Print

Please login or register.
1 Hour 1 Day 1 Week 1 Month Forever
Login with username, password and session length

[miagran]

Hi, I've just been diagnosed with a frozen shoulder which could be here for a long long time,the pain's horrendous and I'm off on holiday to Zante for 2 weeks tomorrow morning  . I read about a lady who connected this with the menopause and when she was given HRT it was like oiling her shoulder and she felt great. Trouble is I have been on HRT before then taken off after 5 years, which led to a lot more problems. I know it's too late to ask the doc about getting back on HRT before the holiday (if I ever get to see a doc at all) but do you think this would be possible? Also if anyone has had a fs would swimming ease it or make it worse? 

[honeybun]

Have you done a search. We had a long running thread on this very thing a few years ago. Sorry I don't have time to look just now but from what I remember I think rest is important.

Honeyb
x

[tiger74]

Hi

I don't know about the efficacy of HRT in relation to a frozen shoulder but just wanted to offer my sympathies.  I had a frozen shoulder four years ago and it was easily the most painful experience I have ever had.

Presumably having been formally diagnosed, you have already seen a doctor about this.  Are you planning to see an orthopaedic specialist?

I had my frozen shoulder manipulated under anaesthetic which was non-invasive, provided instant relief and was 100% successful.  I've had no similar problems since.  The shoulder did have to be fully frozen (i.e. very little movement possible in some directions) before it could be done though, so I had to wait about 4 months to reach this point so that the procedure could then be performed successfully.  I survived on prescription-strength painkillers in the meantime.  I am glad I secured an early referral to an orthopaedic surgeon in order to get on his list to have this done.  His opinion was that there wasn't really anything I could do as regards lifestyle or exercise (whilst waiting for it to fully freeze so that the MUA could be done) to improve mobility or to make the situation worse.  So, personally, I don't see why you shouldn't try swimming.     

BTW , in my experience, physio was a complete waste of time and, in retrospect, made the problem worse.

I hope that you are able to enjoy your holiday and take steps to get this sorted.  You shouldn't have to wait for it to resolve (this can takes years) if there is another solution.

[Dancinggirl]

A visit with a good osteopath or physiotherapist can do wonders for frozen shoulders and the like.
Heat pads can also help.  The healing can be slow but whilst HRT can help to keep connective tissue and ligaments healthier a frozen shoulder is not necessarily a good enough reason to go on HRT.
I would keep it warm and avoid too much use of the shoulder for a while.  I find it helps to keep things moving a bit through the healing process but don't do things that really hurt.
Local anti inflammatory gels (Ibuleve) can be helpful or just take ibuprofen 2-3 times a day for 3-4 days with food and that will help.
DG x

[honeybun]

The old thread has been bumped so you can get some information about it there.

It's a terribly painful thing. I thought I had a frozen shoulder until I read exactly what it could entail and then decided I had a very stiff shoulder instead.


Honeyb
x

[CLKD]

Frozen shoulder will heal within 18-22 months - if one doesn't move at all during that time  : but of course we breath, yawn, sneeze - so gentle physio and pain relief is important.

[miagran]

Thanks to all of you for the advice and sympathy, I will try to apply it to my lifestyle. The first day on holiday was horrendous as I was in so much pain, but yesterday I started the prescribed meds and. combined with swiming and gentle exercise had eased it greatly, I everythingn managed to put my hair in a ponytail, painful but I was so chuffed......simple things eh lol Thanks again! <3

[CLKD]

Do some simple exercises every hour to keep the shoulder joint mobile.  Stretching forwards whilst swimming is ideal!

[hetty]

Anyone have any hundred percent movement a year after surgery?How about it coming back in the other shoulder? 

[tiger74]

I haven't had surgery for frozen shoulder but did have it manipulated under anaesthetic.  100% successful,  that was 4 years ago and I still have 100% movement.  No sign of it in the other shoulder although I gather one is at risk at any point in the future having had it on one shoulder.

[joyce21]

I started with a frozen shoulder just over 12 months ago, the movement was bad, and the pain was hindering sleep, i went for x rays and they diagnosed calcification, I was sent for physio, but it did'nt really seem to be working, then in October I woke up one morning with a severe pain which I hadn't had before, as the day progressed it got worse, and by the night I was going out of my mind, I have never known anything that bad (not even childbirth) even breathing hurt, I went to the docs the next day, but wouldn't even let him touch it, he said it had developed into tendonitis, which is usually treated with a cortosone injection, but because I have a clotting disorder I can't have intra muscular injections, so he would refer me to the hospital. My appointment came through for January!!!! I rang and said I may as well cancel this because if the pain continues at this level i won't be here, I will either have done away with myself, or through lack of sleep and pain , killed someone and be in prison lol.
The up shot is, I never got to see anyone at the hospital, over the next 6 months or so it very gradually got less painful. I still don't have full movement, but it is coming back (fingers crossed) I suppose because it's in my right shoulder, and i'm right handed, i'm doing my own physio anyway.
I know how horrid it is, but I promise, with or without treatment it WILL get better, just takes an awful long time. good luck xx

[SueRoe]

I've just seen an osteopath because of ongoing back pain. She explained that in the years running up to menopause as our oestrogen levels decline we very gradually lose a degree of flexibility in our joints. This can cause us to start to move in a less-than-ideal fashion particularly if we gain an injury and then try, often unconsciously, to protect the injured joint by moving differently. This way of moving becomes the "new normal" for an individual. When we start HRT and re-introduce the missing oestrogen our joints can start to regain some of the lost flexibility bit by bit (which is good) but things can start to hurt as we regain movement in an area that hasn't moved properly for years. The key is to carefully re-introduce an improved range of movement. Makes sense to me.

[hetty]

Well another day still a few more days to see surgeon to hopefully try cortisone treatment in other arm. So much pain day and night that you could loss your mind.Sign me up for surgery right now at this point can not take any more pain.

[hetty]

Swimming they say helps...Right now the best help is heat or ice pack. Have horrible frozen shoulder pain from one arm to next. Doctor associated menopause with frozen shoulder but to me it makes sense. I have a new surgeon so will again Monday August 11 if he thinks it's associated. Hang in there its a long road ahead.

[tiger74]

Oh Hetty, your have my sympathy.  Pain from a frozen shoulder is excruciating.  I hope the next hospital appointment is a productive one and that some useful suggestions are made by the consultant so that you have some feasible options going forward.  Before mine was solved with Manipulation Under Anaesthetic I found that a heat pack applied to the shoulder at night did feel comforting so helped a bit.  That and painkillers!  I'd never thought about it being associated with the menopause and it was never mentioned as a potential causal factor as, at the time, I was convinced it was a complication of breast surgery.  However, the timing fits in as I was plunged into the menopause by chemo in late 2009/early 2010 and then started taking oestrogen-blocking meds in the Spring of 2010 and had a frozen shoulder in the autumn of 2010.  Who knows what the cause is?  Maybe several factors?  All I know is it that it was very painful and such a relief when it was fixed.