OA of shoulders

Shaz

Hi all im new to all this but im hoping to get any ingo i can just recently diagnosed with OA of both shoulders really still in shock been told i have to look at having total dhoulder replacements has anyone had this how are things any info much appreciated

[Deleted User]

Hi shaz
Welcome to the forum, I too have OA but not in the shoulders as yet, I have had two knee replacements left and right and have just had a hip replacement all doing well and free of pain in those areas, also have it in the hands and spine,so I can sympathize with you.
We are a friendly forum Chit chat and LWA being the mot popular so just choose and chat away you will be met with empathy and advice
All the best Christine

Shaz

Thankyou so much for your reply you must be in a lot of pain i feel for you as just having this inshoulders at minis very painful started on injections with a few side effects but have found sum improvement but dont no how long they will continue with them before i have to decide on surgery

stickywicket

I'm sorry to hear you have arthritis in your shoulders. I think shoulders are a difficult place to have it as it's so hard to rest them in positions that don't hurt.

I'm glad the injections help but don't rely on them too much as we can only have a limited number partly because they tend to be less effective the more we have but mainly because the steroids themselves would do damage if too many were taken.

Have you been given any exercises / seen a physio? That's a very useful way of keep up strength and range of movement. If you've only just been diagnosed I'd be surprised if replacements were offered quickly. Try the self-management route first

Shaz

Hi thanks for info to be honest for past few year about 7 to 10yrs i have slways had truoble with my shoulders gone to docs several times and everytime they diagnosed me with frozen shoulder? With no xrays done and just this last year they said lets get xrays!done and it gone from there all that time its not been Frozen shoulder its been OA been told its been hoin on for years? I struggle with antiflamortorys an co codamol an tramadol makes me violantly sick i have had couple sessions of physio but to much pain when they do it so this is were i am at the minute yep im really confused but it is gud at the min just to get a gud nights sleep

stickywicket

There are many of us on here who, for various reasons, are unable to take anti-inflammatories. There are quite a lot of other pain relief options besides co-codamol and tramadol. I get sick on trammies but I'm fine with cocos though I always take meds with food as that helps the stomach to tolerate them.

Physio can be painful but it's one of the few good weapons we have so it's usually worth persevering. Do you swim? Have you tried hydrotherapy?

Shaz

Hi im just smiling because i have had pysio along with excersise i do on a regular basis i also have a small hydro spa pool in my summerhouse in garden which my hubby bought me for some relief and yes all helps but when u are awake night after night due to pain and trying to work with it can be quite hard to cope our doctors are not keen on continuing physio when not much improvement they said i have no cartlidge left at all and i have never had the opportunity to go to any hydro thats why hubby bought me my own the only thing that gas took the pain away is the injections you must have really good doctors if you have access to all these different treatments but think ours have budgets and decide from that

Shaz

Pps i also have diverticular disease so thats why cant tolerate to many tablets and cocodamol makes me drowsy so cant drive to get to work so pain on driving pain at work vicious circle

Shaz

Also just to answer regards swimming i did swim even when they told me i had frozen shoulder? Me an my daughter swam 3 times aweek and we were very competitive we swam 50 to 60 lengths 3 times a week maybe this had contributed to my shoulders i dont no but i would be very interested to no what other pain relief you no about

stickywicket

I have indeed been very lucky with docs. I think expensive treatments have to be rationed but I've had hydro 2-3 times for either shoulders or knees. This is in over 50 years of arthritis though starting with RA and then OA joining in later.

I don't take much pain relief - only low dose cocos though I've had to take tramadol or codeine when in hospital. I know quite a few on here have pain patches or take oramorph or gabapentin or amitriptylene. If you put a thread up on Living With Arthritis asking what pain relief people take I'm sure you'll get some replies.

frogmorton

Shaz my daughter had a shoulder replaced in January at age 19 unfortunately hers had collapsed completely and nothing else could be done too late for injections.

However in your case 'they' might be able to do an arthroscopy - a friend had one where they sanded off osteophytes on her shoulder to make it smoother and less painful? Of course yours might have gone too far for this too.

My daughter has recovered so so well though. She was only able to move her arm from her side about 10-20 degrees and now she can lift it right up above her head

I hope that helped to make you feel a bit better.

love

Toni xxx