it a bit for me was an ice pack on the shoulder.

This painful stage will last a few months and then one day you’ll notice the pain isn’t quite as bad.

After a few more weeks, you’ll feel brave enough to attempt a little stretching exercises. The one where you stretch arms by holding onto a work surface and gently bend over is best. This is the thawing stage and eventually you’ll get movement back.

Best of luck OP. There are quite a few Facebook groups devoted to frozen shoulder, you might check them out. Although I found them all a right load of miserable gits.

Oh I feel your pain. I had awful frozen shoulder at the start of lockdown. One time while I had it I slipped on the stairs and automatically put my arm out to stop myself which pulled it back. Honestly I’ve never felt pain like it! My family through today broken my leg or something!

I had some exercises to do but in the end it just kind of eased and then mobility came back. It’s 95% ok now - really just a bit weaker which is natural I guess.

One exercise that did seem to help and made it feel better was to bend over a bit and let your arm hang and then let it swing like a pendulum back and forth and then in circles. It felt like it freed it up a bit. Also resting it on an extra pillow to sleep.

Mine was not my dominant arm which was lucky though.

I hope it eases up for you.

I currently have a frozen shoulder and had a steroid injection which seems to have made it worse.

I've found keeping the joint warm helps a little and have invested in an electric heat pad to use on and off throughout the day. I'm considering getting a cheap TENS machine.

Sympathies because that sharp, searing, pain when you move it awkwardly is the worst pain ever and then you have the aftershocks (which for me feel like a trapped nerve twinging from neck through to my thumb) and the long term ache for good measure.

I sympathise OP.

I have two frozen shoulders - luckily my non dominant arm is the worst and the other arm has limited movement but I can move it a bit.

The pain when I move slightly the wrong way is awful - honestly brings me to tears sometimes.
Putting washing in the washing machine is particularly tricky (it is the reaching that is awful) so I am using that as a good reason to train the DC in that life skill.

My GP and the hospital have been really good, had a scan to check for a tear or arthritis, but no they are just frozen. I had covid last year and my consultant said this is likely post-viral inflammation - her advice was that physio can sometimes help but in time it will get better but it could take 3 years .... oh yay only 2 more to go.

I found one of those wheat heat packs helps (I just keep it on while watching tv) and pain killers at night so I can sleep.

I had private physio who was great but she admitted defeat as everything just made it worse apart from the pendulum swinging exercise someone mentioned above.

Good luck and post here for a moan if you want - no one else seems to understand how bloody painful this is!

I saw a physio and she gave me some exercises but said that it should clear up on its own whether I did the exercises or not.

A wise practitioner once said...

'With treatment a frozen shoulder will settle within about a year and a half, without it will take around 18 months'.

As a veteran of simultaneous, bilateral frozen shoulders, I can attest to this. I had steroid injections into one shoulder which didn't make any difference so I didn't get the 2nd one done. I went to several physios who discharged me as I was too sore for their treatments.

FS is an inflammatory, probably auto-immune condition which is self-limiting over a couple of years. The tissue inside the joint is attacked by your body and become inflamed and until it eventually turns hard a inflexible. At this point the pains (known on the FS circuit as 'zingers') will subside but the joint become immobile until new tissue grows and the joint will move again.

There's nothing out there that will speed up this biological process. Rest, pain relief and time are what you need.

@ShowMeYourMethod We posted at the same time!

I definitely understand, even though mine was 10 years ago I remember the pain well. I gave up my job (nursing) and lived on DLA and ESA for over a year. I couldn't brush my hair, fasten my bras or put on any tight clothing. Because both shoulders were affected, sleeping was a huge problem. I would take 100mg Tramadol at 11pm and wake up screaming at 5am (my husband said the screaming started before I was even awake).

It wasn't fun, but it ended and one day I realised that I could move my arms again without pain. It gave me a much greater appreciation of the issues that people with permanent disabilities have to live with.

I have every sympathy OP. I'm 12 weeks post op for frozen shoulder surgery.
I had two steroid injections before the surgery which were a lifesaver in the interim. The surgery released the capsule and they broke down the scar tissue. It's still incredibly painful but my range of movement is a lot better than before.
All I can recommend is push for the surgery, have the injections, and try and move it as much as the pain allows.

Try a TENS machine!

@ChocolateDeficitDisorder gosh that sounds tough having to give up work.

I am a secondary teacher so luckily can avoid using my arms too much (and I just write on the lower part board!).

But I said to my DC if I had any kind of more physical job I wouldn't be able to work. I would never have imagined the pain and how many things require shoulder movement.

OP I hope you find something that works for you. It seems there are many of us sympathising but annoyingly no magic cure.

As pp said, it’s believed to be an auto-immune condition. I’ve read that it’s under researched and around 85% of cases occur in women. The two go hand in hand.

Both of mine have taken the traditional 3 years to resolve - a year freezing, a year frozen and a year thawing. I’m 2.years and 8 months in to the second and beginning to get a bit more movement.

Hydrodilatation if you can get it helped enormously with the pain.

OP you have my every sympathy. I am just coming to the end of a frozen shoulder which started last July, and OMG I have never known such pain in my life! Like you, I remember catching my hand on a hot pan and instinctively jerking my arm back - the pain was off the scale! My screams were unmerciful! I was regularly in tears and no painkillers helped me - OTC cocodamol, prescribed cocodamol, naproxen, amitriptilene, nothing helped at all.
I had a cortisone injection in November, which did ease things a bit, although I still couldn't sleep on that side and was still really stiff.
At the end of May though I had a hydrodilatation procedure which really seems to have brought on the thawing. I have barely any pain now and the movement is resuming, although I'm not quite there yet. I've been having regular physio and also a few sessions of hydrotherapy which have been great.

It sounds like you are where I was after the cortisone but before the hydrodilatation. I would really recommend looking into that if it's offered by your healthcare provider?
In the meantime, sending sympathy because I really think it's the worst pain in the world.

Just to add, I had my hydrodilatation on the NHS, albeit in Wales. It is worth pushing for it.

A fellow sufferer here and quite alarmed at the number of posters who’ve said they’ve had it more than once . I’m just coming out of the thawing stage and while not fully recovered, the difference is immense.

It took me over a year just to get a diagnosis but once I managed to get access to an NHS physio, he put me on a course of hydrotherapy at a local hospital which really helped.

As others have said, once you’re over the ‘frozen’ stage, swimming or gentle water based resistance exercises can really help with recovery.

DH had one of these just after Covid flared up. No doctor visits, telephone consultations only. He was prescribed paracetamol to begin with , then codeine added in 15mg going up to 30mg. That worked a bit, then amitryptaline added in for nighttime. Physical treatments included hot and cold packs alternately, then TENs pads (available on Activa machines. They seemed to work the best. He was writhing in agony, but due to COVID couldn't have a steroid injection. It took about 3 weeks to go but there is some residual nerve damage in his fingers.

It took about 3 weeks to go but there is some residual nerve damage in his fingers.

This doesn't sound like a 'true' frozen shoulder as no case of 'Adhesive Capsulitis' is sorted within 3 weeks. Many people who have other shoulder conditions confuse their symptoms with a frozen shoulder but there are differences. True FS is long-term, debilitating and very painful condition which takes in excess of a year, probably more before it's close to being over.

Whatever your husband had, it wasn't this.

Dh currently has one, for almost a year now, but no pain unless forced beyond its limited range. Awaiting mri then probably hydrodilatation, on nhs.

I had an attempted Hydrodilation into my L shoulder (both were frozen) with a view to repeating in on the right if it helped.

It wasn't successul, the doctor couldn't actually get any water in as the tissues were so inflamed. It was incredibly painful and the only relief I got was from the local anaesthetic that had gone in first. That was the best 4 hours I had about 18 months.

I had shoulder impingement which would have progressed to frozen shoulder if I'd done nothing. Had online physio and after 3 months arm is fine. Bloody uncomfortable and tedious exercises but now pain free

What have you done about work when you've had the freezing stage? I can't envisage going back in this state (currently due back in 3 weeks)?

I’ve had a FS for 3.5 months; totally sympathise re the pain.

Early on I remember tripping over a pile of washing and put my arm out to the wall to steady myself - it had me rolling on the floor howling. GP has been rubbish; I’ve done some private physio which was working well until recently as I’ve had a really bad reaction to the pain relief so am now taking nothing and can’t do the exercises. It is so dismal!