Frozen shoulder advice

[Macaroni46]

Hi all
My DP has developed an extremely painful frozen shoulder. At the moment he can't sleep for pain and is finding walking painful due to the jarring. Has seen a physio hasn't offered much.
According to google, the prognosis is not good - I'm reading information such as 12-18 months to recover, if ever!!
Have any of you had this? How bad is it? How long were you incapacitated for? What helped you thaw the shoulder?
Thank you

It fucking hurts. Steroid injections from.GP were a life saver. I had two and then physio

I spent a lot of money on physio - I saw a physio 3 times a week for about 2 months and that cost a lot but helped with the pain and brought mobility back. After that I swam back stroke 3 times a week. During the painful episodes I would use cold packs to help with the pain and took a lot of paracetamol and at night used Co codomal

@dementedma

It fucking hurts. Steroid injections from.GP were a life saver. I had two and then physio

Agreed.... don't delay .. go for the injections then physio ..

saved my sanity

I sympathise OP

Steroid injections are helpful, but only if you get them early enough. I’ve got frozen shoulder at the moment for the second time. It’s been about 18 months and really not improving. The physio didn’t help, but did the first time I had frozen shoulder, not sure why

Naproxen really helps me with the pain, but it still wakes me several times each night. Extra strength ibuprofen gel helps me.

Thank you for the responses.
Could you drive? Go to work? Or was your life literally on hold? How long did it take to recover?

I can drive, but it’s painful and I can’t drive long distances. I’ve never taken any time off work because of it, but I’ve got a desk job, I wouldn’t be able to do manual work. I just take painkillers and grit my teeth and work through the pain (not necessary saying this is the best thing to do though)

Steroid injections are brilliant if you get them early enough

I've got one at the moment - started at start of the year. The jarring pain has calmed down and I'm not adjusting my posture any more. Went to physio when realised my arm was really immobile and couldn't sit comfortably to work. Physio stretched out the joint a little and stretching exercises have given me some mobility back. Can't do up my bra but not yelping any more. I'd go for some physio and trust them when they say the pain isn't harmful. I'm just hoping I get that magic unfreezing that's supposed to happen.

Oh, and the first time I had it, it took about 12 months to fully recover. This time it’s the other shoulder and after 2 steroid injections and physio, it’s getting no better. I left it too long before getting the steroid injections though

I managed to get it twice! Once in each shoulder. had physio on both occasions.
On the first occasion, didnt get a steroid injection. On the second occasion I did. Mainly because with the first, I couldnt drive for months[a year?]. I was able to drive in I think 6 months, with the second.

Had a full recovery with both, except I cannot reach up my back to the same height as before. The shoulder which had the steroid in, is a little better with that than the other shoulder.

It was a specialist physio which had to give the steroid injection. There was only 1 in the physio unit who was qualified to give it[out of about 10 physios]. I felt comfortable with him doing it, as I happened to know his sister.

No idea why I got either. Though I do now keep my shoulders warm now, especially at night[ironically I wrote this on another thread this very evening]. I keep my shoulders warm as I am prone to migraines.

I have since read that the average recovery of frozen shoulder is 18 months. With or without treatment.
Personally, I found treatment helped with pain, so personally I would recommend treatment.

I also had it in both shoulders - a year of one followed closely by a year of the other. Steroid injections did nothing for me. I had 3 injections the first shoulder, then didn’t have any at all the second. Same symptoms and same time to recover.

Your DH sounds like he’s at the most painful frozen stage where anything that slightly knocks your arm causes a shooting pain like nothing you’ve ever felt - this is called a zinger. There’s no physio that will help at this stage, it would be too painful to try and stretch your arm - just keep it still and use cold pack and cry.

I had to stop driving at this frozen stage but I worked from home a lot anyway as a freelancer. Painkillers at night. Lots of wine

After a few months, he’ll wake up and realise one day the arm isn’t quite so painful. At that stage, he might try to move it a little more and realise the zinger doesn’t come. That’s when it’s going to start thawing out. He can very very gradually start stretching exercises. Lean over a worktop hold onto the edge and bend down keeping the arms straight. Eventually the movement comes back. I mean after months.

It’s a long old process OP. I know there’s an operation to release the adhesions that cause frozen shoulder - he could also ask about that?

18 months is to full recovery. Pain medication / steroid injections will help with regaining some mobility and managing the pain. Physio will show improvement after 3-6 months gradually and then up to 18 months to get back to full range of motion.
Acupuncture is really helpful so try and find a physio who incorporates acupuncture as it speeds things along.

Injections need to be administered by a qualified person and in the correct location...

my first injection was not a success..

my second was life changing ...

Steroid injections. It’s bloody painful and takes ages to go. The injections help.

my second injections were given at a hospital appointment... by the time I left and returned to my car.. I had 70% mobility... within a few hours I had full mobility after being in agony for nearly 18 months.. Im more cautious in movement now as I never want it to happen again 😩

personally... it was literally a miracle for me ..

good luck OP.. its truly awful

He has my utmost sympathy, I'd rather give birth than have to go through that again.

Lots of advice here already, steroid injections and time were the only things that really helped me. 3+ years on I have about 90-95% range of movement compared to before.

The most comfortable position to sleep in was with a pillow folded in half and tucked under the bad arm like a rugby ball, I still have to do it.

Take painkillers an hour before bed and sleep alone if possible- I was single at the time mine happened and wouldn't have coped with sharing a bed. It's a lonely and depressing condition, the effects of pain and sleep deprivation over such a long time are hard to express....

Acupuncture was a tremendous help. This surprised me as I was sceptical
Along with stretching through the pain which gradually got easier.

Guided steroid injection fixed my second one within 48 hours. No recurrence.

Sent too soon. I'd had on some years before on the opposite side. The NHS spent two years failing to diagnose it, apparently because it didn't show up on x ray, and that one healed on its own in the end.

I'm in the agony stage, 4 months in. Honestly op, there's really nothing like it. I'd rather give birth again (at least its over and done with) than the prolonged agony I'm in now. And the zingers - breathtakingly painful, like stepping on a plug from your neck to your fingertips, many many times a day. I'm also awake in the night with the pain, feels like someone is using a tin opener on my arm at night, can't get comfy, waking so often, lucky to get 4 hours sleep a night.

It's destroying me - I am struggling with the most basic tasks and I feel so shit relying on my kids to fasten my bra or peel a potato. My mental health is shot.

Pain relief is hit and miss, currently on tramadol which isn't touching it at night, as a single parent I'm reluctant to go onto the next level of pain relief which according to my gp is morphine. Physio is impossible and the steroid injection didn't work.

Huge sympathies to your dh. There's a fb group for FS support (uk) which I've had a lot of support from, and lots of dark humour

I currently have this and a trapped nerve with pain going down my arm. The pain is worse than Labour. I can’t believe I’d choose child birth over this. Sleeping is so hard like @Couldhavebeenme3 says. I’ve nothing more than sympathy to offer.
I’m going to have to phone the GP tomorrow for some different medication. naproxen didn’t touch it and co-codamol is hit and Miss, particularly at night. I tried accupuncture last week and that might’ve offered some slight relief, I’m not sure…

I've had two. I seem to recall the standard thinking is six months in, six months there, six months out. That was about right for me. I saw an osteopath fortnightly and he also did acupuncture. As per a PP I was sceptical, but it's real.

Really interesting about others on here having immediate relief from steroid injections - while others it does nothing. And I did have my 3 failures done by a very experienced physio in hospital and she was baffled why it didn’t work on me.

I’d definitely have tried acupuncture. Never thought of that at the time.

A fellow sufferer here.
More experiences I followed earlier this year:
www.mumsnet.com/Talk/general_health/4256707-has-anyone-experience-with-frozen-shoulder

@PuppyMonkey

Really interesting about others on here having immediate relief from steroid injections - while others it does nothing. And I did have my 3 failures done by a very experienced physio in hospital and she was baffled why it didn’t work on me.

I’d definitely have tried acupuncture. Never thought of that at the time.

I think it need to be pin point accurate.. my GP gave me my first injections.. unfortunately they did not work.. 😔

So when I saw the Specialist at the hospital I was kinda expecting it not to work again...

But it was literally life changing for me... I cannot express enough how incredibly fast it was .. I was so happy I was to be able move my left shoulder again..

I think its hit or miss unfortunately 🌸