Strained shoulder ARG!!!

Old Hipster

Old Hipster

Senior Member
Location
Undisclosed
Right after Christmas I was lifting some boxes down from a shelf at work and it ended up being heavier than I anticipated and I was putting them down on a cart, I grabed them down and then just let them drop, because of the weight. Didn't think much about it, just swore under my breath a lot about the dumb-ass who put them there and left them taped together, I was thinking I was getting one box and it was two, that was why it was so heavy.

Well later that night and the next day my muscles in that arm started to really hurt. I've been trying to baby it along, but it is getting worse. So yesterday I had to go to the urgent care clinic, because when I tried to get in at the regular medical center, the gal just laughed, because they are full up with flu patients seeing them. "How about tomorrow ?"..more somewhat hysterical laughter.

My bosses insisted I turn in a claim, so I did. What a pain in the ass!

Man the Urgent Care clinic is fantastic, it is pretty much just a walk in Drs. office, just like the old days! I had x-rays and was informed I strained my shoulder and now I have to go to Physical Therapy, probably not until Monday or so, because of the paper work. You'd think in this modern world that would not take long, everything is on-line now!

I am on "light duty" at work for a couple of weeks. No lifting at all and no pulling or pushing anything over 5 pounds. This ought to be interesting.

As I get older I am finding I am sure turning into a big wuss, it sure as hell doesn't take much to pull something anymore. :mad:

Anyway that's my story!
 

Commisses for the shoulder OH. It's soooo easy to do as we age you know. I had a rush of blood to brain and thought I'd just shift the microwave and crushed 2 vertebrae. They just collapsed. I thought at first it was a ripped muscle, wish it had been. :(
 
OH, it sounds like you did a real job on that shoulder, and I hope the PT helps it to start healing up right away.
I usually soothe it with a super hot shower, and then grab the DMSO first thing, when ever I have muscle aches and strains. I also like something like Absorbine Jr., ben gay, Pain-a-trate, or a similar muscle ointment.
Then I use my heat/massager and that seems to help with the healing process as well.
Even when it has been a long day and my feet hurt bad, this seems to help ease that pain as well.
 

IMHO the pain patches beat the hell out of Oxycontin and other addictive pain killers when you really need something to subdue the pain.
Click to expand...

Strange and interesting bit of trivia gleaned from a palliative care pro.

Painkillers, usually morphine based oxycontins etc, are NOT addictive. IF they are taken in cases where severe pain exists. They only become addictive to those taking them for a buzz but not actually in intense pain. The body does strange things doesn't it?

That proved true when I had to wean Mum off morphine based painkillers after she'd crushed another verbrae but had healed enough to handle the pain with panadeine. I was expecting a bit of drama but there were no withdrawal symptoms and she didn't notice any difference in the pain control.
Amazing.
 
Diwundrin said:
Strange and interesting bit of trivia gleaned from a palliative care pro.

Painkillers, usually morphine based oxycontins etc, are NOT addictive. IF they are taken in cases where severe pain exists. They only become addictive to those taking them for a buzz but not actually in intense pain. The body does strange things doesn't it?

That proved true when I had to wean Mum off morphine based painkillers after she'd crushed another verbrae but had healed enough to handle the pain with panadeine. I was expecting a bit of drama but there were no withdrawal symptoms and she didn't notice any difference in the pain control.
Amazing.
Click to expand...
I have seen that before; both in people addicted, and in people taking them for pain when not terminally ill.
( I have met a lot of addicts in my time.....)

The advantages of patches are either they act directly on the site e.g. Lidocaine,
or they are slow release over a few days, e.g fentanyl .

Do hope you feel better soon, OH, and don't forget to do as you are told! It will heal quicker that way!
 
Mum was put on the Fentanyl patches in later years when she had further fractures and they were much easier all round. Except she kept picking at the corners if they put them anywhere she could reach. They put little strips of sticky tape near them for her to pick at instead eventually and that worked well. She was still on them right to end so no idea about addiction to that. By that time she was out of my care anyway and it was 'need to know' only.
 
Pain is such an individual thing; I wanted to put horses for courses, but thought it might be considered inappropriate :)
 
thank you so much Ladies for your well wishes and good advice.

I turned down pain pills, because Aleve is working quite well. If I am not using my arm it really doesn't hurt much at all. But when I try to use it AHHH...but still the Aleve helps immensely, my problem is i haven't been able to not use it at work. i have a very physical job and it is not allowing it to get better. I'm working today, but everybody is helping me. and i am only doing things with my right arm, except for typing.
 
Aleve doesn't work too well for me...I have back issues at times and shoulder pain too.

i think I did a number on my back when I worked for ES&S...some of the voting machines weighed 70 lbs and we we supposed o have people lift them for us on to the table to calibrate but they didn't always show so we did it ourselves and after that I had my first back spasm and things just went bad to worse after that.
 
You need to try different tablets and see if any suits you better; everybody is different.
 
You can take a higher dose of ibuprofen, acetaminophen not such a good idea.
have you tried slow release tabs, or patches (largish ones), or a rub (if you can reach!)
 
Old hipster: I know what it feels like, I just tore a tendon in my right shoulder. 4cm. long(2.5 inches).
I have just had a cortisone needle in the top of the shoulder & the doctor wanted to send me to a surgeon to
repair the tendon. I am going to let it heal.(6-8 weeks).
At 74 I don't need visits to hospital, Pain killers & rest the arm will suffice!!!...OUCH!
 
There was panic a few months ago when a friend experienced severe pains in her chest and down her left arm accompanied by "it feels like it's trying to get out!" irregular heartbeat.
There were Ambulance, ER, hordes of medicos, panicking family making frantic phone calls, beeping and buzzing machines spewing out stips of paper involved for the next several hours. No cardio irregularities were found. Nothing. Nada. Zot. She still had the symptoms but receding.

So they kept her in and after intense questioning of what she'd eaten, was she allergic to something etc someone thought to ask what she'd been doing before the onset. "I just reached up to get something out of a cupboard". And before that?? "Playing Volleyball, I jumped to spike the ball and felt something give." Apparently it didn't bother her at the time but when she reached up into a cupboard the 'heart attack' started.
She'd ripped a muscle or tendon or something in her chest that affected the nerves in the same area and way that a heart attack does.

We laugh about it now but honestly? It's gets all that complicated? No wonder we all have these mystery aches and pains, so many little things affect other parts of us and often mask the real cause.

She was lucky the masking was the good outcome, worse had she mistaken a heart attack for a ripped muscle.

And no, she's never played Volleyball again.
 
Sorry to hear you're in pain, Deb. Hopefully, you'll get some physical therapy out of it they'll teach you about exercise and stretching to support our joints. Helped me with all my aches and pains dished out by Mama Ocean.
 
OH......I'm sorry to hear about your injury......believe me, I know
how painful a bad strain can be.
Just take it easy and take your pain killers when you need them.
As GDAD said, get plenty of rest and let it heal naturally!!:concern:
 
Time heals takes a while have had two falls in past 2 years and hurt my shoulder , and now its just feeling a lot better , not paining only when I go to reach or do things so sorry Hipster but it will get better and just do the exercise and what your doc says and take it easy at work.. all will be well and as we age we need to go slower in what we do.. take our time.. often things happen when we hurry..
 
Casper said:
OH......I'm sorry to hear about your injury......believe me, I know
how painful a bad strain can be.
Just take it easy and take your pain killers when you need them.
As GDAD said, get plenty of rest and let it heal naturally!!:concern:
Click to expand...


Casper: I think that some of the doctors are to quick, when they suggest operations
I'm for natural healing where possible. I don't like Hospitals!!
 
Thanks everybody! I should be able to start therapy next week after the State gets my paper work to them, jeez let's get with it folks!

And yeah it hurts like a bastard.

I hurt my other shoulder a few years ago in a bad fall and I just let it take care of itself...Hey about 8 months better it felt pretty good!

I'm not doing that now! the physical therapy is not even a block from work, so that will make it very convenient.
 
I hope it works for you. The only time I went to PT was for a knee injury. It hurt worse when I left than when I got there but after about 2 months, it did heal.

Take it easy OH and let your coworkers do the lifting.
 
Old Hipster, hope your shoulder is a little bit better. :love_heart: You're lucky to have light duty positions at work, where I worked you were off until you could do the job full duty. Aleve does help quite a bit for me if I have back pain or something. MSM helps with pain from inflammation, can be bought at health food stores. And massage with Magnesium Oil will also help to relax it and relieve some pain.
 
Everybody is helping me, I am not lifting, or pulling or pushing anything!

Not a problem here SB, I am the only one who does what I do, so for a few weeks I can be the brains and everybody else can be the brawn. And I fill in with data entry, which I really don't care for but, hey I can be on here too, so it's not so bad!

Oh TICA, I hope that doesn't happen to me, hurting worse when I leave. :hurt: But glad to hear your knee finally did heal.
 

You must log in or register to reply here.

Back
Top