Frozen Shoulder

[LavenderGirl]

I've been diagnosed with frozen shoulder, or Adhesive Capsulitis. I've been taking Vicodin every 6 hrs. for the last 4 days, still cannot move my arm/shoulder, and am in a great deal of pain. Does it really take months to get over this? I am in good physical condition, exercise regularly, etc., and did not injure myself. Doctor says they don't know what causes it, but I am going nuts; can't do anything with my right arm, and there is so much pain, the drugs hardly touch it. I'd like to hear from someone who has had a similar experience.

[Stitcher317]

WOW - I reaaly feel for you.

I had a frozen shoulder several years ago and we think it may have been a strain from moving furniture. Anyway, I tried physical therapy in the early stages and it did nothing. I then started taking Vioxx and it helped somewhat. When I finally went to an orthopedic surgeon at 5 months, he recommended INTENSE PT and gave me an Rx for morphine tablets! I refused to take them. I then asked a friend of my husband, who is a retired O. surgeon what he would do and he said to just wait it out that they always "defrost". He recommended some slight stretching exercises which I did several times a day. Mostly crawling your arm up a kitchen cabinet and across the counter. At the same time, I applied both heat and ice alternately. I slept with a pillow under my bad arm and prayed. After a few months of this one day I suddenly got some tingly sensations down my arm and the shoulder started to respond to my stretching. At that time, I started in again with a physical therapist and gradually improved.

It does take a long time. Mine was 9 mos but I've heard others can linger for 24 months. I understand if you get it in the early stages you can benefit from cortisone injections or manipulation, under anesthesia. With this procedure the Dr puts you under and stretches the capsule. You go right into PT after that. It's a much faster recovery but I think you have to have that done early in the game. I waited too long when I visited the O. surgeon. At that point he said he could literally break my arm if he stretched it and that the capsule was like cement.

Hang in there and try to relax. Perhaps your Dr. can give you something for that as well. It does improve and I have full motion with no pain now. Having the manipulation does speed up the process tremendously.

Rest easy...

[gooby]

I then asked a friend of my husband, who is a retired O. surgeon what he would do and he said to just wait it out that they always "defrost".

boy is he wrong. always is a big word and it doesn't fit here.

my wife battled this for several years. Now, before anybody freaks out, she doesn;t tend to heal very well and what happened to her is not typical.

anyway, about 8 or 10 surgeries later, she finally won the frozen shoulder situation and she is great.

Now I had what I believe was the beginnings of frozen shoulder, I self manipulated it and worked through it without medical attention. The exercises I used were "hanging from a bar". I never dropped my weight hard or quickly but slowly allowed my weight to be held by my hands on the bar. When I first started, my shoulder would "pop" when raising it above my head. That eventually worked its way out. I continue to work it to prevent a recurrence.

[bonzer]

i have had it 3x. they all defrosted within a year. manipulation and shots didn't work. chiropractor almost killed me with pain. i was taking codeine every 3 hours. everyone at work thought i was faking it and couldn't care less. best of luck.

[LavenderGirl]

Thanks for your input. I've now been to a physical therapist who said the inflammation has to go down before he can help me much. (going back in 2 weeks) Gave me some stretching exercises to do. I'm taking ibuprophen 4x a day and Vicodin as well for the pain. It has definitely gotten better -- at least pain does not bring me to tears! In addition, I'm icing it a few times a day as well. Massage really helped. She was able to get some good movement in my shoulder/arm. Interestingly, she said this often runs in families and it may be some kind of acid or whatever that is produced that affects the adhesive coating around the shoulder joint, which causes it to "freeze". In any case, she stressed, don't baby it, but keep it moving constantly, trying to stretch it just to the point of pain. Seems to help.
Hey Bonzer - I can't believe the heartless people you work with would care so little as to say you were faking it! Time to get a new job somewhere else!