Sleeping with a frozen shoulder

[Enko]

For those of you that has experienced having a frozen shoulder how did you manage good quality sleep? Especially if you are a side sleeper. I have a v shaped pillow that helps some but in reality I can only sleep on my right side and after a while that gets uncomfortable and I need to move and that's near impossible.

Any tips? I just want a good night's sleep I know I'm being grumpy with everyone due to lack of sleep. I've even contemplated sleeping in my armchair but I suspect my neck would be crazy sore after.

My doc prescribed diazepam for a week which relaxed the muscle.

Not frozen shoulder, but I recently had shoulder surgery. I found the best way to sleep is putting cushions under the head of my mattress. Immediately after surgery it was at 45 degrees. But then just having it propped up a little was enough to keep my shoulder in a comfortable position. I used the cushions off our garden seats.

I have painkillers but don't find they deal with the sleep issue. I'm not keen on asking for stronger ones as I'm managing ok as I am.

Our mattress is one of those thick heavy spring ones @MrTiddlesTheCat do you think that could work? Willing to try

Give it a try, you've got nothing to lose.

Alternatively get a wedge cushion that goes on top.

Ultimately what you want is to raise yourself up so you're not sleeping flat. If you're flat, as you relax your shoulder shifts into a 'shrug' position if you're on your side. Propping yourself up, even s little bit means gravity keeps your shoulder down.

Diazepam isn’t a painkiller as such, it’s a muscle relaxant.

My GP suggested I hug a pillow.
Tried physio which didn’t work but a steroid injection has done marvels.

ALL. THE. DRUGS.

The lack of sleep due to pain was the absolute killer for me - exhausted to the point of tears and feeling absolutely crushed one particular night that I'd woken up 3 times already and it wasn't even midnight.

Get back to the gp. I was prescribed morphine and a short course of sleeping pills. Helped me reframe things.

I slept in a chair for weeks. I couldn’t tolerate lying down. Most painful condition I’ve ever experienced.

Hot water bottle helped for me.

I tried many different options, the ones that worked best were the body length Kally support pillow - if you “hug” this it helps to support the shoulder. I also bought a Panda memory foam topper which enabled me eventually to sleep on my bad shoulder as it had “give” in it so not too hard. Finally and possibly most importantly I took Naproxen - not so much as painkiller but as an anti inflammatory. It is important to take full dose regardless of pain for a given period of time. In my case 3 weeks - you should obviously seek proper medical advice as to whether this would be suitable for you. It is a prescription medication.
I hope you are able to get some relief, it can make you feel really miserable and not being able to sleep makes everything so much worse.

I've had 3. First one took months, second I realised what it was,go Gave me diazepam for muscle relaxant,none of the GPs round our way do this anymore (this was years ago) even for DH who has serious anxiety and phobias. I had months and months of not being able to sleep, I tried everything. Then we got rid of our bed, while waiting for the new one to arrive, slept on the floor,that worked. I couldn't believe it. Then the first shoulder went again. My oldest DD was a qualified masseuse and aromatherapist. I bought a book by a Swedish osteopath, called "treat your own frozen shoulder". You can't realistically, because there are pressure points on the back of your shoulder you cannot reach yourself. She sorted it in 6 weeks. No analgesics worked on them at all. I had physio with the first and gym sessions at the hospital, bought the dymo bands and did the excercises daily at home.

I had bilateral frozen shoulders, so had to train myself into sleeping on my back. Took a while, but eventually exhaustion kicked in.

Thank you lots of replies.

I have Naproxen and it does help me fall asleep but not with the staying asleep.

I'm currently using a V shaped pillow to hug and that's fine on right shoulder but not on left. When I am managing some sleep I wake up on my back. I find this is most when dh has got up early w the dog and I have space in the bed. I think I'm subconsciously worried he will push into me.

I realised I also didn't mention that due to a whiplash injury many years ago I need an orthopedic pillow or I wake up witj bad pain in my neck. I can at times get around that by rolling a towel up but it's complex.

I'm considering the body pillow
Or a verge pillow. Can't move mattress unless we do the entire mattress and dh understandably doesn't want to have his back injury (that caused the purchase of our usually great mattress) aggravated. As its summer we have kids home from uni so I can't go sleep in one of their rooms..

@Enko you have my sympathy.. I have a torn rotator cuff which they won't operate on as its 'wear & tear' rather than a direct injury... it started the same time as covid.
GP wouldn't give me anything to help with sleep.
I tried all sorts of pillow positions, the only one that helped was to lie on the non injured side, with a pillow tucked under the injured armpit. Some nights were worse than others, but like you I became very grumpy due to lack of sleep.

thank you @DumbledoresWand Im aware Im very grumpy and its totally due to lack of sleep.
One thing I have found helps for a day or two is Yoga. But sadly I can only afford the 1 class a week.