Frozen Shoulder surgery in UK

[ljmc]

Hello Fellow Diabetics

I have been living with a frozen shoulder for over a year. Did physio and an injection into my shoulder which was no help. So now the only option given was surgery or leave it a few months/years. Got told (numerous times in one conversation) it was due to my diabetes (and numerous time again by the same doctor i was an insulin dependant diabetic as if i hadn't noticed this for the last +20 odd years) Been put on a waiting list for surgery. Wondering if there is anyone here who has had the surgery and how they were afterwards? And if 2 weeks is roughly the right amount of time for recovery. I work in a warehouse and some times I need to carry stock that is slightly heavy so would like an idea of what to be prepared for. Doctors are good but they are no the ones dealing with the aftereffects of surgery.

Thank you for any advice available

 

[Renukapur]

very odd you should mention frozen shoulder as I have being having the same for a few months now, I have been diagnosed as type 2 but my GP did the antibody test (August 2022) and that came out really high but there seems to be no concern at all, been referred to the diabetic clinic again no urgency as appointment if 15 March. I now wonder if my frozen shoulder is related to my diabetes? Getting a GP appointment is hard so not sure what else I can do?

 

[HSSS]

Hello Fellow Diabetics

I have been living with a frozen shoulder for over a year. Did physio and an injection into my shoulder which was no help. So now the only option given was surgery or leave it a few months/years. Got told (numerous times in one conversation) it was due to my diabetes (and numerous time again by the same doctor i was an insulin dependant diabetic as if i hadn't noticed this for the last +20 odd years) Been put on a waiting list for surgery. Wondering if there is anyone here who has had the surgery and how they were afterwards? And if 2 weeks is roughly the right amount of time for recovery. I work in a warehouse and some times I need to carry stock that is slightly heavy so would like an idea of what to be prepared for. Doctors are good but they are no the ones dealing with the aftereffects of surgery.

Thank you for any advice available

There’s more than one type of surgery. One is forcing movement by manipulation under anaesthesia (tearing the tissues that are causing the problem) the other is capsular release which cuts and cleans the joint laparoscopically. I had the latter a year into a frozen shoulder prior to t2 diagnosis (although undoubtedly it was a problem then I just didn’t know it). Prior to surgery I couldn’t lift my dominant arm more than about 15 degrees from vertically down. The pain was so bad I was zombied on tramadol. Physio and steroid injections had done nothing to help. So I did the surgery. it turned out I also need a decompression (some bone shaving) to make a bit more space.

The recovery was really rough the first week and at that point I regretted it. By the time 2 weeks had passed it was much better and I was glad I did it. I had my nhs 6 physio sessions in the following weeks and then they left me to it. Within a month I had most of the range of movement back and was mostly pain free. It continued to improve for a few months but I was left with long term weakness. A few years on and some heavy work (lifting scaffold boards) triggered a flare up of pain, pins and needles and weakness. Nothing like the frozen shoulder but still a pain literally and figuratively. Another 18months on with more physio and scans a no longer doing such a physical job and it’s ok ish again. It will never be 100%. Ultrasounds show calcification in the tendons caused by the chronic inflammation the problems have caused over the years.

Is 2 weeks recovery enough? Nowhere near if your experience is anything like mine. Yes you could be back at work reasonably pain free and doing light day to day stuff. Doing anything strenuous will take significantly longer.

Would I do it again? I’m really not sure. I couldn’t carry on the way I was - but I do wonder if the surgery meant I never fully recovered the way I might have done without it. I think I was bad enough (the surgeon was quite excited about the mess he dealt with in the joint showing me images he’d saved even) that i probably did the right thing but if I had been managing everyday life then I would have waited it out. They usually recover by the end of the second year and that second year isn’t normally as painful as the original freezing stage.

 

[Deleted member 527103]

@ljmc I am very sorry to read about your frozen shoulder.
My non-diabetic partner has been suffering with his for the last 8 months. Thankfully, it is slowly getting better but it doesn't mean he is not frustrated.
I cannot offer advice about surgery but I wanted to reassure you that there is more than one reason for frozen shoulder and, as my partner was told, sometimes we don't know what causes it. So don't let your doctor pile on the "bad diabetic guilt". It doesn't help and is not true.

 

[ljmc]

very odd you should mention frozen shoulder as I have being having the same for a few months now, I have been diagnosed as type 2 but my GP did the antibody test (August 2022) and that came out really high but there seems to be no concern at all, been referred to the diabetic clinic again no urgency as appointment if 15 March. I now wonder if my frozen shoulder is related to my diabetes? Getting a GP appointment is hard so not sure what else I can do?

Hi @Renukapur The general line the doctor gave me was he saw more diabetic patients than any other group. But that just seems like an excuse to me to have a dig at my diabetes being rubbish while I was trying to deal with pain management. They need something to blame so it's my diabetes, dyslexia or asthma. That day it was good old type 1 bashing.

 

[ljmc]

There’s more than one type of surgery. One is forcing movement by manipulation under anaesthesia (tearing the tissues that are causing the problem) the other is capsular release which cuts and cleans the joint laparoscopically. I had the latter a year into a frozen shoulder prior to t2 diagnosis (although undoubtedly it was a problem then I just didn’t know it). Prior to surgery I couldn’t lift my dominant arm more than about 15 degrees from vertically down. The pain was so bad I was zombied on tramadol. Physio and steroid injections had done nothing to help. So I did the surgery. it turned out I also need a decompression (some bone shaving) to make a bit more space.

The recovery was really rough the first week and at that point I regretted it. By the time 2 weeks had passed it was much better and I was glad I did it. I had my nhs 6 physio sessions in the following weeks and then they left me to it. Within a month I had most of the range of movement back and was mostly pain free. It continued to improve for a few months but I was left with long term weakness. A few years on and some heavy work (lifting scaffold boards) triggered a flare up of pain, pins and needles and weakness. Nothing like the frozen shoulder but still a pain literally and figuratively. Another 18months on with more physio and scans a no longer doing such a physical job and it’s ok ish again. It will never be 100%. Ultrasounds show calcification in the tendons caused by the chronic inflammation the problems have caused over the years.

Is 2 weeks recovery enough? Nowhere near if your experience is anything like mine. Yes you could be back at work reasonably pain free and doing light day to day stuff. Doing anything strenuous will take significantly longer.

Would I do it again? I’m really not sure. I couldn’t carry on the way I was - but I do wonder if the surgery meant I never fully recovered the way I might have done without it. I think I was bad enough (the surgeon was quite excited about the mess he dealt with in the joint showing me images he’d saved even) that i probably did the right thing but if I had been managing everyday life then I would have waited it out. They usually recover by the end of the second year and that second year isn’t normally as painful as the original freezing stage.

Hi @HSSS I am getting the capsular release surgery. Thank you for the heads up on recovery. Think work will just have to be extra nice to me for a couple of weeks/months and will have to get me an assistant to do my lifting (Yay my own mini me ) It sucks not being able to reach for stuff at the moment but work is almost my physio routine anyways don't want to be off for too long.

 

[EllieM]

I think there are a number of conditions that diabetes makes more likely, though plenty of non diabetics get them.

Ihave had 2 frozen shoulders (and how I hated my endocrinologist when he unsympathetically said after the first that I might get a second). The first one lasted 3 years (I waited it out) but the second was more like a year (physio helped a lot).

I was helped mentally throughout the process by the knowledge that they do eventually cure themselves.

Lots of virtual hugs.

 

[HSSS]

Hi @HSSS I am getting the capsular release surgery. Thank you for the heads up on recovery. Think work will just have to be extra nice to me for a couple of weeks/months and will have to get me an assistant to do my lifting (Yay my own mini me ) It sucks not being able to reach for stuff at the moment but work is almost my physio routine anyways don't want to be off for too long.

Yeah with hindsight some of my first week issues were me desperately trying to get off the tramadol and did it too fast after a double surgery. Good luck and just take it at your own pace. Encourage it but don’t push too hard too fast.

 

[ljmc]

Yeah with hindsight some of my first week issues were me desperately trying to get off the tramadol and did it too fast after a double surgery. Good luck and just take it at your own pace. Encourage it but don’t push too hard too fast.

I was offered tramadol but I heard enough about it to put me off. Got me on Zapain which has the lovely side effect of stopping you go to the toilet . So have to stop it to go. Rather that that tramadol. They have me visiting a pre surgery diabetes nurse at the moment to help in case they decide not to allow me surgery. They are really determined to put me through the ringer before surgery

 

[lindaburner]

I've had a frozen shoulder. I injured it climbing down a climbing frame at the park but it took about a year after that to freeze. I managed to get a steroid injection with capsule inflation under x-ray after nearly a year, which helped with the excruciating pain for a while, but the physio I got made the condition worse so I refused any more. I had to opt for surgery after about 2 years because I could barely lift the affected arm. It turned out I had torn the labrum, so I had keyhole surgery to debride it as well as manipulation under anesthetic. I've had another capsule inflation with saline since, but because of covid, I got 1 session of physio, which was simply not enough to get the range of movement back. The surgeon told me he could do nothing more, and I would just have to wait for it to fully unfreeze which could take up to 6 years! I've not been able to work since this all happened. Type 1 for almost 50 years, current HBA1C= 6.6%, but god knows what it was when I was a youngster, and I believe those early years were probably to blame because my GP rationed urine/BG testing. Using Tandem T slim X2 & Dexcom G6 now.
Surgery was agony for at least a week. Lifting would have been impossible to do for at least a month. I had to sleep in a reclining chair. I would try very hard to get a MRI scan to establish what's going on in there before proceeding to surgery.

 

[Grant_Vicat]

I was offered tramadol but I heard enough about it to put me off. Got me on Zapain which has the lovely side effect of stopping you go to the toilet . So have to stop it to go. Rather that that tramadol. They have me visiting a pre surgery diabetes nurse at the moment to help in case they decide not to allow me surgery. They are really determined to put me through the ringer before surgery

I had both my shoulders damaged on different occasions in sport. On both occasion I went to an osteopath who sorted them out to about 90% usage. I am unable to throw a ball in the exact direction required any more, but most things, including heavy lifting are ok. Just a thought?