What Does This X-ray Report Of Shoulder Indicate?

Posted on Tue, 16 Dec 2014

Question: Yes, Hello my name is XXXXXXX work for Anthem as a insurance agent. I have had 2 sets of X-rays and have seen 2 orthopedic physicians in the last month. The one I saw in Monday wants me to have surgery I have large calcium deposits on my left shoulder and am in a lot of pain. I understand the abuse factor of these narcotics, however, I am not in a position to have surgery right now as I may be changing jobs and have never had surgery before. This doctor wants to cut bottom line. I have been taking Percocet 5 mg. perhaps 3 a day , doing PT and taking Alleve. I was given 10 last Monday, have run out and I feel aweful. He told me he is very conservative with the meds and I repect that, but what should I do? I have no history of drug abuse. I am trying to get an appointment with a pain management physician ASAP. Should I go to ER
P

Answered by Dr. Dr. Matt Wachsman (2 hours later)

Brief Answer:
Many many issues

Detailed Answer:
first, narcotics are not that great for pain. Several other things should additionally be tried. these are arrangeable on ONE business day BY PHONE.
1) non-steroidal anti-inflammatories. Especially the stronger ones (celebrex). There are topical ones and a wide wide variety of them. They ALL are chemically differnet fro each other and they ALL can react differently with an individual patient even when they all act by the same mechanism.
2) physical therapy for pain. besides what one would think of as physical therapy (more on this later), there is also heat, and alternative ways of getting medicine into the joint ... bringing up...
3) injection of medicine into the joint directly. This stays for about a month .. pessimistically speaking. Optimistically speaking, these can damp down inflammation and just somewhat permanently fix the whole problem.
and then........
long term there is a condition called "frozen shoulder" in which inactivity (mainly due to pain) will cause someone to decrease the movement of their joint. THEN the joint LOSES the ability to have full range of motion (how far can you move the arm in each direction shows if you have it or not. You do).
This requires surgery. And is fixed by it.

But, if one were going to use narcotics... it's tricky. First, you won't find anyone other than the ER on immediate notice. Second, people tend to get used to one dose and need to escalate the amount taken. This is a problem. A long acting agent (buprenorphine) can be used with what you are currently on added onto it.

Note: For further queries, consult a joint and bone specialist, an Orthopaedic surgeon. Book a Call now.

Above answer was peer-reviewed by : Dr. Chakravarthy Mazumdar