Frozen Shoulder

 

AI generated image 

Many months ago, I noticed that at night, my left shoulder felt “overstretched” when I was trying to sleep.  I would readjust my position and all was well.  This happened periodically over a few weeks. Then, I started to notice the same feeling when I would reach above my head.  It was sporadic, maybe a few times a week.  

At some point, I started having “zingers” (excruciating pain delayed by a few seconds that radiates rapidly down the entire arm, the arm goes numb, if I’m holding something it ends up dropped, and often times I actually drop to the floor / the pain is THAT bad).  This would happen if I made a sudden movement, or reach too far (closing a car door, reaching to grab something etc)

I made an appt with my doctor around the 8 week mark, and she recommend physio and an ultrasound.  The u/s didn’t show any tears or anything serious.

I started physio and my range of motion seems to be steady, but I’m still having pain.  In addition to the “zingers” I also pretty much constantly have pain in my bicep and deltoid muscles in that arm.

Apparently, I’m in the freezing stage of frozen shoulder.  I didn’t even know what frozen shoulder was until this happened.

There are 4 stages:

Pre-freezing (what I was noticing at night at first)

Freezing (losing range of motion and intense pain)

Frozen (less or no pain, but incredibly restricted movements)

Thawing (gradually increasing range of motion)

I have been doing my exercises, seeing physio and RMT, but sometimes it feels like there is no end in sight.

Lifting things increase pain (and also comes with risk of dropping it).  Even walking the dog is difficult. I use my good arm, but sometimes the way he turns jars my shoulder and then it happens.  Sleeping is difficult and most nights I only get 3-4 hours of broken sleep.  Exhaustion then adds to the stress of dealing with it.

I plan to buy a pillow or wedge like this to help with sleeping.  I have been using pillows we have, but none seem to work well, they are too thick.

I’m using this post as a venting tool, but also for awareness. Women in perimenopause are more likely to be affected by frozen shoulder, as are those with diabetes or thyroid issues.

On average, it apparently takes around 2 years to go through the 4 stages, but some people take longer.  I’m approximately 6 months in, and still at the freezing stage.

If you have been through it, please leave me some tips if you have any or link to a wedge/pillow that worked for you.