Just looked up frozen shoulder and ms together. Did you know frozen shoulder has an autoimmune component to it? And can last up to three years? The ms could have done this to me.

I don't think I can handle this for three years. Shoulder is killing me right now.

Gonna go try to sleep. Or cry from the pain.

Erin - There have been a few people on here who posted about their frozen shoulder. Most of them healed and have done well. I think one eventually had to have surgery. I can't remember. I hope you start feeling better soon. How is your mom doing? Is she starting to feel better? I continue to keep her in my prayers. That was pretty scare and serious stuff she had going on.

Wiz - :hug::hug: I hope you can stay local BUT if it's better for your health and all, maybe going to the big city is worth it. And, I'm sure the woman appreciated all that you did for her and the hug. You are so kind to not only your customers but many others as well, including me.;) Hang in there and do keep us posted on how you are doing. You have been going through a lot lately and I keep you in my prayers every day.:hug:

My daily whine and cheese . . . Other than a numb foot and my normal MS stuff, my MS is doing fine today. I can't whine about any of it.

potty question here, sorry if it's TMI, but if I haven't done #2 since tuesday (the 26th), should I be really worried??

I haven't eaten much the past couple of weeks because of the pain in my shoulder.

If you're not eating much, you are not going to go much. Input vs output. Also, you've been taking pain meds which can be constipating and that's probably contributing as well. A lot of pain meds are notorious for constipating people. The stress that you have been under with your mom being so ill, the holidays, your shoulder and pain meds all can contribute to an MS flare and/or the constipation you are experiencing. Try taking a stool softener or laxative or eat something with a lot of fiber in it (a bowl of oatmeal, lentils, etc. or a prune or two) and see if that helps. Keep track of what you are eating and how much as that could be a clue. If you are eating normally as you always have and your BMs were regular and all of a sudden you stop going, that issue needs to be addressed with your doctor.

Keep in mind we are MSers and constipation is pretty common for us. Keeping our bowels running smoothly can be tricky as is nerve related.

I tried taking something for it. It didn't do much. I feel like I have to go, it's just not happening when I try. I can hear gurgles in my stomach, so I'm pretty sure that my stomach is working. I've even been hungry. Just not eating much because of the pain in my arm, and then the worry about the potty issue.

wish that I didn't feel so bad lately. It's starting to depress me a lot. I miss the times when I didn't have all these problems.

I miss sleeping in my bed. I've been sleeping in a recliner. Starting to wonder if sleeping in the recliner is contributing to the potty issues. I don't move around much in that chair. Staying still for so long while I'm sleeping.

I am so tired...all I want to do is sleep. I keep dropping off every few minutes it seems. It's taken me awhile to write this post, because I keep dropping off to sleep in the middle of it.

Erin, you sound so incredibly depressed. It seems that for years you have been struggling with both physical and psychological obstacles. I know I and many others have suggested counseling/therapy/support for you on this and other boards and hopefully someday you will be able/willing to act on some of the suggestions that will improve your quality of life.

note that this comes from a place of truly pure and good intentions.
Wishing good things for you Erin.

I feel more frustrated than depressed. I just want a break from the constant stuff that keeps coming up. I'd like the constant health issues to calm down a bit. The past month or so has just been a bit physically painful, and that gets to a person after awhile.

I don't know what I'm doing that I keep having all the weird health issues cropping up.

How is your Momma doing?

Erin, sending you all the healing strength, I can muster up. I just remember the Bible verse that says 'this to shall pass.'

my mom seems to be ok. My dad has to take her for a follow up in a couple of days

I told my dad about the potty issue, and he started tossing all sorts of medications at me, and telling me which ones he gives to my mother. I took one. So hopefully having a nurse for a dad will be coming in handy soon.

Just hoping the weird tight feeling that I'm feeling in my stomach is just normal MS spasticity and not something horrible related to the potty issues.

Ok, I took the stuff my dad gave me...there's still nothing happening. Starting to seriously freak out.

Erin,

The combination of all that you are going through, including the pain medications and not being able to lay down because of the shoulder is likely the reason things aren't moving.

Can you get into (and out of) a bath with your shoulder the way it is? If you can, getting into a deep one and massaging your belly gently while in there might help to get things moving.
The buoyancy of the water can help to change the pressure dynamics within the abdominal cavity, and that might help to get things moving. I learned about this when I had a similar situation during a bout of TM and it worked.

If the BM issue doesn't come around today, it is probably a good idea to seek medical attention...especially since it has been nearly a week since the last one.

Gee whiz...you sure are getting hit with one thing after another lately, and I'm so sorry that this is happening on top of it all.

In my thoughts and sending mega :hug::hug::hug:s.

With love, Erika

We don't have a working bathtub. We just have showers here. I'm planning on calling a doctor about it as soon as the office opens.

There's still nothing moving. I've been trying to do anything I can do to get things going. Think it's going to not end well.

How else can the ms embarrass me today?

Oh rats.

Well, given the circumstances, I think that you are making a wise choice to call your doctor ASAP.

Wishing that your doctor pays attention, takes your concerns seriously and ensures that you get results.

With love, Erika

Erin, you also need to drink fluids a lot when you take stool softeners. And even things like citrucel needs a lot of fluids. I also like to take a lot of fruit. Prunes will help too.
But, MS does crazy things to the body, and this could be one of them for you. Hope you can get some help for it. Your doc might recommend an enema...:hug:

My bowel functions have been seriously damaged by the M.S. The 'normal' routine is far from normal. I do not have a problem discussing it in general, however am not prepared to post it on teh interwebs for all eternity!!

A proper diet is the first step!

When just wanting, just wishing and just hoping lose their effectiveness , a more active stance on addressing the issues will likely be more effective.
best of luck.

yeah, I've been sucking down water like crazy. Was going bathroom all night, just not getting the result I wanted.

Might just ask my dad to go to the pharmacy for me.

tried calling my doctor's office, can't get thru. It keeps telling me "your call cannot be completed at this time" if I try calling on my cellphone. If I call on our landline it says "all circuits are busy". Don't know why it's doing that. Just know that since the insurance weirdness started, it's a heck of a lot harder to get an appointment, and their phone system can't seem to handle things anymore.

edit

got thru to the office, but the person who answered said I'd have to wait several minutes while she checked in another patient that was in the office. She didn't seem to want to make the appointment for me for my shoulder. I asked to talk to the nurse about my other issue, and she said she could do that and the nurse could transfer me back to make an appointment, so she transferred the call to the nurses station, which immediately went to voice mail, and there was no way to get back to the scheduling department.


ARRGHH!!! <multitude of swear words being screamed> omg...seriously?!? All I want to do is talk to the doctor or the nurse, why is that so difficult?

Have you tried Miralax? I know I had to take it before surgery and it really cleaned me out! But, I had to take the whole bottle of it. That might not be a good idea for you. If you can get through to your doctor's office I'd ask them if it's okay to take it.

I think there might be too much "stuff" in there for anything to handle making it leave me. My next attempt will probably involve water, but not ingesting it.

edit

ok, my dad, who seems to be the MacGyver of poo, didn't have the thing that involves water, but he did have something else I could try, which also does not involve actually ingesting anything through the mouth... Something that goes directly to the source...and was actually easier to deal with that I thought it was going to be.

So, I guess now I sit here, and wait patiently for...things...to start happening. (omg, can't exactly believe I'm talking about this stuff on a public forum. Oh well, we're all MSers here)

FINALLY!!!!!

Altho, I thought there would be more...stuff. Maybe not all of it's worked it's way out yet? Is it a bad thing if there's a little bit of blood?

While I was, erm...waiting... for things to work their way out, the nurse from my doctor's office called. Said to try miralax. I still feel like I have to do more. Maybe I'll try that to make sure I get everything.

I guess I'll clear my schedule for the day.

Erin - It all depends. How much blood? Was there mucus as well? Were you straining to have a bowel movement? Straining can certainly cause a little blood in your stool. Keep an eye on it and if things get worse, call the dr or go to the ER. There maybe something else wrong other than constipation or in addition to the constipation. Also, keep in mind that some of the stool softeners/laxatives take a day or two to start working. An enema would be more immediate. A colonscopy prep, well...., it works and sometimes fast. :eek::D

I was trying not to strain, but I probably did a little bit. It wasn't that much blood. Just enough to make me go "oh...there's blood".

Not sure if there was mucus, there was something in the bowl, but it could have been something from the suppository.

I was surprised there wasn't more...stuff...there. It'd been a few days, but the nurse said that if I hadn't been eating a lot of solid food for the past several days, that might explain why there wasn't a giant pile of stuff there.

When my arm was in severe pain the past several days, it's affected my appetite a lot. So, I really wasn't eating all that much. I guess I should be happy that I hadn't put too much stuff into my system the past few days. The pain from the shoulder/arm may have helped this other problem not be so horrible.


I called the orthopedic specialist about my arm a little while ago. Explained that I'd had pain that was bad enough I had to do two ER visits in one day for it, and asked if I could get an appointment sooner than the 11th. So now I have an appointment for wednesday for them to tell me if I actually have frozen shoulder or if it's something MS-ish.

I didn't get much sleep last night, so I think I'm going to go take a nap. I'm tired!

Erin,

Not only the amount of food that you've eaten in the last week, or lack there of, is important to consider, but how much fiber was in it as well. Things that are primarily animal sourced proteins like meat, fish, poultry and dairy products, as well as refined starches like bread, pasta, white rice - all have very little fiber in them and so, tend to leave little residue.

On the other hand, if you have eaten a fair amount of vegetables, complex carbohydrates like oats and whole grains, and fruit, you should expect some substance to remain after digestion.

Hope that this helps and that things back on track for you.
Good luck with the PT for your shoulder.

With love, Erika

I was eating mostly soup, some toast. I did have some apple the other day, and some canned pears yesterday. I really was not eating all that much. I did have some candy, because I bought my mom a three pound box of See's Candy for her birthday that was today. And since there's three pounds of candy, and three people living here. I wanted some of the candy. That probably wasn't the greatest idea to eat that saturday night, because I know chocolate can cause issues.

I'm still not that hungry. I had some soup and toast tonight, but I barely ate the soup. The toast tasted funny to me. I just ate some crackers. Just not feeling all that great still.

at least I'm probably losing a little bit of weight. Probably not the greatest way to lose it, but I'm losing some.

Hoping you are feeling better, Erin.
ANN

:ROTFLMAO:

I'm sorry, Erin, I know you've been having a rough time, but that made me laugh.

getting ready to go see the orthopedist about whatever is wrong with my arm.

Hopefully it's something he can fix, but I have a feeling that it's something MSish, and that he'll say that he can't help. Because that's the way my life seems to be going all the time.

one good thing to look forward to today, my new iPad is on the UPS truck and "Out For Delivery". So, at least I'll have a new toy to play with later today.

Not to put a damper on your new toy excitement but be careful with how much time you spend on it. I have found that I get shoulder and arm fatigue/pain if I spend too long on the computer. An iPad might be different but I've found that any time I keep my neck and/or arms in the same position for a long length of time I get pain in my neck/shoulder/arm.

I'm back from the doctor. The second emergency room doctor the other night was correct, it was frozen shoulder.

The orthopedist told me that he sees three or four women a week that are my age with frozen shoulder. So apparently it's fairly common. He left the room, and came back with two really huge needles, full of cortisone. He injected both needles directly into my shoulder joint, and told me to sit there and move my arm around for 10 minutes. Came back into the room and my arm still hurt, so he gave me another shot.

For future reference, Cortisone can make you a little queasy.


He gave me a prescription for physical therapy. Hopefully I won't ever have to go back and get those shots ever again, because that really sucked. I do have to say that the morphine shot I got Saturday was more painful than three shots of Cortisone in my shoulder joint today.

I can get my left arm above my head if I help it along with the other arm. It still hurts a little bit, but hopefully I'll be able to wash my hair tonight

Now I'm just sitting here moving my arm around, and waiting for the UPS truck to show up with my iPad Air. I thought it was here a couple of minutes ago, but it was just FedEx with a package for my dad. I was disappointed.

Glad you finally got some help Erin. Will you have a ride to physical therapy or will it be in your home? Enjoy your new toy

My iPad Mini is my traveling companion, but the Air does fit into my purse. Since it's so new, it's not leaving the house with me for awhile. Especially in the wintertime, just in case I hit some ice and fall.

I was surprised to see that the Air is smaller than the iPad3, (not as wide, but just as long). And it weighs close to the same as the iMini. I like it, easier to deal with than the older iPad.

I love me some gadgets!!


I forgot to take some pain meds when I got home. I ate dinner tonight after setting up my Air, and the iPads that got shuffled to my parents. It was late and my arm was hurting bad. I hadn't eaten all day either. I had to put something in my stomach, and then pop a tramadol/vicodin. Thank goodness I had some zolfran, because I needed that about a half hour after taking the pain pill.

Hopefully the pain meds don't trigger a return to my other problem that I had all last week/weekend.

Erin,
I'm glad that your new gadget arrived. Hope that you get your meds sorted out and that your shoulder settles down.

I've been in a daze since Tuesday. The body doesn't like the Cymbalta but I'm going to stick it out for another few days in the hope that it adjusts. It makes me dizzy, nauseous, weak and cognitively impaired. The vision is also blurry and dim, so haven't been here much.
Will catch up later.

With love, Erika

Erika, just don't go off of it cold turkey…you're supposed to wean off of it gradually.

I got a call from the surgery center-they wondered if I'd ever gotten a followup urine culture done…uh yeah:roll eyes:
So now I'm waiting for a call back from them…the pcp's office that got the results is closed today (of course). She has to call around to find the results of the culture.
So I'm still unsure if the surgery's a go ahead or not…they have a real lack of communication there...:confused:

I'd better be able to go through with this stupid surgery; I've been off of arthritis meds for a week now and I now know how much my joints ache without it...:(

Erika - I didnt do well with cymbalta. I took it for 3 days and couldnt take the affects it was giving me.

Debbie - I hope things go well. This is not the way to start you day before surgery. stress before and after is no good. im keeping you in my prayers.

thanks Trish…DH got on the phone with me to find out when we would know, and the woman got back to me within minutes to say it's all clear! I guess I should be happy...:roll eyes: oh goodie, now I get to have surgery and pain…yay…
Just kidding. All will be good. Thanks again…take care of yourself sweetie:hug:

Wishing you more good luck Debbie.:hug::hug:

I feel so much better today. I can move my arm, and it's not as painful as it was. Still hurts a bit, but it's nothing like it was. Seriously huge improvement. I didn't get any sleep last night with 3 cortisone shots, and the last of my oral steroid pills in me last night. Tried to go to bed at 3am this morning. Ended up still awake at 8am. Finally fell asleep and woke at 4pm. Hope I can sleep tonight, and that it doesn't hurt my shoulder too bad tonight. Might attempt to sleep in bed tonight. Had to sleep in the recliner last night.


My mom seems to be feeling better today too. She had to go to the doctor for another test tho. This one was interesting. They had her swallow a spy camera. A giant horse pill sized thing. (my dad said it was the size of what potassium pills usually are). She had to swallow that, and wear some sort of electronic thing around her waist all day. Then later this afternoon, she went back, and they took the electronic belt thing off of her. She has to watch for the spy camera to come out tho. Not sure if they want that back or not tho.

My dad told me something scary. The doctor said my mom almost died last week. She was a step away from having a heart attack. (explains the chest pains, and her problems breathing). She was so low on blood. She really was very close to dying. That is really really really scary. She didn't get that close last year when she had West Nile virus.

She's now grounded from drinking or eating caffeine. No more chocolate. (good thing I bought her that 3 pound box last week before they grounded her from it. The box should be empty tonight. Since she can't have any chocolate anymore, that's going to save me $60, because she'd wanted another one for Christmas. No chocolate for her now.

Now we have to buy her decaf Kcups for her Keurig that I bought her for her anniversary/birthday. Good thing I got the do-it-yourself cup adapter for the machine. My dad has several pounds of her favorite coffee in decaf for himself. (she drinks Community Coffee with the chicory flavor in it....eww!)

So, hopefully she's done with all the scary stuff. We still have to wait and find out what her spy camera might have found, but hopefully it's not too scary. My mom never gets sick with colds, so when she does get sick, she gets SICK. It becomes some big dramatic affair when she gets sick.

Glad to hear that both you and your DMom are feeling a bit better Erin..:hug:

A spy camera, weird. I hope they don't want the capsule back either. Glad you are feeling better.