Anyone else experience this? I have been experiencing shoulder pain and discomfort for a long time. 2-3 years. Last year my right shoulder was so sore I could not throw the football with my son. I had to learn southpaw throwing. I also have not golfed now for about 3 years. Now my right one is recovering and my left is very bad. I have been seeing a physiotherapist and he said it is more common in people with diabetes. I also am told that it can take 2-3 years to completely recover. I have been reading different articles and they say that on average it happens to about 20% of people with diabetes. Argh! Anyone else having this pain?
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I have had in the past. mine got so bad I could barely lift my arm above my lap. The best way to deal with it is to do PT including your home exercise. The good news is that if you follow through you can recover.
While I have had only one such case, it is not uncommon to have both or have it more than once in the same shoulder once you have it. It took me almost nine months of pt to get it back in good operations. But I had let mine go longer than I should have.
I wish you good fortunate my friend.
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I had a severe case about 4 months ago. It was quite sudden. I have had osteoarthritis issues with my shoulders for a couple years now, but over just 2 days, my left shoulder went from its usual dull pains to extreme, to the point I went to emerg to see what was going on. I ended up in a sling for a week, with 0 range of motion. It has finally subsided to some degree, but I remain on pain killers, and can still not lift my arms up over shoulder height. In the past 8 weeks, my other shoulder has started to show symptoms of becoming worse. One of life’s little mysteries I guess?
Yes, I had frozen shoulder in both shoulders about 12 to 15 years ago.
I have Type 1 going on 49 years, Diagnosed in June 1967.
Go to an orthopedic doctor who specializes in shoulders. I live in Erie, PA and the orthopedic doctor in Erie tried 3 times with no luck in resolving the pain, back in 2000- 2002. He referred me to UPMC in Pittsburgh. Dr. Radosky. He used arthoscopic surgery procedure.
I have no issues since in my shoulders, but now have it in my right hip. Dr. Radosky told me that it would go to my hip.
I believe it is due o rDNA insulin from what I read, side effects from this form of insulin.
I also had 5 trigger fingers due to tendon issues.
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I have had frozen shoulder 3 times. The first time was excruciating pain and the other two were annoyances. Fortunately I never had surgery and my shoulder specialist saw that only as a last resort. One of my local D-friends had frozen shoulder a year or two ago and had a procedure called hydroplasty. It is much less invasive than surgery and my friend had great results. In general his opinion and one I share is that sometimes you need to be in the “thawing” stage of frozen shoulder before many of the treatment options are optimally effective. Google “hydroplasty shoulder” to learn more about the procedure.
I wrote a blogpost about frozen shoulder a couple of years ago. It shares basic information and my experiences and also gives links to a couple of academic articles and studies.
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I had frozen shoulder in late 1980s, while using NPH+REG mdi. I had a steroid injection which sent my BGs though the roof. Of course no one warned me of this, so I first suspected other causes. I also did PT for maybe 6 weeks, and was able to see the gradual improvement as they documented range of motion. Before treatment I noticed I could no longer reach my back pocket and it was painful to reach the radio controls in my car. Any overhead reaching was nearly impossible without pain.
At diagnosis I had diabetes about 25 years. Since then I have not had a recurrence.
25 years after T1 diagnosis seems to be a common number. Mine was about that and I know several other people who were also at about 25 years. After the first one, I’ve had a repeat about every 5 years. I am hoping the pattern won’t continue…
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Yep, my first was about 25 years after dx. We were living in Southern California at the time and I had a neighbor who recommended a 7th generation acupuncturist. I had 4 or 5 treatments and it was completely healed. Maybe a year later the other shoulder froze up and she could do her magic, so I had the arthroscopic surgery followed by months and months of PT. 25 years later, no recurrence but I can’t throw a ball or a Frisbee.
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I had frozen shoulder in 2014, It was part of a set of problems with my shoulder, I had frozen shoulder, a bone spur which irritated my rotator cuff, along with damaged cartilage. My doctor told me that the frozen shoulder was the most painful part of the ordeal.
I had surgery, normally surgery is not done on frozen shoulder because time will heal it but I had other problems and it was easy for the doctor to cut the adhesion’s that cause frozen shoulder while he was in there poking around anyway.
Had it in 2009 - after 23 years of T1 diabetes. It was extremely painful, and I had almost no range of motion. I wasn’t back to normal for over three year.
I tried a Therapeutic Arthrogram procedure twice:
The procedure was EXTREMELY painful !! It works for some, but wasn’t so effective for me.
Last year, I dislocated my shoulder and it has developed into a shoulder impingement. If it ends up in a frozen shoulder, I will go straight to the surgical option. It’s a better option than three years of misery.
Acupuncture visits enabled me to endure the PT visits without pain drugs. Later, I prevented a re-occurance by swimming. It has given me back my range of motion 100%. My boss went the surgery route, but he did not follow-up with exercise for life and has had issues for years. When your doctor tells you to exercise, follow that advice!
I too had frozen shoulder in my right shoulder, then two years later in my left shoulder. In my case about 30 years after diagnosis.
My right shoulder is 100% recovered but my left shoulder is still coming along. The range of motion is pretty much back in my left shoulder but still working on strength conditioning to get it up to full strength.
The onset is very much an inflammatory process, and yes the recovery can be very slow. I think physical therapy helps but only after you get past the inflammatory stage.
At its worst part of the inflammatory process, I’d wake up crying in the middle of the night from the pain (just laying in bed could be painful). And even just walking along the street I’d sometimes jar my shoulder causing pain that would stop me in my tracks.
I had this shoulder condition years ago and it was quite painful. I took PT for a time and that helped. One approach they suggested for home use was a simple pulley system. I screwed an eyehook into a ceiling beam in the basement. Then, I attached a pulley to that. I took a length of rope and made simple handles at each end. The effect was that when you lowered the good hand, the bad hand/arm would go up. That would allow you to extend the range of motion just a little further than was comfortable each day. As others have noted, this can be a slow process. But I think this one exercise helped a lot.
I think you could probably even skip the pulley and run the rope directly through the eyehole. It might not move quite as smoothly, but should still slip easily enough to be useful. Even a large plant hanger might be pressed into service. You are not putting a lot of weight on the hook — just enough to put a little stretch into the bad arm/shoulder.
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I’m Type 2 insulin dependent. I’ve had problems with my left shoulder for a couple of years now. It can hurt enough to wake me from sleep, but not always. I mentioned it to my doctor and he didn’t seem the least bit interested. It usually improves a s the day goes on. I suspect it is arthritis, and treat it as such. Exercise seems to improve it, but not always. I rarely take an medication for it.
Like some of your other replies I believe this is a problem more common in diabetics.
All good advice, but know this, it will last 1-4 years. It will leave as fast as it came in the 1-4 years.
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Dennis - my experience as well.
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Ugh. Me, too. I’m still dealing with it after about 3 years. I had surgery, which was a big mistake and didn’t do anything.
And mine, although my frozen shoulder was not linked to diabetes. (My physiotherapist said it was because I fell from a horse 40 years ago and slightly compressed my spine; with age, the consequences become more apparent.) The first time it happened, a few sessions of physio cleared it up. The second time it happened, on the other side, nothing worked, not physio, massage therapy, acupuncture, or electrical muscle stimulation. I was told to get an MRI (medical speak for “we don’t know”). Around the same time, I read that if you just leave things alone, frozen shoulder often resolves on its own in a year or so. I left it alone, and sure enough, it went away. Obviously this won’t be the remedy for everyone, and much will depend on the cause of your frozen shoulder.
I had it 2 different times. Right shoulder then left one. Mine never lasted even close to as long as people are saying! Mine was about 2 months. Less on the second one. I went crazy stretching my arms out until I couldn’t take it. Then when I could bring them up a little higher I kept up on extending my arms as far up, back and out. I used a broom handle to help me keep pretty even. I’m glad I learned how to stretch my arms and shoulders! Now if I get a tiny ache I do some of the stretches and it goes away!
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I’ve found chiropractic to be very helpful.