I have had a shoulder injury ever since I had my first seizure 2 years ago. I was admitted to the hospital and was not supervised, during which time I had a second seizure and fell on my left shoulder. I am a big guy, around 250+ lbs at the time, all I know is when I regained consciousness I could not move my left shoulder without immense pain, the kind of pain that makes you cry out or almost vomit. This is on top of the fact that after my seizures I have constant knee pains which my neurologist states could be caused by nerve damage.
At the time, the orthopedic surgeon simply looked me over and said he could not see any obvious issues, which may have been the hospital's attempt to cover their ***, but he put my arm in a sling and gave me pain medications. Within 2 months I was able to move my shoulder without issue and I felt things were back to normal.
Fast forward to a year later, I am an avid tennis player and I noticed more and more than my left shoulder was causing me a lot of problems and it was steadily getting worse. My shoulder flexibility went to hell (ROM reduced considerably) and it started making loud popping sounds when moved in certain ways. Then the pain started again, I could not sleep, I could not do anything in a good mood anymore because my shoulder was constantly aching.
In the last 6 months I have seen my primary care physician and a orthopedic surgeon. Both have told me that I have shoulder instability and the joint is "lose." The end result is the weight of my arms causes the ball to rub the sides of the socket and causes the constant pain. I've have had an x-ray and MRI which have confirmed significant inflammation and some degeneration of the tissue in the joint.
Now my orthopedic surgeon gave us 2 choices, either I could try physical therapy or I could go straight to surgery. I come from a family that believes surgery is the last resort (if to be used at all). I decided to go for physical therapy and after 4 months have seen no improvement. Luckily my primary gave me strong anti-inflammatories and mild pain killers (tylenol-3 which doesnt do anything for the pain) during this period.
The issue is this, in the last month my PT asked me to stop taking pain killers so we could better assess the improvement or lack thereof, I complied and saw now improvement and (suffered quite a bit) many people felt I became a real a**hole in the last month because I am always in pain and I don't sleep well. I do not wish to get surgery at this point, I would rather take something for the pain and remain on anti-inflammatories as well as continuing to see a PT.
However, my orthopedic surgeon has a policy that he does not prescribe ANY MEDICATION to patients who are not under-going surgery. I am not sure what to do at this point because it seems my primary may be hesitant to put me on medications again.
I am looking into seeing some new physicians that are closer (located in Norman or OKC where I go to college instead of 3 hours away) but who should I be looking for? I am not sure if I should try another orthopedic specialist or look for a general practitioner? And cost is a huge factor for me, my family does have insurance and I am covered, but I have already had an MRI and I am assuming seeing another specialist means I will have to get another one?
Thanks for all your help, I don't know how much longer I can stand this without any help.
**Also if any of you are located in Oklahoma, are their any physicians that you recommend? Thanks**
