Adhesive Capsulitis (Frozen Shoulder) and Diabetes

[KookieMunchster]

Hi sorry if this is a topic that has already been discussed. I’m a newbie both to the forum and also to a relatively recent T2D diagnosis. I have already had this problem though it was years before and back then I was never told it was linked to diabetes,( The Dr and the Physio both said they almost always see this with Diabetics mostly especially female) until now. I also recovered a lot quicker earlier but this has been months now. I’m also told it comes in cycles and I was wondering if anyone has a similar experience with this, and how many times they’ve had it. What have they done to alleviate it ? Do steroid injections work much? Does physical therapy help?

Thank you

 

[KookieMunchster]

Thank you for your kind and insightful reply I really appreciated it

 

[himtoo]

hi there @KookieMunchster
welcome to the forum.

I have had frozen should twice in my left and three times in my right shoulder over a span of 20 years , each time lasting between 12 and 24 months , always very painful and subsequently leaving me with a bit less mobility in my shoulders.

when the first one happened about 30 years ago i just assumed I had injured myself playing football ( soccer ) , but when the second one happened about 4 years later I went to the doctor and was totally blown away when he produced a leaflet from his desk specifically about Diabetes and frozen shoulder.

physio helped a little but i really just lived through them

i have not suffered one for the last 10 years........( fingers crossed )

 

[KookieMunchster]

Would you speculate that how well you are maintaining your BS has some affect on this condition? Is there a co-relation you might have observed. I totally empathise with the pain I remember the very first time it happened and it was seriously a pain like no other. It made me want to throw up! I was given naproxen for it and told to put an ice pack on it. I saw a physio privately who yanked it all sorts of ways and I’d put an ice pack on it. It resolved in about 12 weeks. I too had been under the impression I must have injured it by somehow sleeping wrong on it etc. I’ve had this bout since Dec. But it is the first time I’ve been told it is par course of my new lovely life as a diabetic. This does make me wonder if I was not already diabetic a good 10 years beforehand as I look back on it ...
I’m really glad to hear you haven’t had this problem since and may it long continue to be so!

 

[Joanie65]

Hi sorry if this is a topic that has already been discussed. I’m a newbie both to the forum and also to a relatively recent T2D diagnosis. I have already had this problem though it was years before and back then I was never told it was linked to diabetes,( The Dr and the Physio both said they almost always see this with Diabetics mostly especially female) until now. I also recovered a lot quicker earlier but this has been months now. I’m also told it comes in cycles and I was wondering if anyone has a similar experience with this, and how many times they’ve had it. What have they done to alleviate it ? Do steroid injections work much? Does physical therapy help?

Thank you

Hi, I was treat for a vey painful frozen shoulder some years ago. If you research “ saline & steroid injection” you should find someone who performs this. It free’s the shoulder up to regain full movement, after two injections.
I have never looked back.

 

[EllieM]

My first frozen shoulder (on the left) last over 2 years, but I didn't do anything for it. My endocrinologist was singularly unhelpful, just said it was common in diabetics of my age and that he'd expect the other side to freeze too. It duly did, just as I was starting to unfreeze the first one. Physio did help, but it was a long process, and I still dream of being able to reach to do a bra up at the back. Having said that, it happens to plenty of non-diabetics as well, so I don't regard it as a diabetic complication per se.
Physio definitely helped me, the second cleared up much faster.