Hello all - it has been six months since I fractured my shoulder in a fall and had partial replacement surgery. I guess I am reaching out to vent/share because I feel totally alone on this. I'm 58 and never had a broken bone prior to this. I tried to sleep in a recliner/couch for the first four months and was lucky to get more than two hours consecutive sleep. Once I got out of the sling I gradually weaned myself back to the bed but still only 2-3 hours max sleep even with Ambien. The biggest thing is it was my left shoulder, the side that I slept on for over 40 years!
I went to PT for approx. 25 visits and have about 105 degrees of mobility with my arm straight out. I still have significant pain and swelling on top of my collar bone when I try to use my arm to much.
I have been taking Norco 10.325 1/2 a pill every 12 hours and about the 9 hour mark it was almost unbearable. Everyone says I should not be having this much pain still, something must be wrong, get a second opinion, etc. I ran out of pain meds 4 days ago and have been taking Aleve with little effect. I feel like I could do much better with two pills a day, one every 12 hours. But I don't want to get addicted to the pain meds. I have a doctor appoint today but I don't know if they will give me another prescription.
I have read online that it takes as long as a year or more to recover from this type of surgery. So I don't understand why everyone is expecting me to be back to normal and pain free.
Thank you for reading and listening.