Has anyone managed frozen shoulder pain while waiting to see the GP

[Hwanda]

I have bren diagnosed by chiropractor with frozen shoulder. Still need to verify it with GP but appointments take forever. It is excrutiating at times and 7/10 at best. Nightime and getting dressed is most painful. I have done whole heat/ ice /pain killer thing . It's been 6 weeks now. Anyone experienced similar and managed to get it sorted?
Dreading going back to work in a couple of weeks and trying to raise arm to write on whiteboard ( primary teacher).
Anyone advice welcome.

It's not that expensive to get these shots privately if you want to avoid the getting put on a list for physio by NHS, then the inevitable " do you still need this appointment" that comes from them months later etc.

Mine was about £600 for ultrasound guided injection. Fortunately covered by Bupa.

I tried physio, osteopathy and painkillers. Acupuncture made by far the biggest difference but it wasn’t just a few little needles, he had to go quite deep and wiggle them about. But the difference was massive and immediate. I never would have believed it.

I had a hip one recently for the same type 200.

I feel for you. No way would I have been able to write on a board when I had mine. I couldn’t put my hair up, could barely wipe my bum.

I had a lot of physio, doing exercises in the gym. Nothing seemed to help. I had an unguided steroid injection which helped a bit. Then a few months later a guided one which helped more. I’m over a year down the line now and have nearly full range of motion. Am pain free but it clunks a lot and is a bit achy

the unguided steroid injection was done quickly by a physio at the gp surgery. You may have to get signed off work.

Sympathies @Hwanda - it’s the most painful thing I ever had. The (private) physio I was seeing actually said he couldn’t help me any more and I was left to my own devices. It was agony and I literally couldn’t move it, so exercise was actually just not possible. GP was useless and wouldn’t even prescribe any decent pain relief so I just had to cope on paracetamol (I can’t take ibuprofen).

I paid for the steroid/saline injection. It didn’t work instantly; I'd say several weeks/months of pain followed, but definitely ever-decreasing pain and ever more movement. It’s now absolutely fine.

My top tip was given upthread - a TENS machine. I had it running virtually round the clock. It was a lifesaver.

Physio who does dry needling and sports massage. Worth every penny.

When i had this I got a very quick referral through work occupational health to a physio. They advised exercises and wrote recommendations for adaptations at work.

Could you get a step so you stand higher to write on the board without raising your arm as high?

Go to an osteopath who can actually treat you properly! Chiropractor probably caused the frozen shoulder as they aren’t gentle and are nowhere near as good as osteopaths for treating joint etc problems

Not frozen, but I have pain in both my shoulders from several falls. I use diclofenac gel. You can get Voltarol, but I use Motusol; which is cheaper. It comes in 2 strengths, and I use the stronger one. There is also Ibuprofen gel, which is the same branch of drug (NSAID) but for some reason it doesn't work as well for me.

Mine was sorted by seeing private physio (4 sessions) and following the exercise programme he suggested. NHS physio just gave me a sheet of A4 with links to YouTube videos.

Primary teacher here to so feel your pain. Mine took about a year/18months to be back to as near as normal as possible. I used the videos on YouTube - they really did help. Painkillers as well. That shoulder can still get stiff now but not generally painful so still have to do stretches etc especially when I first get up.

I, too, have heard this can be an early sympt9m of perimenopause and HRT can make a big difference. Od keep that GP appointment, do lots of research and go armed with the outcome you want.
If you're late 40s or older then definitely consider HRT. It can start earlier than you expect.

Sleeping with a pillow under your shoulder can help with pain at night

I've had FS in both shoulders. 1st was 5 long years, 2nd 9 months. I got through it with painkillers, heat packs and ibuprofen gel. I didn't have any injections or physio and both shoulders recovered fully all on their own.

Just to add - my DH currently has a frozen shoulder following an arm injury. He’s been seeing a physio, at first weekly, then twice-weekly, now every month, since last November or so, and doing his exercises diligently. He still doesn’t have full ROM and it’s still frozen, though fortunately it’s not overly painful any more, so we're hoping he’s approaching the thawing stage.

This is just to say that frozen shoulders will resolve but tend to take their own sweet time and the old adage of '6 months freezing - 6 months frozen - 6 months thawing' isn’t a bad rule of thumb.

Sympathies I have this is really painful and surprisingly debilitating in the rest of your life as well - I’ve had to stop my usual exercises of running, swimming & yoga as all were impossible (Running & swimming painful from the movement and Yoga, I couldn’t do half the moves or holds so it became pointless). I’ve had a painful shoulder for about 18 months, but it only really developed into frozen shoulder in the last six months. I’ve had NHS and private physio, acupuncture and osteopathy and red light/ laser therapy and nothing has made any real difference. I Was on HRT for a couple of years but came off and not desperate to go back on but do agree, it’s 100% hormone related as I know so many women around peri/meno age with this. I have very recently started taking collagen, but who knows how much this will actually help But I’m willing to try anything now it’s really making me miserable especially not being able to exercise properly.

I had an MRI scan a couple of months ago and if the results of that ever come in, I’m hoping that will dictate my next steps.

Can anyone explain the difference between the types of injections and whether it’s worth getting the standard GP cortisone first or just go for the guided hydro one?

If it's genuinely frozen shoulder it will resolve but takes time and sadly in the early stages physio risks just increasing the inflammation and making it worse. When it gets to the frozen stage you can work it harder and push through the pain. Cortisol injection is worth a try as lots of people have good results, though I had two without any improvement. A battery powered heat pack that strapped onto the shoulder helped enormously with the pain.

Workwise I think you need an OH referral and some different kit - could you get access to an overhead projector so you can write at a comfortable position for you and have that display on the wall?

I see op hasn’t returned to respond but reading this again this morning this issue is best tackled sooner rather than later as it’s her right of course if she doesn’t want to go away now, but as she becomes more elderly it’s not good that she won’t travel and doesn’t have friends or neighbours to help and look out for her.

You can have ultrasound guided injections of either plain cortisol or cortisol and saline. The guidance helps make sure they get the right spot. I do wonder if my injections didn't work because they weren't quite locating it right so if available it's probably worthwhile.

Cortisol aims to reduce the inflammation to relieve pain and give you movement back, it doesn't last forever but can give you a window to do physio. With saline they inject a lot of fluids into the joint to basically break up the adhesions that are limiting your movements. The results can be more dramatic but it's a more serious procedure and I think most places offer straight cortisol first.

It does seem to happen around 40-50 and is more common in women so it often coincides with peri menopause, but I don't think a clear casual link has been established. I had mine while taking HRT and even started applying my estrogen to the affected arm but it didn't seem to make a difference.

I have RA and often used to get painful flares in my shoulders, exercises helped a lot.

Thanks for all your advice. I should have mentioned my age - i am 61 and very much post menopause but still take HRT , collegen etc. I will try more exercises ( neice is physio so she gave me some to do but lives abroad so cannot do more than advise.)
I will try also the pillow under shoulder and extreme Volterol gel. We no longer have projectors in schools these days but I will just try and type everything i can beforehand and put on powerpoints. I may start trying to write with my non dominant hand ( could be interesting !!!) I reckon I can buy a tens machine from somewhere. Any other tips - Keep them coming .

@Hwanda I got my trusty TENS machine from Boots. It's only a small one but it made such a difference. I used to semi-seriously worry I was getting addicted to it as I'd plug myself in and literally set it to run for the maximum (30 mins I think), then repeat on and on - it sort of cancelled out the pain from my shoulder somehow. It wasn’t addictive however, I stopped without any problems as soon as I stopped needing it!

Mine was v bad - tried physio with exercise regime in between visits, steroid injections inc with hydro-dilation etc. Had to go for surgery in the end. Swimming helped though - movement was better after that.