I am brand new to this forum and have never participated in a forum before! I was diagnosed with frozen shoulder about a month ago after waiting about 4 months to go to see a Dr/orthopedist. Long story short: I happened to ask my OB/GYN if there was some connection between what seemed to be some perimenopause symptoms and the fact that I had been having back pain and shoulder pain at the same time. (Now my hip hurts too...) I wondered aloud if maybe it was all hormonal somehow and she gave me a funny look and a meandering answer that ended with "we really just don't know." I didn't think much of this until I told a friend that I was going to a Dr to see about my shoulder. She proceeded to tell me that she had rotator cuff surgery and while in PT for that, she developed frozen shoulder. She discovered that her estrogen levels were very low, she went on HRT and "within a few days" felt more movement and relief for her shoulder.
I am upset and amazed that SO many women have had these experiences, yet there is very little information out there and the recommended course of treatment is always Physical therapy.
I completely understand what others on this forum have been sharing related to pain etc. I am a yoga instructor and need to be able to move my arms!!!
I have some appointments in the future with some recommended health care folks and will post again if I get some helpful ideas/meds etc. I have some additional issues that may make taking hormones an issue, so I am hoping for some ideas related to diet, supplements and herbal remedies that might help me out.
I had surgery in June for labrum tear and bicep then 2 weeks out of surgery got the worst froZen shoulder I am 47 and do feel hormonal things going on! I just had my physical I am interested to see if my estrogen is low! I'm actually going to be p*ssed if that is the reason I have been suffering for 4 months and now am headed back to surgery for mua and capsule release to find out it could have been prevented with a blood test and some estrogen control! Why can't they figure this out! Thanks for the info ! Is your shoulder really frozen I have hardly any rom and have already endured 31/2 months of physical theropy with zero improvement!
Xiaflex is a protien that eliminates the extra collagen build up the system makes in the facia tissue in the shoulder capsule. The injection was given then two days later the dr manipulates the shoulder . After therapy and 8 months later I Have full ROM and no pain after years of disfunction and pain.
Frozen shoulder (adhesive capsulitis) is an inflammation and thickening of the shoulder capsule causing a loss of range of motion in the shoulder. It is known to be caused by trauma but there are other unknown causes. I had many traumas to my shoulder. It worked for me .
For more info see online.
Hi
i live in the uk and never heard of this treatment. We are offered steroid injections which in my experience definitely don't work. Im finding out tomorrow what my options are
See if you can do mua. That will help get some range of motion back you will have less pain. Then you will need to do pt to get the rest of your Rom back. It is 4 months since I did it and I am mostly pain free and have almost full range of motion back.
Thanks Jull
Seeing surgeon tomorrow but I know it's going to be luck of the computer with trial but I'm going to ask for operation or manipulation as I struggle already with an arthritic spine
I was told by my Orthosurgeons assistant, FS is seen alot in women that are at the onset or the end of menopause, and it was hormonal.
I think the medical community needs to educate women to this as she starts entering the menopausal stage. I too had FS for 3 months before my diagnosis- and during that time I seen 2 md's and 2 physical therapists.
It was when I went to the Orthopedic I was diagnosed.
I do take turmeric w/ black pepper for mild arthritis and my FS, as well as a few medicines to manage my pain (for sleep, relief and therapy). If you are interested in knowing more- post and I will let you know
Patience is part of the FS experience per my PT.
Sue
I have read that tumeric can be helpful as it has anti-inflammatory properties. Others in this thread mention MUA...I don't know what that is? Surgery? From the little I have read, it seems that Estrogen is the oil that keeps everything supple, and I definitely feel like the tin man! In addition to FShoulder, I have had back pain and now knee and hip pain....all after NEVER having any of these issues until this year. I have had no injury and it simply seems that there is something else "systemic' going on. I have an appointment tomorrow with a holistic MD and I am hoping that she can provide me with ideas to address my concerns. I don't have other issues like hot flashes and sleep disruption (I have taught myself to sleep almost entirely on my back, so I sleep soundly until I move!) so the Drs seem to be confused about what to do for me. Seems bizarre when so many seem to have had similar issues.
I saw a book title yesterday that had menopausal arthritis in the title....anyone have info about that? Is it related to frozen shoulder in any way?
I am in the US and have had 2 steriod injections...the second one was ultrasound guided. No benefit to either shot that I have noticed. I wish now that I had asked the Dr how many patients actually report relief. The pain and limited mobility have made me pretty willing to try anything! They were not cheap and a waste of time for me.
mua is manipulation under anesthesia. they put you under for about 10 minutes inject pain meds and a steroid and manipulate the arm to break everything up that is freezing your shoulder. after you do pt everyday to get back your rom. for me it really helped. almost immediatley less pain and more rom. still in pt three months later to get 100% back
i did two shots which also did nothing for me and i think the second actially made things worse.
Good to know. I hope I don't get to that point. I am trying to be patient with the process, but this does impact my ability to do my part-time job as a yoga teacher. I work on my own, so I cannot simply have other people teach my classes. It breaks my heart to be unable to bend and move freely like I used to. Because I started out pretty bendy, I think I probably have more rom than some others with Frozen shoulder, but I have lost an amazing amount of movement for me. I tell my yoga students to modify poses all the time, so I guess I am providing them with a good role model for this right now!
I'm trying to educate myself and learn as much about this and the various potential treatments so that I can advocate for myself the best I can.
karen, I experienced FS at menopause as well. Was highly suspicious & asked my GP if there was any connection. (It seemed my body was doing peculair things in general.) He said there wasn't, but I saw a 2nd orthopedist who was in sports medicine (the 1st orthopedist immediately suggested surgery) and he gave me an article from a medical journal (I nearly kissed him!) which stated that FS was experienced more frequently by menopausal women. (I made a copy and left it with my GP).
I had had blood tests around the same time to check hormone levels because of vaginal issues and my levels were fine. So in my case estrogen didn't appear to be the problem. Prior to the onset of the FS I had been doing a tremendous amount of physical work ( just bought an old house). Lots of snow shoveling on top of that (I'm single).The FS, however, was immediately precipitated by my elevating my body on one elbow to straighten robe while in bed when I felt in incredible stabbing pain in the shoulder. From that point on the shoulder was too sore to move. When I told the doctors this all dismissed it as the possible cause, which I couldn't understand. Didn't fit into the rule book, I guess.
The medical journal article explained the 3 stages including thawing, ultimately saying there was no apparent advantage to having any invasive procedures. In my case it took 3 extremely uncomfortable years. I was not offered steroid injections; the doctor felt I was too young and they can actually cause problems. Tried PT but could not tolerate the pain.
When I finally thawed I had residual neck, shoulder and back problems for many years till having acupuncture. The result was nothing short of miraculous. I am now totally pain free and have full ROM. Cannot recommend it highly enough. Some of it was very painful, but I didn't care because I felt it was getting at the root of the problem..which it DID.
I had a slight FS start on the other side, but acupuncture seemed to nip it in the bud. As a yoga person I assume you will be open to the acupuncture idea and perhaps you can even barter with a practitioner.
Re taking hormones, I'm sure you know there are problems associated with that as well, but I don't know if there are if your levels are low. I avoided them as I had a sister with estrogen receptive breast cancer.
Be grateful that there are forums such as these. There weren't any when it happened to me and I was all but asking strangers in the street! I just knew answers and info were out there, but there was no access. Now there is! Best of luck to finding your way through the FS quagmire!
Thank you so much for your response!! I have had some recent testing that indicates low estrogen, but also have some other issues that HRT may aggravate. Your thoughts on Acupunture are so helpful. I have always been open to holistic ideas, but have had few health issues, so have always been going the traditional medicine route. I have an appt tomorrow with a holistic practitioner who is also an MD and hope to speak with her about a range of options that could include acupuncture. As you said, given the pain of frozen shoulder, who cares if there is some discomfort with a procedure that can help?!!
I will let everyone know if I stumble upon something that proves helpful!
It's not only women who suffer this pretty bloody awful condition. I've had it twice. Different things for different people but I had surgery. Not the mua but arthroscopic capsular release. Blooming brilliant. If you are going under the knife then consider it. The gut wrenching pain when you knock your arm went immediately. A couple of months of physio and I was back to normal. In fact I had surgery on the Friday and was back at work driving lorries on the following Monday. Maybe I pushed a bit hard but I had to work. The operation left no visible scars. As I said different things for different people but it's worth a thought. Good luck and welcome to the club.
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Thanks for your reply! I do know that men also suffer from frozen shoulder. I think that is partly why the potential for hormones to be the culprit (in some cases) gets dismissed. Did you have an injury or surgery that brought yours on? A couple of the men I have talked to have all had some other shoulder injury first and then developed frozen shoulder afterward. Obviously a couple of people doesn't prove a thing! I hope to avoid surgery, but I will not rule it out. Because I am having some other orthopedic aches and pains along with frozen shoulder, I am looking more broadly at what is at the root of all of this. Thanks again for your response.
I have had shoulder pain that has gotten worse (and my range of motion decreasing) since April...so a good 5 months. I have a horrible feeling that I am still in the "freezing" stage as PT has done nothing so far (and my PT has recommended backing off from most of the initial exercises as he feels it is aggravating and adding to inflammation at this point). I am a yoga teacher, so I probably started with more rom than most. Again, my PT states he has seen people much more locked up than I am, but it still hurts, as you are well aware!! My biggest pet peeve of the moment is the question "What did you do to your shoulder?" Answer: NOTHING!!! I have had some recent testing and estrogen is indeed low...so now I need to hear from my medical folks about what they can do to address this. This is no coincidence as far as I am concerned. Good luck with your recovery. I'm so bummed that this is so prevalent with very little that seems to be effective to address it.