Yesterday I visited my surgeries physio as have had a very painful left arm for a few months, following a pneumonia jab. It turns out the jab has caused me to have a frozen shoulder & I’m now on a long waiting list for physio. I also have to speak with the pharmacist to get some painkillers so I can do some gentle exercises whilst I wait.
I wouldn’t mind but I worked really hard after my stroke to get my arm working & now I’ve lost a lot of the movement again. Only this time it’s accompanied by plenty of pain oh & just to cheer me up she said it could take 2 - 3 years to get the range of movement back.
Onwards & upwards we go - i’ve done it once I can do it again. It guess it could be worse
If you can remember the exercises from before, that is a good place to start. I will look for mine and can send to you if you like. I think I kept everything in a binder to revisit as needed. It has been awhile so now I just naturally do them. Hopefully they are giving you a worst case scenario timeline. I know it took a good six months for me to get my shoulder and arm to work right after a fall. It might have taken less if I had not been so busy with other important exercises for cognitive functions, walking, stamina, strength and eyesight, Now my own exercises at the moment are focused more on the visual habituation and staying on task.
So frustrating to have this setback after all your recovery work. if this is a known possibility they should have used a different place to administer the jab. Best wishes for continued recovery
Hi, so sorry you have suffered a setback and have been in pain. Hopefully you will find a suitable pain relief soon and don’t have to wait to long for some physio.
You have a great positive attitude and I’m sure you will soon be back on track. Keep up the good work.
Hi @Mrs5K
Ann this might be something my experience bears on directly. I know that terms are used sometime to cover a variety of conditions but I had a “frozen shoulder”
I can still remember the excruciating pain when trying to do things like turnover in bed, getting into the car as a passenger because it was my right arm that was affected, dressing and lots more .
There was a physiotherapist in my local health authority Who was known as “the shoulder man”. He has since retired which actually isn’t relevant to this
I had two visits from him and he fixed it.
He laid me on a bed put one hand on my shoulder and the other on the elbow then he gently - still painfully - moved the head of whichever bone is - not the ulnar or radius but the next one up to - to trace a circle motion . His visits were 10 days or 2 weeks apart. My physio had heard of him and was the pathfinder. You might try networking to find out who the shoulder expert is in your neck of the woods.
For pain relief I used topical diclofenac ammonium gel that was prescription and above retail voltoril. With daily application by my wife it took the edge off and I could use cocodamol when it was particularly sore and when I wanted a night’s sleep
I hope my experience might give you an avenue to explore
Thank you @DeAnn i have hunted out my exercises & will give them a try. They gave me some others to try too once I get my pain killers next week.
@Bobbi thank you for your good wishes. Greatly appreciated. I’ll get my arm moving again in time I’m sure.
@Strings apparently there have been an increase in this problem since covid as they rolled out the vaccination programme in a rush & a few injections went in the wrong place. For it happen after a pneumonia jab is rare as staff are generally a lot more experienced. Guess I was unlucky.
Thank you @Susan_Jane. I was told it’ll be a few months till I get physio appointment but I will try some gentle exercises whilst I wait. Within my pain tolerance. I don’t want to make it worse
@SimonInEdinburgh i shall do some research for a shoulder man. I hope i can get mine sorted in 2 visits - that’d be perfect. Hopefully they’ll prescribe me some of the topical diclofenic too - i’d prefer to stay away from cocodamol as they cause me other problems. I’m sure there will be an alternative.
I thought I was a bit wimpy when I complained about the pain levels so it was quite a relief when she told me that a frozen shoulder really is that painful.
Thanks for your good wishes everyone. It means a lot.
So glad you found them. I know mine are in a red folder, so I was sort of organized, but those OCD executive functions of my prior self went straight out the window with the strokes. Working on getting them back but it may have taken me a month to actually remember to look and find them! Best wishes as always. I know you can do this!
@Mrs5K Hi Ann, really sorry to hear about your shoulder, I know that can be very painful as Mum has a torn rotator cuff in the shoulder of her ‘good’ non stroke arm. A few months for physio is disgusting - would going private be an option for you ? I think just keeping it moving gently as much as you can will help until you can see someone.
@Craftchick Hi Karen, thank you i am considering the private option but it will depend on how much & for how long I need it. No harm in exploring it though i guess. I am gently exercising it in the meantime & hopefully that will start to ease it.
Have you considered maybe going to a sports physio or osteopath to get it sorted? A sports physio can cost in the region of £45 for a half hour session but it’ll probably only take a couple of sessions.
I’ve finally had a couple of physio sessions for my frozen shoulder & have been busy exercising in between & am pleased to say progress is being made. The pain has reduced - hurrah & I have a little more movement too.
I’m off to have a steroid injection in it on Tuesday & hopefully that will give me less pain so I can push the exercises past the current level.
oh & just to cheer me up she said it could take 2 - 3 years to get the range of movement back.
