Hi l take warfrin and Hydroxy, and from time to time have awful pain in my body. Over the past couple of months the pain in top of my left shoulder makes it difficult to sleep as my tendency is to sleep on this side. All of my joints hurt so much and my lower back and knees 😩 make moving around torture. It was suggested a steroid injection could help my lower back and groin pain and would give a good indication of what might be happening in that area. lm still waiting for a referral appointment for my shoulder (some kind of mix up). I would appreciate feedback from others experience and in particular possible side effects with warfrin which l take for life due to thrombosis complications.
I really sympathsize with you as I have similar issues as you. Back in the day, December 2018 I had XRays confirming two problems - 1) with the Cervical spine (C1- C7) and 2) with my right shoulder. With the former it showed spondalytic changes and the latter degenerative bone change ( basically normal aging and onset of OA).
Over the last 10 months the right shoulder issues have emerged in the left shoulder and like you, this is my predominant sleeping side. Also like you I am on Warfarin for life, ( but for AF) and I have no intention of changing to these NOAC’s. At the moment I control the neck issues by visiting a Chiropractor every 3 weeks for manipulation of the neck, and I can live with this. The right shoulder is also controlled now but flares up when there is a weather change. apart from that it is not at all troublesome.
The Left shoulder pain is so bad its best described as personality changing - it never, never, ever damn well lets up be it in bed asleep or during the day time, again worse when there is a weather change. Once barometric pressure drops to 990 Mb or lower and humidity increases to 95% or higher the pain intensifies.
Mercifully I have no lower back issues and I have had a knee replacement so have no problems on these scores. I have recently had a consultation with a Consultant Physiotherapist and he is not prepared to go down the cortisone injection route with the left shoulder as the cortisone has in it properties that he claims destabilises the auto immune system and in this CoVid environment he won’t do it. Instead he is proposing further physio but with totally different exercises which he referred to as more advanced than I am presently doing. Still waiting for the follow up to that. Be a damn long wait I fear ..................... !! This Consultant Physio seems to be heading down the track that the damaged shoulder joint is inflaming/destabilising the shoulder ligaments and this is generating the intense pain ............ who knows - possibly more guess work. And yes, I know all about ...”some kind of mix up” too, had plenty of them during my present experiences.
My pain relief now is CoCodomol 30/500 and if that doesn’t work or if I come close to reaching my maximum daily dose then I just grit my teeth and live with the pain.
So, do be very careful about injections, make sure you ask the questions of your medical team. As a matter of interest I have twice come off warfarin for short periods to enable other medical procedures to take place. No problems. But then I don’t/didn’t have thrombosis complications. So if you decide to play around with warfarin make sure you do it under medical advice as I did.
Have you not had Xrays ?
Good luck,
John
Hi Adiewon2,First I have to mention that I'm on apixaban, not warfarin, and that I'm only qualified to give you a guess, being only a very out of date registered nurse, but then must mention that widespread pain as a side-effect of warfarin would be really uncommon, and I wonder if anyone medically qualified has actually suggested that it's caused by the warfarin?
On the face of it, and just guessing from a distance, it sounds much more reminiscent of something like polymyalgia, or possibly arthritis, and the shoulder pain could easily be from yet another cause.
For instance I've been having treatment for a frozen shoulder for months and, during that time, started taking an anticoagulant for the first time, so often, particularly as we age, we have co-morbidities (several diseases) at once. So diagnosis and treatment become more complicated.
If it proves to be the warfarin causing your pain, there might be the opportunity to switch to one of the newer anti-coagulants (NOAC's), which tend to have less side effects and need far less monitoring, but in any event, this is definitely a case for medical professionals to sort out for you.
I hope you'll be in less pain soon.
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Hello thanks for your reply it was most helpful,being on warfrin has changed my life and l do have a tendency to see it as the cause of all my health problems,. I talked with my GP about a shoulder xray and that's in the pipeline now. Have you tried Tens Patches lm thinking about investing in a machine, also anti inflammation foods and minerals. Yes l think your right the weather is a factor thinking about it,its mizzling where we are great after the burning sun but defo a problem. You sound as if you have been through the ringer a number of times with joint pain,let's hope things improve (longer periods of no pain). Take care a giant thank you Adiewon
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Hi Adiewon2, glad to have been of a little help.
I haven't tried anything to do with TENS because I had a machine for another pain some years ago and it wasn't all that effective. Things have moved on though and maybe I should revisit that as an option.
My most successful thing (after a hydrocortisone injection) was turmeric but that's now a complete no-no because of the apixaban and would be for you too, on warfarin, it being a natural anti-inflammatory. I did check with a medical professional to ask if it might be possible to continue but he advised not, so I am booked in for another steroid injection next week.
I think the trouble is that most joint issues are a matter of wear and tear as we get older and what can't be helped by surgery often can't be helped much at all. I try to get by with a lot of 'grin and bear it', but I don't know about you, I find restricted shoulder movement difficult to cope with as it's so limiting in day to day activities.
Very best wishes for finding a way forward yourself. Hopefully there is help out there for you. It just seems to take a long time coming, sometimes! Take care!
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Gosh turmeric was my go to for years and only just discovered not useful with warfrin. Yes a steroid injection probably next trick, lm also exploring Tens again,also increasing my natural ginger my Caribbean aunty swears by it. Must say l have been rather stoical in the past but realising that my stoicism is taken as passivity,so lm becoming more proactive and have to say getting better results.
Big thank you again and take care. Adiewon
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I use ginger a lot too Adiewon2, having once lived in the Caribbean for a number of years. Our medics often don’t acknowledge how useful natural things can be. I also had access there to old remedies that have fallen into disuse here but that are still really effective. I do agree that too much stoicism is actually counter-productive! Best wishes.
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Hi yes l agree organic ginger is really affective anti inflam. What other natural remedies do you find helpful lm off to my local Carribean store today 🙏 l will be cooking some Italian food this weekend 😋 yummy. Take care Callendergal.Adiewon
Hi again Adiewon2, one of my favourites is arnica. I tend to stick to the cream these days as, although there's no known interaction between it and most anti-coagulants, I'm always erring on the side of caution just in case.
I remember one time a few years ago when I twisted my ankle badly on a meditation retreat and the pain and bruising were awful, but I was determined to work through it. The staff gave me arnica tablets and cream and I couldn't believe how effective it was in reducing the pain and swelling.
And of course, meditation itself is a very useful and healing tool too. I've been practising for a number of years now.
Enjoy your Italian food over the weekend. I'm sure it'll be delicious. Ciao and buon appetito! 👍😊🇮🇹
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