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TipBill

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DX FIBRO
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03/2014
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I wished to GOD that I had never had the surgery on my left shoulder. The pain is 10 times worse than it was before the surgery. I take 200 MG a day of tramadol and it doesn't even begin to touch the pain. My PCP won't give me anymore than that. The last time I talked to the surgeon that did the surgery he told me that it could be a year or more before I would no longer be in pain. Had I known that up front I never would have agreed to having the surgery. I mean seriously who would knowingly sign up for a year or more of pain. My right shoulder needs to be done as well but there is no way in hell I am going through that again. It will just have to hurt. I can't find a comfortable position to sleep in because I have to wear a CPAP machine at night. I can't sleep on either of my sides because the pain is to intense and I can't sleep on my stomach because that pushes the CPAP off of my nose so the only way I can sleep is flat on my back and I am just not a back sleeper. It was so bad last night that I didn't sleep at all. I laid in bed and watched the sun come up. I finally fell asleep around 6:30 and slept for about 5 hours. I swear somedays between all the shit I am going through that I am going to go crazy. Thanks for letting me vent. Hope everyone has a great and pain free day.
 
Krista Dillon. Warm greetings and best wishes. The worst thing is to despair. Time is a precious gift no matter the circumstances, it is a precious gift from God. The pain you feel after surgery is because of central sensitization. A patient needs more and usually longer duration of pain medicine and opioids regularly administered with a PCA pump. You might longer duration of post operative convalescence including physical therapy. Soon after you heal or notice an improvement, gentle stretching or reconditioning of muscles should start soon after healing.
 
Oh no! I truly hope your pain is gone after that period of time, no one should have to go through that! I'd also feel so frustrated if after having a surgery I had to endure more pain than before. You are so brave and I truly hope the pain is gone. I know I might need a disc fusion sooner or later... but God knows I have lost my faith in doctors and surgeons.
 
Krista, I am so sorry that you are having all the pain with your shoulder. I have been there and it is definitely not good times. How long has it been since you had your surgery? I injured my shoulder and had my first surgery in April of 2010, and like you experienced terrific pain and ended up with less range of motion after the surgery. My surgeon also kept telling me that the pain could last a long time. (Fine for him to say that, he wasn't the one having the pain!) All my surgeon kept doing was to give me cortisone shot, after cortisone shot in the shoulder and tell me everything was fine. Finally I couldn't take the pain anymore and went to a different surgeon for a second opinion. The surgery was in January 2011 using a different approach and within a week I had more range of motion than I had in a long time. Occasionally I do still get pain in that shoulder but nothing that can't be handled and I have full range of motion as well.

If you can, I would highly encourage you to seek a second opinion from a different surgeon. If I had not done so, I would have lost the ability to raise my arm even 6 inches away from my body. Secondly, when the pain was so bad, I completely gave up sleeping in my bed and found that sleeping in a recliner really helped. At times I would even fold a towel up and put under my shoulder while in the recliner which helped give my shoulder some relief. Being in the recliner and using the towel gave extra support under the shoulder (and at least allowed me to get some sleep) And if you haven't already, the other suggestion I have is to use warm moist heat on the shoulder to see if that may bring you a little relief, The moist heat helps me so much, but if that doesn't work, maybe you could try some ice. Different things work for different people. Also, I know that the weather has been beautiful the last few days and unseasonable warm but we do have rain moving in later this evening and into tomorrow so that could be messing with your shoulder too. (Yes, I live in IL too.)

Hope this helps you a little and I will be keeping you in my thoughts that you will be able to get some rest tonight.
 
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