HealingWell
Search Close Search
☰

Right shouldah

Support Forums
>
Lyme Disease
✚ New Topic ✚ Reply
❬ ❬ Previous Thread |Next Thread ❭ ❭
Posted 4/20/2017 10:15 AM (GMT 0)
Hi everyone,
To give you all a quick, quick background so I don't bore everyone...I dislocated my right shoulder in 2005 playing dodgeball. I dislocated it later that year for a second time. In 2006, I dislocated my shoulder a 3rd and 4th time. I never saw a doctor, didn't get an MRI or x-ray because I'm a dumbass. But I went to PT and strengthened it in the gym and never dislocated it since. I did have one sublaxation like 6 years ago. I recently saw an orthopedic surgeon about it because I'm pretty pissed at myself that I didn't have surgery on it back In 2005-2006. He said I don't need surgery that I should continue to do strengthening exercises and PT.

I know some people have great results with labrum/bankart repairs and some don't, It depends on multiple factors I think. What I'm always wondering is, would my shoulder better if I had the surgery back then? Are the outcomes way better? My shoulder hurts and aches and I should mention that I haven't been able to lift in 4 years.

I would love to be able to swim, play tennis, rock climb, lift heavy etc. but I don't know if not having the surgery back then f'ed up my shoulder for life. I should mention that between 2005-2013 I was lifting heavy, with weighted dips, deadlifts, squats etc, with no shoulder dislocations (although I was always worried about it).

Im still not sure if I need the surgery or if I screwed the pooch by not having it back then.
Posted 4/20/2017 12:38 PM (GMT 0)
Dave,

I can't recommend anything on surgery, but early in my treatment of Babs I had a pretty bad case of "frozen shoulder" that did fully resolve over time. For me, I'm not to keen on rock climbing or heavy lifting just yet, and will be satisfied with an occasional round of golf. ;^)
Posted 4/20/2017 1:03 PM (GMT 0)
If you do choose to have surgery, I would highly recommend waiting until after you are done with treatments because while we are still infected, healing will usually take longer, and we end up with a flare or set back with our treatments due to the stress of surgery on the body.

I know that when I'm infected, my right shoulder really gives me trouble - but it goes away once I'm healed. I'm not saying that your will go away - you've obviously injured it pretty good, but the pain levels may lessen once you are done with treatments.
Posted 4/20/2017 1:13 PM (GMT 0)
Thanks TB and Trav. I hope your golf game is getting better smile.

Trav- I def injured it pretty good, but I didn't see an orthopedic surgeon back 11-12 years ago, I was younger (18-20 years old) so I didn't think about these things. I decided heck, I need to weight lift and I can't lose my gains (as they say) so I weight lifted, went through a round or two of PT and it didn't really give me that much trouble. I definitely could not do everything like swim, play tennis etc. I think if I had the surgery back then that my shoulder would be better by now, but that's not a guarantee and I don't know what it would be like now. My chiro said that my bicep tendons are really inflamed on both sides, left shoulder which had surgery and right shoulder which got injured. Does it make sense to you all that my bicep tendons are constantly inflamed? I'm not able to really do resistance training because it makes them more inflamed.
Posted 4/20/2017 1:29 PM (GMT 0)
Yes, it makes sense. Lyme loves injuries (old or new) as it has inflammation, and the bacteria can easily keep that inflammation going. Inflammation creates the nutrients they live off of. The main focus should likely be to keep the inflammation down.

I too thought nothing of injuries earlier in life, mostly because I was sick most of my life, and I honestly did not believe I would survive past the age of 50 anyway - and I nearly didn't. At the age of 44, I was bed bound and I could feel my body slowly shutting down. Now that I have survived past the age of 50, and I have healed once, boy do I regret those injuries I should have done something about!! If only I had had a crystal ball or something!
Posted 4/20/2017 3:17 PM (GMT 0)
I had a torn right labrum repaired in 2011. I'd been getting pt for it for several months but wasn't getting much benefit. Then mri-->surgery. If that wasn't painful enough, the shoulder froze after surgery. I went to pt 2-3x week for about 7 months. Grateful for a good therapist who helped thaw the freeze but it was so painful I nearly passed out at times when she stretched it. I was on vicodin for 3 months and believe me, I needed it. Titrating off vicodin was really rough, but the side effects from long term use was no fun either. All in all, I'm glad I got the surgery but it's a rough one. Doc said shoulders are more painful than knee and hip replacements. I remember he said that with shoulder rsurgeries: 90% of the people are 90% better after 9 months.
It's been trouble free since, though I'm not going to be doing military presses or working on my fast ball. 😊 I don't want to go through that again. I'm 61y/o and i prone to athletic injuries nowadays, hence my caution.

I don't know how sick you are with Lymeco, but I agree with Traveler that it might be wise to wait til Lyme is healed. Shoulder surgery can a big shock to the system.
Posted 4/20/2017 3:56 PM (GMT 0)
Thanks BJD55, Trav and everyone. Shoulder repairs are a HUGE b, I don't care what anyone else says, there is no "easy" recovery. I had surgery on my left shoulder which hasn't necessarily healed yet, it's still pretty darn inflamed. I don't know how good surgical procedures were back in 2005-2006 compared to now, I'm sure they made some great advancements. I know a bunch of people who have had the surgery and I think most of them are grateful they had it. Although I've heard of some people having it and not getting relief. When I went to the surgeon last week, he said I should just do PT and see a physiatrist. I don't know if 12 years after the injury if surgery can really help? I'm not sure.

With that being said, I will have to wait regardless about even entertaining the idea of shoulder surgery until after lyme is healed.
Posted 4/20/2017 4:15 PM (GMT 0)
A coworker had a rotator cuff tear repair. After about a year, it wasn't right so she went in for a 2nd surgery that did the trick. She's maybe 3 years older than I.
✚ New Topic ✚ Reply