For those of you who follow my blog, you know I've been dealing with chronic pain in my upper body for 18 years. I (and my doctors) blamed it on lupus and fibromyalgia. But then all the other pain went away (after I changed my diet, got acupuncture, and did qigong daily). And the pain in my right shoulder remained, and it was driving me crazy, keeping me up all night, and so relentless that no pain medication of any kind worked on it any longer- not advil, not aleve, not heating pads, not icy hot, not even vicodin or percocet. Not even 2 percocet at once. So, finally, I went to the urgent care clinic and tried to get a diagnosis. An MRI and 2 XRays later, we now know I have a tumor in my arm, which is probably benign (we're watching it for the next year or so), but the real problem is tendonitis and an impingement, both of which have responded really well to physical therapy. PT was my idea, by the way, not my doctor's. I had to ask for a prescription, but thankfully, he was happy to write a Rx and it has worked like a charm. I have been pain-free for about 4 weeks- I haven't taken anything at all for pain.
A couple words of advice on PT- like doctors, they are not all the same. Ask around to your friends for a good, effective PT, and see if you can get into a sports medicine clinic. Those folks are completely focused on getting you back to doing what you were doing before.
Well wishes and happy trails.
Carla
http://www.thesingingpatient.com
