My right shoulder has been hurting for about two years. At first it was just occasionally.
I used to knit all of the time. It was my favorite thing to do while just sitting around. I thought that I must have been holding my shoulder a certain way while knitting and causing this pain.
I stopped knitting, but the pain kept on. That obviously wasn’t it. But I had no clue what it was.
I went to the doctor for this problem several times. Every time I would go, they couldn’t find anything wrong. Finally my PCP told me that he thought it was bursitis, and to try taking IB Profin three times a day.
That did nothing for the pain, not even a little. I went back to my PCP and told him that it was still hurting. He then had me get a shot in the shoulder. I think the shot was cortisone and went into the shoulder muscle.
Still, it did no help. After a couple of weeks of waiting for the IB profin combined with the shot I received, I was still in agony. I had my husband call my doctor’s office and have them send me to a specialist to find the problem.
The appointment was scheduled for 3 weeks later, and the pain was off and on. But when it hurt, it was severe. I was hoping that the day I went to the specialist wouldn’t be one of the “no pain days”. I wanted them to find out what the problem was.
I finally went to see the specialist yesterday, and after looking at me and taking x-rays, he said it seemed to him to be tendonitis. I asked what could be done about it.
He said I had two options. He could give me a shot directly into the tendon, or I could try physical therapy. Maybe since my case is so severe, I would need to do both.
The shot, wasn’t pleasant, but I’ve had worse. There was actually one point when my husband said jokingly, “are you scared?” I said, “what? Of a needle?”
The doctor felt around on my shoulder and the muscles around it until he touched the sore spot. Then he injected something into that tendon. I don’t know what the shot was, I didn’t ask. Fingerspelling takes a long time and I know that doctors are very busy.
For now, the shoulder is not hurting. Since I haven’t really used it as much for a couple of years, it has gotten weaker. I need to strengthen my shoulder muscles again on that side.
I don’t know if it is just a “no pain time” or if that shot really did something. I go back to see him in a few weeks, and then we will see if I need therapy for the shoulder as well, or if I am doing ok. Hopefully this will do the trick and I can have my right arm back when doing things and not just half way. If this works, I will probably have to have a shot every so often, but that’s no big deal. If it gets rid of the pain it will all be worth it.
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