Yes, the obligatory “you are having a heart attack” comments were made – and dismissed when I didn’t fall over dead after having this pain for a full week. I made an appointment for a deep tissue neuromuscular massage on Monday afternoon, which went very well and I felt pretty good when she was done.
Five hours later my entire shoulder locked up despite drinking enough water to fill a camel, taking it easy, taking a couple Motrin and using my ice pack. But the next day, and heading into the 2nd day post-massage I started to feel pretty good. I had moved to sleeping in the guest room on the off-chance that our memory foam mattress was the culprit, and while I was not back to normal, it was definitely improving.
But then the weekend hit, and by Monday – now over a week since the initial onset – I was in just as bad a shape. And now in addition to the stabbing pain I had a burning sensation from time to time. The soonest I could make a doctor appointment for a physical and exam was July 3, and so another appointment was made for a neuromuscular massage. My normal person was not available, so I made an appointment with the only other masseuse at the health center. When I got there, she warned me that she goes “deeper than the other therapist.” Okaaaaay…
Y’all. Y’ALL. What she should have said was, “I can guarantee when you leave after only 30 minutes of work, you will end up with a bruise the size of a small saucer on your shoulder.” Because that massage HURT. Holy cow – I was on the verge of tears after 30 minutes and was so grateful when she said she was done.
Having said that, whatever she did worked well enough because that night my shoulder felt good – albeit heavily bruised. And by last night (2 weeks + a day after the pain began) I felt like I was finally back to normal. No pain, no soreness, no burning sensation. As I headed to bed (in the guest room again just to make sure) I just knew I was going to wake up refreshed and pain free.
Uh no. Woke up this morning with the same amount of pain as I did on day 1 and day 7 and day 10. So it’s back to cold packs and Motrin. It’s now afternoon and I’m already loosened up enough and not in nearly as much pain. So it makes me wonder if it’s the way that I sleep that is causing the pain.
I’m a side sleeper. I typically start the night on my stomach, but as I move into true sleep I roll back so that I’m laying on my left side. Given that it’s my left side having the problem, I can only think that there’s something about that sleep position that is exacerbating my shoulder pain – regardless of whether I’m on a memory foam mattress or a regular innerspring mattress. The only time I sleep and don’t experience pain is when I’m in the recliner in the TV room. And I am NOT going to spend my nights sleeping in that recliner (lest it bring back flashbacks of my abdominal surgery in 2014 which caused me to sleep in that recliner for weeks on end).
I am now considering buying a wedge to put on my side of the bed so that I am forced to sleep in a “recliner” position without being forced to actually sleep in the recliner. I’ll wait and see what the doctor says on July 3 though. I’m hoping she can just give me a corticosteroid shot and I’ll be back to normal. But on the off-chance it’s the sleeping position that is causing the problem all of a sudden, a bed wedge may be the way to go.
