Advice please

[daisylazy]

I posted lately of shoulder pain but the pain seems to be in upper arms more than joints.Lowerback sore, across shoulders thumbs and wrists Had upped pred to 15mg from 5mg to see if anything made any difference. Anyway to make a long story shorter I had a scheduled app with endo re adrenals and she done a shoulder X Ray which showed very little cartilage or whatever between bones. Still on 15mg but not same relief as at the start of the journey. My Question is does anyone on this wonderful forum have shoulders like this. Is the pain from the shoulders? or would increasing to 20 when I am nearly there prove anything or what else could i do. Waiting on Rheumy app but feel I would get better info here. Thanks in advance for some wisdom.

[piglette]

You could always take pain killers and see if they help, if not increase you current dose say by 5mg and see if that helps.

[daisylazy in reply to piglette]

Thanks Piglet some relief from painkillers but not great.

[Bcol in reply to daisylazy]

Which pain relief do you use. I use Co-Codamol 30/500 for my OA, Naproxen always worked as well, but is off the menu because of the Pred. If you are down to bone on bone then as DL says you need to see the Orthopaedic team.

[daisylazy in reply to Bcol]

Thanks Bcol Solpadeine mostly but will have to try something else.

[piglette in reply to daisylazy]

The thing is I was trying to diagnose in rather a crude way whether it was the PMR or something else causing the pains, or both even!

[PMRpro Ambassador]

If the shoulder is showing signs of osteoarthritis - there is likely to be some in other places. And the dodgy shoulder is probably putting some strain on your back muscles and throwing them out of kilter.

[daisylazy in reply to PMRpro]

Thanks Pro. Unfortunately yes hips and knees showing signs of Osteoarthritis. Not surprising as I drag my brother around on a hoist and have been lifting him for years but then you all know the strain of caring.

[PMRpro Ambassador in reply to daisylazy]

Mercifully I didn't have that problem - and it will all impinge on your lower back, especially if you are trying to "save" the shoulder.

[DorsetLady PMRGCAuk volunteer]

I have -but I know that’s osteoarthritis in one, and other one already replaced but have issue with rotator cuff (but that’s going off the subject -sorry)

Thumbs and wrists could be PMR but would have thought 15mg would have sorted that..

If your shoulder is that bad then you need to be referred to orthopaedic team…

.. and to be honest , you may have a number of things causing pain. As the Pred doesn’t seem to have helped much, then think you must assume it’s partially if not totally down to muscular skeletal issues rather than PMR.. so try ordinary painkillers -and see if they help.

[daisylazy in reply to DorsetLady]

Thanks DorsetLady. How long did recovery take after replacement. It's a big undertaking at almost 80 yrs but sure we will have to see.

[DorsetLady PMRGCAuk volunteer in reply to daisylazy]

The shoulder replacement itself is fine.. but as I said, a minor issue with rotator cuff.. surgeon had to ‘tweak it’ - his words - so the muscles leading down from it on front of upper arm complain a bit sometimes… but usually only when I’m doing certain exercises in Pilates.

I recovered quite quickly, but as it was done in February 2020 just before initial covid lockdown I never got ‘official’ physio nor did I see surgeon at 6 week mark. But having had knee and hip replaced previously I had a good idea of what I should be doing, so just followed online rehab exercises.

I did actually get to see surgeon about a year later to discuss RC - but as we were both happy with shoulder itself- good movement and strength - and there is not to be done apart from another invasive procedure we decided to go with what I’ve got. He did mention a reverse surgery but that would mean less movement - so we decided that would be pointless.

Hope you don’t need surgery - but it depends on the pain you’re in now really, doesn’t it?

[daisylazy in reply to DorsetLady]

Thanks Dorcet Lady again for that reassurance but hopefully I will be able to avoid surgery.

[nuigini]

I have mild arthritis in both shoulders, thumbs, knees, feet, and back. Taking slow release Tylenol on a daily basis controls the pain pretty effectively.