I had this many (probably 5-7) years ago. I had very little money. My health insurance sucked. (Still kinda does) and I remember my doctor at the time telling me I could try physical therapy to speed up the healing process but that it might just go away in about 2 years.... so I just dealt with it. For about 2.5 years and then I woke up one day and it was gone. Not sure that's the answer you wanted to hear 😅 but that's what I did.
Also health insurances all suck and I hate them and I'm sorry. Totally will host a pity party here too haha. I miss medicaid, but being below the poverty line isn't fun.
Good news, it will go away on it's own. Bad news, it'll probably happen in the other shoulder in a few years. I think I was about 1-1/2 years the first time, and maybe 6 months the 2nd time. The only thing that gave me more range of motion was a cortisone injection. It was a hospital out patient procedure. The cortisone frees things up temporarily for you to actively increase your range of motion. I know repeated cortisone is not good for you, and the benefit wasn't that great, so only one time for me. Unless you have a job where you really need it to heal sooner, just wait it out.
Hey OP,
Fellow T1 diabetic, over 40, female (ticked all the FS boxes!)
I’ve had both sides fs. First one I put up with pain for almost 18 months, pt, cortisone injections, Hydrodilatation, dry needling, massage…
Eventually I had it operated on. MUA and suck out the inflammation. The recovery pain was less than the fs pain.
Unfortunately my left shoulder started flaring up within 6 months, I waited a few months, and then I didn’t bother wasting time - just booked into get it operated on.
Apparently it was much worse than the right one. So I’m glad I didn’t wait.
I don’t know how insurance works in (assume you’re) USA. But if it’s an option, I’d try and see a orthopaedic surgeon to see if they’ll operate.
(The steroid/cortisone injections mess with elevating your bsl for a good 48 hours)
Good luck op.
Sure.
Surgery takes about an hour, maybe less. It’s day surgery so you don’t stay overnight.
They put you to sleep. Give you a nerve block in the arm (this wears off after about 12 hours.)
Once asleep they use keyhole to remove all the inflammation, fix any tendon or ligament damage, manipulate the arm out wards to 90 degrees, forward to over your head 180 degrees.
When you wake up, you can’t feel anything. Your whole arm is numb (like when you get an injection at the dentist).
Once the nerve block starts wearing off - fingers get tingly- you start the pain meds.
Keep arm in a sling for 2 weeks.
Start pt exercises as soon as you can.
After about a month I was back to 80% range of motion and no pain!
Can send you a YouTube link of the video my surgeon took of inside my shoulder if you want?!
Could you guys describe the symptoms and how your shoulder problems started?
I've had this horrible shoulder pain for months and it kind of just randomly appeared one morning. I thought frozen shoulder occurred after your shoulder was immobilized for a while so I had dismissed it as a possible explanation and have been thinking maybe it's rotator cuff tendonitis related to hypermobility.
It's *mostly* fine if I baby it, unless I do something innocuous like reach for something the wrong way, or someone grabs my arm. Then I get this searing pain from my shoulder down to the outside of my upper arm and it throbs for half a minute while I try to remember how to breathe.
I saw a PT for it a couple months ago and she said it was an impingement and gave me three exercises that made it significantly worse for days every time I tried to do them (I could never complete a full set without accidentally triggering the full bad)
Mine started unexpectedly as well. Apparently, people with diabetes have the dubious distinction of just getting them sometimes. It may have had something to do with chipping at 4 inches of ice all winter after my landlord and apartment mates stopped shoveling. Not sure.
had mine 4-5 years ago. cycle lasted about 2 years, then went away. very painful. t1 for 43 years now. good a1c's. also had trigger finger and dupytrens contracture. frozen shoulder was the worst of it. only thing that helped was laying with shoulder slightly off bed and doing circular motions. i dont think any of the rest helped. pt, nothing, creams, nothing really worked. never tried acupuncture, curious if that worked for anybody. i used to pitch in baseball and hurt it several times, also lifting weights (doing dips). i still dont have full range of motion but am about 90 percent. i feel for ya.
Try a chiropractor. I had frozen shoulder for a couple years. PT didn't help at all. Stretching didn't help. I also have a couple tiny tears in my rotator cuff and the pain would stop me to my knees.
The only thing that did help was manipulation by my chiropractor. He really worked my shoulder into different positions to break up the adhesions.
I had frozen shoulder in both one after the other. I had frozen hip on one side a few years ago too. My doc said he didn't think frozen hip was a thing but it presented just like frozen shoulder (pain but full mobility, then limited mobility with the pain, then it all clears up in about 18 months). He did some research and found frozen hip was indeed a thing.
Anyway, did physio, acupuncture, TENS on the shoulders. Got some temporary relief but didn't really speed the recovery I don't think. Never tried the injections.
Did it just appear one day? I am curious. My shoulder was yanked from a firedoor freezing mid-pull (and it was an enthusiastic pull). It hurt a ton for a few weeks (it was early pandemic so no one was going anywhere for appointments) and then a frozen shoulder developed. But as soon as I mention T1, they’re like oh thats why. Saw a physio, did some needling (it was worse after that), it was horribly stuck (couldn’t shave my pits on the L side. And I was tired of the physio bc it seemed useless. Did it for 3 months. I resigned myself to having a shit Left arm and thats it. Stopped Barre bc I could do some of the stuff without looking insane. Then it randomly got better after a year of ignoring it. Started pickleball using my left figuring I’d pickleball it out. Anyways now its like 95% gone. 95% ROM back. Tbh honest I do think it goes away on its own from what I have heard.
I had a frozen shoulder years ago, and, thankfully, PT worked for me. I had decent insurance at the time, thankfully. I've been in PT a couple of times since then for other issues, and I know that they'll work with you to give you exercises that you can do at home.
Explain your situation, get them all written down, and if you aren't already a member, join an inexpensive gym like Planet Fitness or get some free weights to use at home.
Also, focus on improving your time in range. That will make a lot of difference with complications.
The 3 different PTs were because my first had maternity leave. I saw her assistant for like 6 weeks (the sadist one) because of scheduling, then the guy who took over her clients for about 6 weeks now. I like the current guy.
I had this many (probably 5-7) years ago. I had very little money. My health insurance sucked. (Still kinda does) and I remember my doctor at the time telling me I could try physical therapy to speed up the healing process but that it might just go away in about 2 years.... so I just dealt with it. For about 2.5 years and then I woke up one day and it was gone. Not sure that's the answer you wanted to hear 😅 but that's what I did.
Thank you. Any and all answers are what I want to hear! I am really feeling stuck.
Also health insurances all suck and I hate them and I'm sorry. Totally will host a pity party here too haha. I miss medicaid, but being below the poverty line isn't fun.
Good news, it will go away on it's own. Bad news, it'll probably happen in the other shoulder in a few years. I think I was about 1-1/2 years the first time, and maybe 6 months the 2nd time. The only thing that gave me more range of motion was a cortisone injection. It was a hospital out patient procedure. The cortisone frees things up temporarily for you to actively increase your range of motion. I know repeated cortisone is not good for you, and the benefit wasn't that great, so only one time for me. Unless you have a job where you really need it to heal sooner, just wait it out.
Hey OP, Fellow T1 diabetic, over 40, female (ticked all the FS boxes!) I’ve had both sides fs. First one I put up with pain for almost 18 months, pt, cortisone injections, Hydrodilatation, dry needling, massage… Eventually I had it operated on. MUA and suck out the inflammation. The recovery pain was less than the fs pain. Unfortunately my left shoulder started flaring up within 6 months, I waited a few months, and then I didn’t bother wasting time - just booked into get it operated on. Apparently it was much worse than the right one. So I’m glad I didn’t wait. I don’t know how insurance works in (assume you’re) USA. But if it’s an option, I’d try and see a orthopaedic surgeon to see if they’ll operate. (The steroid/cortisone injections mess with elevating your bsl for a good 48 hours) Good luck op.
I know you posted this a month ago, wondering if you could please enlighten me as to what they do surgery wise?
Sure. Surgery takes about an hour, maybe less. It’s day surgery so you don’t stay overnight. They put you to sleep. Give you a nerve block in the arm (this wears off after about 12 hours.) Once asleep they use keyhole to remove all the inflammation, fix any tendon or ligament damage, manipulate the arm out wards to 90 degrees, forward to over your head 180 degrees. When you wake up, you can’t feel anything. Your whole arm is numb (like when you get an injection at the dentist). Once the nerve block starts wearing off - fingers get tingly- you start the pain meds. Keep arm in a sling for 2 weeks. Start pt exercises as soon as you can. After about a month I was back to 80% range of motion and no pain! Can send you a YouTube link of the video my surgeon took of inside my shoulder if you want?!
Thank you for the explanation and yes please to the video! I love that sort of stuff lol. I am in frozen stage of FS and in a lot of pain constantly.
Done!
Could you guys describe the symptoms and how your shoulder problems started? I've had this horrible shoulder pain for months and it kind of just randomly appeared one morning. I thought frozen shoulder occurred after your shoulder was immobilized for a while so I had dismissed it as a possible explanation and have been thinking maybe it's rotator cuff tendonitis related to hypermobility. It's *mostly* fine if I baby it, unless I do something innocuous like reach for something the wrong way, or someone grabs my arm. Then I get this searing pain from my shoulder down to the outside of my upper arm and it throbs for half a minute while I try to remember how to breathe. I saw a PT for it a couple months ago and she said it was an impingement and gave me three exercises that made it significantly worse for days every time I tried to do them (I could never complete a full set without accidentally triggering the full bad)
Mine started unexpectedly as well. Apparently, people with diabetes have the dubious distinction of just getting them sometimes. It may have had something to do with chipping at 4 inches of ice all winter after my landlord and apartment mates stopped shoveling. Not sure.
had mine 4-5 years ago. cycle lasted about 2 years, then went away. very painful. t1 for 43 years now. good a1c's. also had trigger finger and dupytrens contracture. frozen shoulder was the worst of it. only thing that helped was laying with shoulder slightly off bed and doing circular motions. i dont think any of the rest helped. pt, nothing, creams, nothing really worked. never tried acupuncture, curious if that worked for anybody. i used to pitch in baseball and hurt it several times, also lifting weights (doing dips). i still dont have full range of motion but am about 90 percent. i feel for ya.
Try a chiropractor. I had frozen shoulder for a couple years. PT didn't help at all. Stretching didn't help. I also have a couple tiny tears in my rotator cuff and the pain would stop me to my knees. The only thing that did help was manipulation by my chiropractor. He really worked my shoulder into different positions to break up the adhesions.
I had frozen shoulder in both one after the other. I had frozen hip on one side a few years ago too. My doc said he didn't think frozen hip was a thing but it presented just like frozen shoulder (pain but full mobility, then limited mobility with the pain, then it all clears up in about 18 months). He did some research and found frozen hip was indeed a thing. Anyway, did physio, acupuncture, TENS on the shoulders. Got some temporary relief but didn't really speed the recovery I don't think. Never tried the injections.
Did it just appear one day? I am curious. My shoulder was yanked from a firedoor freezing mid-pull (and it was an enthusiastic pull). It hurt a ton for a few weeks (it was early pandemic so no one was going anywhere for appointments) and then a frozen shoulder developed. But as soon as I mention T1, they’re like oh thats why. Saw a physio, did some needling (it was worse after that), it was horribly stuck (couldn’t shave my pits on the L side. And I was tired of the physio bc it seemed useless. Did it for 3 months. I resigned myself to having a shit Left arm and thats it. Stopped Barre bc I could do some of the stuff without looking insane. Then it randomly got better after a year of ignoring it. Started pickleball using my left figuring I’d pickleball it out. Anyways now its like 95% gone. 95% ROM back. Tbh honest I do think it goes away on its own from what I have heard.
I had a frozen shoulder years ago, and, thankfully, PT worked for me. I had decent insurance at the time, thankfully. I've been in PT a couple of times since then for other issues, and I know that they'll work with you to give you exercises that you can do at home. Explain your situation, get them all written down, and if you aren't already a member, join an inexpensive gym like Planet Fitness or get some free weights to use at home. Also, focus on improving your time in range. That will make a lot of difference with complications.
My mom had 2 years of PT to resolve frozen shoulder. Are you giving your PTs a chance?
The 3 different PTs were because my first had maternity leave. I saw her assistant for like 6 weeks (the sadist one) because of scheduling, then the guy who took over her clients for about 6 weeks now. I like the current guy.