Thank you very much, sucky doctor! :-(

[Engmfj]

First off, I should mention that I'm a licensed carer for the elderly, and during our education we had a lot of medical training, eg. which pills are for what and what to look out for. So I know a bit about what could be wrong and why, when I hurt myself ..

A couple of months ago, I happened to dislocate my shoulder - or rather partly dislocate it - as my bus stopped too abruptly and I was clinging to a seat so I wouldn't smash into the poor woman standing behind me. It got itself back into place rather quickly, but as the pain got worse and worse throughout the day, I went into the ER in the evening.

I got a really nice doctor and a rather nasty nurse there, they took x-rays and moved my arm and shoulder around and all that. Well, nothing broken, so just take a couple of paracetamol and go to bed. Nasty nurse proceeded to berate me for borrowing some Ibuprofen 600mg from my hubby, although I'd been taking them myself recently for another, unrelated injury. Well, they weren't prescribed to me and yadda yadda yadda blah .. Unfortunately I can't take morphine as it will make me get sick and throw up a lot, so .. paracetamol would have to do.

As it doesn't improve at all after a few weeks, I go to see my own doctor - Mrs. Sucky Doctor - who touches the shoulder here and there, moves the arm around a bit and says that nothing is wrong and it'll go away with time. Right then, more pills and go home ..

I start getting pretty painful sort of "attacks", where my shoulder would suddenly start hurting like heck, without any movement or anything at all. These get worse and more frequent as time goes by, and the pain doesn't subside as it was supposed to. So I go see Mrs. Sucky Doctor a few more times, and each time I'm told to stop whining, it doesn't hurt so bad, there's nothing there and that I'm just impatient The last time I went there, begging and pleading for her to at least arrange a scan of the shoulder or something, I'm told to stop wasting her time and she flat out refuses to do anything at all. I should just go home and shut up, basically

That's when I decided to switch doctors, even though it costs something like $10 around here. Mrs. Sucky Doctor agrees to transfer everything to him as soon as possible - but more than a week later, he still doesn't have my file .. sigh ..

It only took one short session with new doc, aka. Mr. Wonderful Doctor, to fiiiinally figure out what's been bothering me for the last 3 months. He poked around the right places and did the right diagnostic movements of shoulder and arm, so finally someone who took my pain seriously. At one point he poked right at the most sore and painful part of the shoulder, and I actually almost fainted from the instant, severe pain it caused - cue Wonderful Doctor: "If that's "nothing" as my colleague said, it sure as hell shouldn't hurt that much!"

Sooo, now I got diagnosed with a frozen shoulder and rotator cuff tear - which was missed and untreated for 3 months by Mrs. Sucky Doctor. I even got a referral to get the shoulder scanned and operated as soon as they get an opening, so I'm pretty much ecstatic - even though I'm not exactly looking forward to the operation. But it'll finally fix it, so I can sleep and function again, wooohooo!

I'm not sure what I'm going to do with Mrs. Sucky Doctor, but I might be lodging a complaint somewhere - I'll certainly be sure to send her every scan and x-ray and paperwork from the hospital with a note saying "See, I was right, there was something wrong. Thanks for nothing, B****" or the like ..

[Sparky]

Frozen shoulder:
Been there.
Done that.
OUCH!!!!!!!!

In fairness to the hospital staff, frozen shoulder doesn't happen overnight and probably developed slowly. Probably triggered by the injury. But you talk about "attacks" when you weren't doing anything? I was thinking "frozen shoulder" as soon as you said that.

I finally made a full recovery from my frozen shoulder and a couple of years later, I broke the same shoulder. If I had to do one of those things over, I'd pick the break.

Best of luck for a quick recovery.

[Engmfj]

Well, I didn't have any symptoms before the incident on the bus, so I guess that was what triggered it and the wait for a proper diagnosis made it much worse. The attacks also didn't start until after the bus incident.

I was treated well at the ER - except perhaps for Nurse Nasty - it was my GP who was the really sucky one At the end I actually almost started believing her when she called me hysteric, figuring it might be psychologically, i.e. something wrong with me and my head instead

Thanks for the wishes - am working on it

[Seshat]

Nothing is 'all in your head'. Even hypochondria, Munchausen's, and anxiety deserve to be treated.

My husband has a friend with severe hypochondria. He has a wonderful medical team: a psychiatrist who helps keep the symptoms down to a dull roar, and a family doctor who helps him figure out whether an issue is actually in need of medical treatment, or is a symptom of the hypochondria. (IE: the anxiety of the hypochondria is exaggerating a perfectly normal issue.)

I no longer tolerate an 'it's all in your head' doctor. If it's in my head, I want a referral to a diagnostic psychiatrist. If they're not confident enough to do that, then maybe it's NOT in my head after all, hmm?

[Engmfj]

Sounds like your husband's friend is in the best of hands, then

Just got a letter from the hospital, because new Dr. Wonderful referred me immediately - unfortunately, there's a 3 month wait, so the earliest appointment they could give me was Oct. 31st. But hey, at least we're finally moving forward, so I'm just going to hang in there and take my pills and all that until then, and then hope they'll be able to fix it in Oct.

[Engmfj]

As you have been through this yourself, Sparky, I just wanted to ask if you found anything non-medicine-like that eased the pains for you just a bit? Anything advice would be very much appreciated, as my pains seem to get worse and worse by the day, and I haven't slept properly for months now. I can seriously hardly function during the day, and the pains seem to be at their worst at night

I also don't want my wedding day (13 days from now) to be less wonderful because the pain and attacks and all that overshadow everything else like they do now .. so if you found something that worked even a tiny bit for you, it's worth trying out

[Sparky]

As you have been through this yourself, Sparky, I just wanted to ask if you found anything non-medicine-like that eased the pains for you just a bit? Anything advice would be very much appreciated, as my pains seem to get worse and worse by the day, and I haven't slept properly for months now. I can seriously hardly function during the day, and the pains seem to be at their worst at night

I also don't want my wedding day (13 days from now) to be less wonderful because the pain and attacks and all that overshadow everything else like they do now .. so if you found something that worked even a tiny bit for you, it's worth trying out

No. Sorry. Heat might be helpful, and you might consider some OTC pain reliever to have onboard during the wedding, or ask your doctor about a prescription painkiller, if you can find drugs without side effects.

The (one and only, in my opinion) thing that WORKS is a cortisone shot into the joint, followed by weeks and weeks of physical therapy. But my shoulder was originally misdiagnosed (long story, boring) so I didn't get proper treatment until it was truly awful. Hope your recovery is faster. The cortisone can take up to a week to kick in, and it makes things worse for a day or so, so don't get that the day before your wedding. I know what you mean about it getting worse and worse by the day. It will until you get proper treatment. When I first started having pain, I noticed that I could not reach up my back much higher than my waist. At my worst, if I tried to reach behind me, I could go no further than my side (hand hanging down by my hip). Don't wait. And I did not have a rotater cuff tear on top of frozen shoulder.

The most helpful thing I found, and this on advice of my physical therapist, was using extra pillows in bed to prop my arm. At least I was able to get into a comfortable position so I could get some rest. You might also try sleeping in a recliner, which I did a couple of years later when I broke my shoulder.

But not very nice for your honeymoon, I know.

[Engmfj]

Thanks for taking the time to try and help

I do have both Ibuprofene (600mg) and Paracetamol at home, but they don't seem to do anything for me anymore. Unfortunately, heat and cold only helps a few minutes at a time, but hey, at least I have a couple of minutes off The only other thing, they'll prescribe for me is morphine, and that'll make me throw up on an hourly basis until it's out of the body again - not so appealing

The pillow thing is definitely worth trying - will get hubby working on that tonight The cortisone also sounds nice, will probably try to phone my doc again tomorrow. Maybe he can think of some injection or other that can block the pain without rendering the whole arm completely useless - though I am a bit wary of that, since Doc Wonderful is on holiday and I'm not sure if I want anyone else jamming a needle into my shoulder (slightly phobic).

The thing about the tear I have (that caused the whole freezing of the shoulder) is that it should have as much rest as humanly possible, so it won't get any worse than it already is - and almost every movement hurts with that, too. I can hardly even turn my hand with the palm upwards without instant bouts of pain through arm and shoulder. So that pretty much throws away anything that could actually help with the freezing

The honeymoon is not until September (he doesn't have time off until then), so I think he'll survive a few nights of me sitting halfway up in bed - well, he'll have to We are also putting my very light sleeping MIL up on the couch the night after the wedding, she can't get a bus home in the night as she lives a couple of hours away - so not too much room for hanky-panky that night, anyways

[Sparky]

My experience with cortisone shots into shoulder:

Ow.
GASP!
I CAN'T STAN..
Oh. You're finished. Cool.

Feels freaky, but only takes a second or two. Don't let your fear hold you back; it's really not that bad. It's not that it hurts much, especially compared to how your shoulder already feels, it just feels weird. But I was being treated by a specialist who gave these shots all the time. Not sure if a GP would have the same skill? And of course, I have no medical training, so I have no idea whether this would be helpful for you at this point. Also, I can't really say that the shot made my shoulder feel better. But I was getting nowhere with my PT until I got the shot, then I suddenly started making a lot of progress, so it's worth asking your doctor.

About pillows: I found that I could sleep on my side if I had a large pillow in front of me to rest my forearm on so that my shoulder didn't fall forward. And I could sleep on my back if I had a small pillow under my elbow so my shoulder didn't fall backward. Also, sleeping in a recliner kept my shoulder in the perfect position with my arm hanging straight down. But then I needed a small pillow to hold my head up so I didn't kill my neck.

Between the frozen (right) shoulder, the broken (right) shoulder, and then developing bone spurs and mild frozen (left) shoulder, which required surgery, I got so in the habit of sleeping hugging a pillow that I still do, even though both shoulders are healed up.

Feel free to PM me if you want to.

[Ellain]

Frozen shoulder can be treated by a specially trained massage therapist, but I wouldn't recommend it without consulting your dr, especially since there is a tear.

[stitchwitch]

Sounds like your husband's friend is in the best of hands, then

Just got a letter from the hospital, because new Dr. Wonderful referred me immediately - unfortunately, there's a 3 month wait, so the earliest appointment they could give me was Oct. 31st. But hey, at least we're finally moving forward, so I'm just going to hang in there and take my pills and all that until then, and then hope they'll be able to fix it in Oct.

You're having surgery on Halloween? That's a little too scary.