Shoulder

[TedBruno17]

I have had GCA and still got Polymyalgia. 10mg Prednisolone. I feel fine but the really depressing thing is loss of movement in my arms. Pain in right shoulder never stops and lack of movement is very depressing. Can anyone offer hope or solutions??

[DorsetLady PMRGCAuk volunteer]

Have you had it checked out for other things- like osteoarthritis or a rotator cuff issue. Not everything is PMR and/or GCA.. especially if one side is worse than the other. Plus is could be a combination of more than one thing.

You don’t have a lot in your bio to state how long you’ve had PMR/GCA - at what dose this issue started - could be you are too low on Pred, so bit more info might give us a better idea.

[PMRpro Ambassador]

If you have ongoing shoulder pain it is very likely to be something other than "just" PMR. You need to have it examined and referred for treatment - possibly physio but also possibly an orthopaedic expert. It isn't always PMR - doesn't excuse us from other problems even if it would be nice to only have GCA/PMR to deal with, they are enough on their own!

[TedBruno17 in reply to PMRpro]

You are correct. Has been diagnosed as Rotator cuff tendon “packing up”. I was living in hope that as (if`) PMR improves so might my shoulder. Probably pie in the sky thinking Just hard to imagine I can’t use my arm for the rest of my days.

[DorsetLady PMRGCAuk volunteer in reply to TedBruno17]

I had a couple of stitches inserted in my rotator cuff when my shoulder was replaced in 2020. It’s a bit painful in a couple of positions [Pilates exercises] but most of the time it’s fine, and isn’t a problem with day to day activities.

Have you been given any advice on how to manage it - and maybe improve it a little? But you do need to know what the exact issue is - different exercises for different issues - and some may make it worse. Have you been referred to physio?

[TedBruno17 in reply to DorsetLady]

Shoulder surgeon at Nuffield said he wouldn’t do shoulder replacement. I am 82. I don’t think I would have gone ahead with it anyway, Sounds horrendous, Saw physio several times but didn’t help. Still do exercises but they aren’t helping either.

[DorsetLady PMRGCAuk volunteer in reply to TedBruno17]

I wasn’t suggesting you have a replacement - and my RC wasn’t the issue initially, but surgeon decided to take the ‘a stitch in time savers nine’ approachable whilst he was there! .. and told me afterwards.. 😊

[Pris80]

It could be a frozen shoulder specially if it is only on one side. I had that in my right shoulder and it can sort itself out in time. It's hard to differentiate between all the different hurts when there can be so many all at the same time.