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SLAP Tear in shoulder/Arthroscopy Surgery/Injection

Posted by huskerguy @huskerguy, Jul 1, 2022

I hope this is the correct location to post this question. I suffered a SLAP tear in my left shoulder in July of 2021. I had Arthroscopy Surgery in October of 2021 to fix the labrum tear. PT was going fine. I was getting more and more range of motion back but still had some stiffness and pain. It was around January/February of 2022. I was about 2-3 weeks away from starting the final phase of PT; a work conditioning phase set up to get me back to work. I had a regularly scheduled checkup visit with the surgeon. I did not have any concerns nor did my PT provider. I was given some type of steroid injection in my shoulder during the office visit. I was told this was to help "jump start" me for the final phase of PT and would help with any remaining stiffness/pain. Within a couple of days, I got really sick for a couple of days. I was vomiting and having diarrhea simultaneously. This might have been a coincidence although I have never had that type of illness before. The concerning thing is immediately after this injection my range of motion severely diminished. I never got back to the point I was at before this injection. Long story short, I had a second shoulder surgery in May of 2022. The labrum repair took according to the second MRI but I had a Shoulder Debridement repair in May. I was told I developed lock shoulder from my initial labrum repair which happens in 1 out of every 10 shoulder surgeries so needed the Debridement Surgery. As of today, I am still not the same as I was before the injection. I have great passive range of motion but severely limited active range of motion. Try as I might, I just cannot lift my arm up on my own more then 90-100 degrees without assistance. Once again, things were going well, my range of motion was recovering, then I was given some type of Steroid injection in office and I have never been the same; despite the second surgery I was told I needed due to my shoulder locking up. I do not understand how after an injection I would immediately develop a locked shoulder and then need a surgery for that and still not be the same 2 months after that surgery. I hope I have explained this well and it makes sense. Any similar experiences? Ideas? Explanations? Advice? Thank you.

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Mentor
Jennifer, Volunteer Mentor | @jenniferhunter | Jul 2, 2022

@huskerguy Welcome to Connect. I have had some similar experiences with my shoulders. I had a SLAP tear in the labrum, but it wasn't significant enough to require surgery. It healed on it's own. In the other shoulder, I had some instability and weakness, and a surgeon did a diagnostic MRI with an injection of gadolium contrast. That injection caused inflammation and pain, and it was bad enough that it hurt to breathe with the slight amount my shoulder was moving with inhalation. I couldn't raise my arm and I just put it in a sling for a couple months until the pain went away. That gave me a frozen shoulder that had to be rehabbed in physical therapy. I did get my full range of motion back.

I also had a spine condition, and was given an epidural cervical steroid injection as a diagnostic test, and that caused extreme pain, and gave me stabbing burning pains in my hand that lasted a few months. I was beginning to wonder if there was an ingredient in these injections that was causing an inflammatory reaction in me. When I had the Pfizer Covid vaccination, I also had a reaction and my throat/ neck was hurting and I had pain starting in my tongue within 45 minutes. I was sent to the emergency room, and they treated me with IV antihistamines and a steroid, and it took care of my reaction immediately. The Pfizer covid vaccine contains polyethelyne glycol or PEG and it was causing reactions in some people, so I suspect it was the culprit.

When I consider all of this as my medical history, I wonder if the shoulder injection and the spine injection also could have contained PEG as a binder? I learned that my body just doesn't like foreign materials and substances. I also had a reaction to a flu shot years ago that swelled my shoulder joint and I couldn't raise my arm over my head for about 3 months.

I hope in time, you will be able to regain your normal function. Perhaps you could find out the ingredients of what was injected and search for literature about reactions to it. That would be my approach anyway.

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