Shoulder Muscle and neck pain

Would you be able to drive to a bigger city to get care sooner? It must be so frustrating to suffer for so long waiting to get an appointment, then tests, then treatment which pushes everything out so far. Your health system doesn’t seem setup in a way to be preventative and patients aren’t seen until their problem or disease is more advanced. Sad.

@normaprice2003 you may not need surgery yet. There are some other approaches to try first. Topicals, medications, PT massage, traction and for me, tai chi.

This is my life. I manage it with regular physical therapy (lots of massage, traction, exercises), chiropractor, and massage. I use CBD cream when it is really bad. I haven’t found a pillow that works though. I am sorry you are going through this. It truly is debilitating.

In my body of eight decades, what has helped me to remain independent and free of medications and tests (except dental) is probably general healthful lifestyle in food, managing stress, and physical activity that makes sure muscles and joints are strong with weight-bearing moves (doing dips in stairwell, comes handy when short on going to fitness room) And ensuring being limber (quick stretches even as I sit at computer, I often bring my arms behind, one from above the shoulder, other behind back, clasping and pulling, turning head in all three dimensions always gives a quick relief and alert feeling. In a word, Stretch and Strengthen. Pull-ups, push-ups here and there.
Of course lower body can't be ignored!

Please travel where you need in your state to get the help you need.

@normaprice2003 I hear you! I live in Kitchener and the situation here is only slightly better! Fortunately my husband and I found a very good physician who is proactive, but shortage of specialists willing to take new referrals makes it difficult. Physicians taking new patients are in short supply too - even ours stopped taking new patients just two weeks after we registered with her!

Yes! I have a son who lives in Kitchener for 15 years and he doesn't have a doctor. He has to use the Walk-In clinic and sometimes waits for hours to be seen.
So frustrating but what alternative do we have besides Private Care which most people can't afford

@normaprice2003 we moved to Kitchener from Toronto in October 2022. Exactly a year later our neighbour just happened to ask the receptionist at her doctors’ office (there are several doctors there) if any other doctors were accepting new patients. Receptionist said as a matter of fact they were getting a new doctor. She came home and told us, we dropped everything and rushed over to that Clinic and registered. We were given a “meet and greet” appointment for a date in November 2023. Two weeks later our new doctor has stopped taking new patients because her roster of patients was filled!

We had been asking anybody and everybody we met if they knew of any doctors taking new patients, ever since we moved here in October 2022!

Have you tried Health Care Connect? They will help you find a doctor. It may not be local but I know quite a few people who drive 2 hours to see their doctor after moving

@normaprice2003 we do have a family doctor in Kitchener now. Until then, I did have a doctor in Toronto who I was not willing to release (as Health Connect required me to do) because while I still had her at least I could get phone consults with her, have my prescriptions filled by her, and if absolutely necessary even drive to Toronto to see her. Health Care Connect wanted me to release my doctor in Toronto first, before they would just put me on their waiting list (which is very long already) with no guarantee I would get a doctor quickly. I didn’t want to do that.