I am sooo understanding your pain right now. I pulled a pec muscle right under my left boobie and it hurts like the devil. I guess I am suffering from FB..:D and I guess I don't have to tell you, it gets worse before it gets better.:mad::(

I understand the jumping of the poochie, too....Ouch Ouch Ouch and yowlllll!!!

Please pass the Percoset..:p

I am game for Portland!

The other arm of mine that had FS.....the left one....it really hurt. It really hurt to sleep on.

The Dr. declared FS. After month and when I would no longer rip the PT's head off from pain, the PT said....hey, when I hold down on your shoulder blade you can pick up your arm. So, he declared that the left shoulder was impinged. A few months and lots of exercise later, he fixed that one.

Then the right arm decided to act up....two years later...the freak'n thing is still frozen.:(

I am very bad. I don't do my exercises like I should. There I said it.

So ...the moral of my story...

FG...when you get to the exercise part...don't be bad...do them. Do the boring exercises. Or two years from now your arm will still be frozen!

Do what you are told for once!:D

I will find out what they are going to do for this. And I will do what they say. I cannot live with this pain.

Let's get Shappy fixed too...

I saw the ortho doc today and he gave me another steroid shot in the right shoulder. Should alleviate some pain for a few days.

He and I went over the last round of MRIs, the EMG, and talked a bit about the appt I had with the Rehab/pain mgmt doc. Evidently these two guys have known each other for quite sometime and have fun with each other! I caught on real quick and got in a punch or two! I like them both and think they are both good docs.

Anyway, the ortho doc gave me an RX for PT and will chat with the Rehab doc and see me again in a month. At that time, after I've had some PT, seen the Rehab doc, we will reassess and see if I need another shoulder MRI with GAD to determine the stage of the frozen shoulder and whether or not to up the neurontin, administer the nerve block, continue with the PT or shoot me.

I start PT next week if the paperwork goes through smoothly with Tricare.

For now, I am sticking with the 300mg of neurontin. I cannot take this drug during the day. It definitely makes me drowsy. Geez, what a lightweight I am with meds! Right now, I wake up in the morning feeling like I have a hangover. I cannot continue like this. I need some pain relief.

It's a good thing I am unemployed now. :D

It sounds like you're doing all you can Cheryl. :hug: I'm like you with meds, only needing a small dose of most.

Are you going to be doing landscaping design in the springtime? If so, I hope they can help you heal before then. :hug:

Yes, I hope to continue with my design business. I am doing some promoting now. A couple of my friends here are helping me now that I have the other business out from under me.

I am attending the NW Flower and Garden Show in Seattle Feb 18-22 to make some contacts.

I hope you are able to get some relief before the 1 month is up.:eek::( Hopefully the PT will help out quite a bit.:hug::hug:

Just a little tip that I learned about Neurontin. When I 1st started taking it 5 years ago, I was the same way as you. It doped me up from the 1st dose and sometimes will even now. I did some research on it as I really liked it and was fully out of pain for the 1st time in years. I found that if I drink plenty of water and eat protein within an hour after taking it I don't have the loopy feeling anymore. (Well, with my morning dose.;) My night time dose of 600 mg is another story. LOL). I take 900 mg a day (300 am and 600 pm) and can tolerate it much better now. Every now and then I will get loopy on the morning dose but it is not that often.

I do my PT exercises faithfully. DH got a pulley

My arm was stuck so close to my body that I needed baby powder just to stop the irritation of the skin. Do you have any of that?

I hope the major drugs help you sleep. I know they have been a godsend for me.

Thanks for the tip. I thought about staying at the 300mg for a while before titrating up at all. Now maybe I will up to 600mg at night but not take any during the day. I think it is helping b/c I am not getting the shooting pains in my arm now quite as much. I know once I start the PT the pain will increase. I might have to increase something and I hate to get dependent on percocet (sorry Sally - LOL!)

I don't have anything yet. I haven't know what to do except continue with my massage therapist weekly. She has been a godsend. I will find out next week what they PT masochists want me to do and I will follow their instructions to the letter.

I had a problem with my knee about 10 years ago and avoided surgery by going to PT for 8 weeks! And then following up for another 10 weeks! I was not going to have surgery! I don't do well with anesthesia so if I can avoid surgery, I will.

So, we shall see what happens! This has just been a nightmare along with ending a partnership in the flower shop.

Wow, I feel like a neurontin addict. It seems to be the only med so far that does not bother me. I am up to 900 mg, three times per day.

LOL! We all have our tolerances for meds! I can take 1.5mg of klonopin which is higher than the normal dose but that's what I need.

I also take 400mg of Topamax for migraines. Some people take 75 mg. I tried taking 375mg and got a migraine almost immediately.

As we all say, every one is different! You do what you have to do and find what works for you! :hug:

no pain
 

I asked my PT about your frozen shoulder. He said that usually it takes about 8 months so at least you have some idea. The object is to have your frozen shoulder begin to melt.:)

You may not need to do the pain route. It may actually be more beneficial to not stress but rather stretch. When I come to a point where I may feel pain, I am to back off. The muscle needs to stretch not tighten from pain.

My guy started with passive stretching. In other words, he moved my shoulder. But first, he just had me on my back and gave a massage to check the tightness.

This sure sounds a bit "wrong" as I type it.:D

Uh...sounds pretty good to me there!;)

My shoulder hurt so bad last night that I called my massage therapist this morning and begged for her to work on it today. She spent an hour on me trying to get the muscles in my shoulder/neck/shoulder blade and arm to relax. Tight as a board. I didn't sleep last night. I tried 6 pain pills, heat, ice, nothing worked. Not sure what was up but, I do feel a little better after she worked on it this afternoon.

EIGHT months?????? OMG! I will get through this, I have no choice. I do not want surgery.

Shappy, Taffy, Aarcyn. Let's work on this together. Got a plan? I guess I will find out mine on Tuesday.

Support support support. Incentives? I know what will get Shappy through...:D

FG, I swear the frozen shoulder pain is unbelievable. Its the capsule contracting down and scarring. I think my painful stage was like 4-5 months.

Stick with it.

Ok this was weird but what helped me at night was i tucked a pillow under my arm pit and tried to sleep that way when I slept on my side. It helped keep the arm neutral. Also sometimes I would make a ^ with two pillows and lay on my back with my head at the top of the ^ and lay a small pillow under that frozen arm.

When I saw my new ortho this week he said that he sees 500 frozen shoulders a year and will only do surgery on 1-2 people. He then examined me and said I think you might be my first one of 2009. :rolleyes:

Have you looked at t some of the exercises I sent ya FG? Also I swear I had to almost wait to the end of the frozen stage to do them. The easiest one is walking your hand/fingers up a wall.

what pain medication are you taking? I had the doctor prescribe the "big guns."
Percocet. I do not play around with pain, I want to sleep.

Plus the pain only adds to my stiff muscles.

I see the PT twice a week and do the exercises many many times a day, various ones.

It started with passive stretching.

My PT said there is hope to melt your shoulder and increase the muscle. You have to stay away from the pain though. Does your massage therapist rub hard enough to hurt?...in a good way?

I have been on percocet. :D

My Massage therapist knows what she is doing. She's been at this for a long time. She is working with the pain mgmt doc and my neuro.

And Shappy, if I could get my arm stretched out in front of me to reach the wall, that would be a start. LOL! I do sleep with a pillow under my arm. I cannot even lay on my shoulder. I have to sleep on my back or left side. I used to sleep on my right side. So this is an adjustment.

Stand as close to wall as you have to to touch the wall FG!

Do I have to tell you have to cheat now?:D

Ah, yes, you do. So cheating is good? :D

lol! Yes FG...that is...when it comes to FS and exercises. Now, stand really close to the wall and even if you can only touch it barely and spider crawl a quarter of inch. Well...that's it! Man, you must have it bad!:(

(gonna get my um....you know... to some p.t. and see if we can't finish it off)

Ya think?

Yes, you best get yourself to PT. I am going to make sure you do. I don't want Miss Twiffy to have to suffer like I am. If you don't do your exercises, what happens? Do it get worse, stay the same, or freeze up again? I am just learning all about this. I am totally overwhelmed. Sort of like when you first learn you have MS. :thud:


Shappy has been sending me all sorts of good stuff...information. Scary as hell. But good information!

How the heck did I get this is what I am trying to figure out! LOL!

Oh well...forward and be positive! That's the key right now!

Well? have you been to the PT? What is the plan for you?

I am in the process of rebuilding muscles, everything disappeared.

HUGSSSSSSS bit soft gentle hugsss, just got back to see what you have, never heard of it, hoping the meds, rest, pt and massage therapy is somewhat helping hun....sorry you are in sooo much pain!!

hey, my new neuro said to my mom, lets see what we can do to figure this girl out, and to help her sxs or maybe we will shoot her, then no sxs!! haha he has a humorous side I love him so far though. haha

hugss,sarah

Well, you are not going to be believe this. But then again with me, you all probably will as nothing with me is ever normal.

I WANT ONE NORMAL DAY IN MY LIFE, PLEASE, JUST ONE NORMAL DAY!!

The day started with an appt with my dermatologist. 6 month check up. He took a look at the spot in front of my right ear where I had a basal cell removed 2+ years ago and didn't like the looks of it so he biopsied it. It has been frozen off twice and excised once. He says if it comes back positive, I get to have MOHS. Great. Then he finds a new suspicious mole on my back. Great, another biopsy.

Then on to PT. Fill out paperwork, PT guy looks over my 4 MRIs, does a pretty thorough exam of my arm and hmmm...pretty hypersensitive, are we? Yep. Looks a little swollen. I also see quite a bit of atrophy. Doesn't really fit with FS or impingement. But let's see what kind of range of motion you have after we put some heat on it. Ok. Then he massaged it a bit and didn't really find any capsulation (or whatever) and didn't find the usual signs of impingement although he did feel an obvious muscle tightening -- non-movement at a point. My arm simply would not move beyond a certain point. 5 degrees forward, zero degrees away from my body, zero degrees up and zero degrees back. I have a long way to go!

Anyway, he is thinking RSD and is going to talk to the two docs that are treating me before I go back to see him on Thursday. Great.

Somethng else to research!

Oh man, FG! Saying prayers for you and hope they get to the bottom of this all. :hug::hug:

I know the feeling. It would be nice to just have good news and a positive diagnosis rather than another "wait and see" doctor visit.

For what it is worth, my arm did not move either. It WILL get better.

Since today is Wednesday, it means you have only 24 hours until you get a better answer.:)

RSD... does the arm swell and have skin color changes {red, blue, mottled}
hypersensitive to touch, even breezes or clothing ?

I was thinking it might be thoracic outlet syndrome with your heavy work and adding in computer uses.

both our RSD & TOS forums have a good amount of stickys to explore
Maybe shappy already mentioned those.:)

A couple of our TOS members did have frozen shoulder over the years..
I think the constant upper body spasms play a part there.

hope you can get a handle on it soon, or at least the pain reduced for now...

hugsssss sorry they added yet another thought about what it could be, ughhh

no fun to be told many things, just hoping they figure it out and do wahts best for that shoulder. good luck on the biopsies hugsssss

hugss and wishes to normal days, sarah

I have asked about TOS but all the docs have ruled it out. Doesn't fit.

RSD was brought up b/c of the hypersensitivity and the swelling. I've been asked about temperature changes but since I also have Reynaud's, it's a difficult question to answer. From what I've read, the temperature change only has to be a degree or two. I've always had mottled skin in my forearm but the neuro says that's due to MS and spinal involvement. (That was the clinical trial doc.)

Hypersensitivity also goes with MS when I am having an exacerbation so I just wrote it off to that, at least this last time. That's why I didn't think anything of it when I did the steroids. But when my arm got worse after 3 days of IVSM, it was obvious to me that what was wrong with my arm was not MS. But now it is hypersensitive ALL the time. And not just my arm, my shoulder, my pecks, my shoulder blade, my arm pit, my neck. :(

When the PT guy mentioned RSD yesterday, yes, I visited the RSD forum last night. Did a lot of reading. As with everything, some of the symptoms fit, but not all. But as the PT guy said, I am not presenting typical FS. I just laughed and said I don't present typical anything. The MS I have is not typical. Nothing I do is typical. He said it sounds like I am going to be a challenge. Ya think?

We had chinese food for dinner on Saturday night. I love fortune cookies. My fortune read "good ideas will spring forth naturally from your mind in this coming week." Since PODH doesn't like fortune cookies, I naturally opened the second one which read, "Tomorrow will be a five star day for you. Enjoy." That would have been Sunday. The Steelers won the Super Bowl! Yippee!! Something went right on Sunday!

Yep...and what a game it was..:eek::eek::eek: WhooHoo!!!

Sorry about the RSD..:( I want answers...and relief for your pain...dammit..:mad:

Thanks Sally. I am not convinced it's RSD. Not everything fits. I am sticking with early frozen shoulder and pinched nerve complications.

PT sucks. But I will get through it. Baby steps! Lots of heat.

All Taffers can say is "Whut the "F"?"

Oh FG....you would laugh hearing me say that in person.

Let's just say you have FS. It will be way easier to fix.

As always....:hug:

What is happening with PT? What is he/she having you do or doing to you?

Cheryl, how's the shoulder today? I am praying it's frozen shoulder and healed for you and not yet another disease to deal with. :hug:

Hi Cheryl,

So sorry to hear that you could possibly have RSD:hug:! I really hope you get some much-needed answers real soon and I am keeping you in my thouhts and prayers!!

As you probably already know, I have RSD/CRPS in my left leg and right arm. I developed it when I was 12 years old after an ankle sprain and I am now 14. Some of the symptoms you have described sound a LOT like RSD although some of them don't. I was told by my Pain Management Doctor that you have to have at least 5 of the symptoms of RSD to get officially diagnosed with it. It was pretty easy for my Doctor to diagnose me as I have nearly all of the symptoms and he said my case was "textbook"!

Have you seen a Pain Management Doctor? I think you said you did but can't remember, sorry! They can really help and usually are the doctors that diagnose RSD and treat it. If it is RSD, it is extremely important that you are diagnosed and start treatment really soon - my PM Doctor told me that the best chance of reaching remission is if it is diagnosed within 3 months!

Please continue reading the RSD forum and feel free to post any questions you may have ... everyone there is SO nice and friendly and I am sure they will be more than happy to help you if they can! If I can help you also, please let me know!

Thinking about you and please keep us updated when you can!:hug:

The Pain Management doc called me this morning. He wanted to do a nerve block of the sympathetic nerve plexus that is affecting my shoulder. I agreed. He referred to what I am experiencing as "causalgia." When I went into the Surgicenter he explained it more and is treating me as if it's RSD/CRPS/causalgia.

It's unknown cause, but basically right now he is treating the pain. He said he was going to inject the sympathetic nerve plexus in my neck with an anesthetic and steroid to block the pain that is going to my shoulder area.

We shall see.

Sally...Versed. Better than percocet! :D

keeping you in my thoughts, hugsss,sarah

I am glad everything is moving forward. Let us know if the "block" works.:hug:

Not for me. I had a bad reaction to Versed, at the dentists...remember??:eek:

Glad they're working on you and trying different things.:hug:

Oh yeah! :( Well I like it :D Time w/o pain :yahoo: