Physical Therapy is working- Shoulder is "thawing out"

Well, with the help of physical therapy three times a week and stretching on my own in between appointments, I am slowly getting range of motion back to my right arm. I am sure the orthopedic doctor who gave me the shot of cortisone will be disappointed at that- assuming I do go back to see him.  What I have found is that the muscles of my shoulder had allowed it to get into a position that stopped it from moving to normal range of motion.  With concentrated effort to move my shoulder prior to stretching, I was able to get it past the previously frozen limits to some extent.  And my Physical Therapist has been getting it to go even further in the manual stretching portion of the treatments.   It is slow progress, but it is working out of it.

Now a frozen shoulder and cortisone inspired hiccups

Towards the end of last summer, I had written about a possible flare. This caused enough shoulder pain that I tended to avoid use of the arm for a while.  I did not really think it had been long enough to cause any problems, but as the first pain subsided a bit, I realized I had lost some range of motion.  I tried to stretch, but by this time it was too late. Now the right shoulder was a bit frozen.

Here are a few things to avoid in the case of future flare-ups. I have to try to remember them myself.

If the pain from a flare is intense enough to cause reduced use, you have to do passive range of motion exercises to keep the shoulder limber from the start.  I am not sure why I forgot about this. It is how I had treated my fingers long ago.

As soon as possible, and as soon as you can stand it, try to do active range of motion exercises.  It may hurt to do so, but it hurts more if you let the shoulder freeze on you like I did.  Now, you may not have the same issues I do. From both MRI's I have had over the years, it has been mentioned that I have a downward sloping Acromial space. This means for me, that the space between the end of the collar bone and scapula is smaller than the norm. This makes me susceptible to impingement disorders. And that may be what I have been dealing with for the last few months.  And, I could have made things better if only I had kept moving.  

Speaking of moving, I have been to a physical therapist recently who actually has treated patients having PTS/NA in the past. I think he really gets it, and I am happy to have been directed to him.

Also, I have been given a shot of cortisone by an orthopedic doctor who really did not get it at all.  I had filled all sort of paper work out explain about my history with PTS/NA.  His first words were, “Well, how did this happen? Were you doing some painting or tree removal?”  Me- No, I really have not been able to do stuff like that. I have Neuralgic Amyotrophy.   Him- “What is that?“    Me- You may know it by its other name, Parsonage Turner Syndrome.   Him-  “Well, that is self limiting and people get better and get immunity to further attacks.”  At this point, I should have run away very fast. Immunity from PTS is nothing I have ever heard of.  I told him of my first two documented cases, and that I know that what started this most recent attack was the same pain in the same part of my shoulder that it has happened the first two times.  The weird thing too is that he is in the same medical group of my original hand doctor who told me I would never recover hand function without surgery.  I told this doctor about that and showed him that my hand was in fact better without surgery.  He then did a short exam and about pulled my arm out of the socket trying to see if I was faking how locked up it was.  Or maybe he thought he could do a quick snap move like a regular chiropractor may have tried.  He also was quick to mention that if I could not get it to free up, that surgery would be needed to fix it.

Surgery.  Hmm. I have not heard much good coming from shoulder surgery.  I am not sure how it would be for me anyway since I am prone to entrapment issues.  Fix it this time, and next time it is going to be worse no doubt.  So, on to the shot.

The shot itself was no big deal.  And it feels like it may be helping me to regain some movement.  I wonder about side effects of cortisone that are not mentioned in the main websites- at least not that I can find.  They mention that it can send your blood sugars through the roof so be sure to tell your doctors that you are diabetic if you are.  It can also make you jittery, as they mentioned at my appointment.  What no one talks about is a possibility that the shot can give you hiccups that can last a couple of days.  For me, I woke up the morning after the shot hicccupping, and it kept up most of the day except for just a few brief breaks.  It seemed totally out of the blue.  A friend asked me if they could be a side effect of the cortisone.  I said, not that I knew about.  But Googling “hiccups after cortisone shots” verified that it happens to many people. And to some who have to take the shot long term, it happens every time they take the shot.  I have no idea why, but I will ask.  Very odd.  I was lucky my own case only lasted the one day.  It was about driving me crazy after a full day of it.

Update: I see on Web-MD that Oral Cortisone is listed with hiccups as a possible side effect.  Not that I had the cortisone orally. . .