Sick at Christmas

[gwendally]

Several years ago I had surgery in mid-December and I recall how helpless and useless I was.  This Christmas is sort of rivaling that.  My left shoulder has been getting steadily worse since at least early October, but after starting physical therapy it has gotten quickly worse and, as of yesterday, it is FAR FAR worse than before I began treatment

Comments

[touchofgr3y]

Ouch! I hope you get some relief soon!

[froggoddess]

Yikes. But honestly if muscle spasms is part of it, call your doc office and get a muscle relaxant. I had the only muscle spasm of my life the summer after G was born, and they called in a prescription for something, and I took it and it knocked me out but in the morning it had definitely relaxed whatever that was. I'd go that route before a painkiller. If you can't get that, then a benzo (got any xanax or ativan?) would also work.

Meanwhile -- isn't it amazing how those labor breathing exercises keep coming in handy? Hope you feel better soon!!!

[belleweather]

I was just going to say the same thing! I also have a problem shoulder and when it got terrible last month such that I thought I was going to DIE (because I am a wimp and do not cope with pain gracefully) the doctor's diagnosis was that I was experiencing cascades of muscle cramps. Apparently if they are severe enough the muscle never entirely relaxes and the cramps just continue to escalate making everything increasingly tight, painful and unusable as you go.

I was sure the Doctor was an idiot and also possibly insane, but he gave me some muscle relaxers and I took them as directed and amazingly things went back to their prior baseline amount of discomfort and have continued to heal from there.

[crazyburro]

Beware of interactions between muscle relaxants and some prescription narcotics. Also muscle relaxants (narcotics too - anything messing with your neurology) can cause personality shifts that can be unpleasant both for you and the people around you. They can make you easily agitated, clumsy, have poor reaction times, and dopey too. (my being dopey is something my spouse remembers better than I - she tells me I was incredibly forgetful too, but I don't really remember that

[gwendally]

I find that I get a solid six hours of relief from the 800 mg of ibuprofen. Sadly, I need it to last eight hours. But the acetaminophen (just 500 mg because I hate Tylenol) gets me enough so I can bear the last two hours, then fall gratefully back into the arms of my beloved ibuprofen.

The spasms aren't as bad today. The shoulder is still utterly useless. Not frozen; I can move it with my other hand, and I can place it in different locations and grip with my hand a shower handgrip or whatever, but there is no ability to use any shoulder muscles. I find this to be somewhat troubling now that I can spare a moment from pain management to consider it.

I called the doctor's office today to let my PCP know. The triage nurse said they would call me back on Monday to schedule the MRI.

No muscle relaxants for me. I am doing hot and cold and Icy Hot rubs and generally expecting nothing from myself but to try and heal.

It's fairly relaxing actually. Except, you know, for the horrible pain and fear of being maimed.

[pondhopper]

That's not good. I hope it eases soon for you.

[coercedbynutmeg]

Heh, well I can't decide if physical pain or developing-world homelessness is a more pressing issue. But I'd probably be unwilling to trade places with you.

It's interesting that you say that about general anesthesia. I'd be inclined to agree based on what I've seen in the past year with my mother in law.

[gwendally]

I hope you find a home soon! But, hey, adventure! I would love to hear more about what you and your kids are are experiencing in terms of culture shock.

[coercedbynutmeg]

We have a place to live, but the negotiated amenities aren't all up and running, so we'll have spent about $550 on a hotel room while stuff is supposed to be fixed. It remains to be seen if it actually gets fixed. That's part of the culture here. People are really "whatever" about everything, like driving, parking, and fixing things that break (and they break often, because repair work is dealt with at the same level of "whatever").

Also, weighing produce at the store before you buy it. That's unusual but they do it in Europe.

[exvapi]

Shoulder Pain can be anything from "no big deal" to an A/C joint separation. Only imaging and an ortho can tell the difference. Go to the ortho before you get into tax season and can't stop to breath. Just because the doctor wants to use general (and shoulder surgery for torn cuffs and things do not usually require it since they scope instead of cut) doesn't mean you have to do it. But at least you will be working with hard data, instead of self diagnoses.

Go, before you make things worse to the point of having to have major surgery to get it fixed.

[crazyburro]

+1

[elenbarathi]

This. And meanwhile, don't do anything to it that hurts, or let anyone else do anything that hurts either. Sounds to me like bursitis, but I'm 3000 miles away and not a doctor.

Cold travels faster than pain up the nerves. Try contrast therapy: alternating hot and cold, always ending with cold to reduce inflammation. I keep wet hand towels frozen in zip-lock bags, to use as ice-packs inside a flannel pillow-case; they're my first line of defense, and often make drugs unnecessary. For hot, just microwave a wet towel, put it in a zip-lock bag, then in the pillow-case.

I suppose you already know that acetominophen and alcohol do not mix. I've found naproxin sodium to be better than either ibuprofin or acetominophen for shoulder pain. I take both Phenocane and bromelain daily: they can't hurt, and they probably do help.

Good luck, hon; very sorry you're having this - hope you're better soon!

[gwendally]

Thanks for the reminder about Tylenol. I almost never take it and forgot that alcohol was contraindicated.

I already knew about the tendinitis and bursitis and shoulder impingement. That's what we had been working on.

This was a marked change. I have lost all use of the shoulder muscles. Something is torn somewhere.