As I get further into my 50s I am taking better care of my health. I am trying to stretch my productive and active years as far as they can go. I am watching my diet, which is the hardest thing to do, doing more exercise, and monitoring my health with medical professionals as much as I can. When I go back to the USA, I seek a lot of medical care to get second opinions. I am experiencing pain in my shoulder joints especially my left one for about a month and a half now. It is not debilitating but it does hurt once in a while, especially when I sleep on it or do some movements, pushups, running, cycling, etc. Thankfully my right shoulder is fine and I can play tennis. I am blogging my health to help me and future doctors provide care to me.
Above is the MRI I got in Uzbekistan. My doctor here in Michigan was impressed with the quality and said it was the same quality as Michigan hospitals. He was shocked that it cost me around $50. He diagnosed no major red flags requiring surgery. He pointed out inflammation in the tendon above the joint socket. On the MRI it was lighter in color on the left side. It is an impingement problem when the tissue is inflamed, it is trapped between two hard surfaces. He said I could get surgery and he would shave the bone spur and try to clean the socket and strengthen the tendons. However, he did not recommend this and gave me a cortisone shot and told me that I should be able to continue doing pushups, etc. I have a full range of motion, strength in the joint, and mild pain symptoms. He also indicated that research didn’t show much with sleep position and suggested perhaps it was a psycho-somatic mind trick. When I sleep on my side, I feel that some positions pinch my shoulder so I don’t think it is my mind, but we’ll see. I slept like a baby and my shoulder feels brand new today!
The second MRI image shows the ball of cysts on the bone. He said they are not causing me pain and they do not need to be removed. I appreciated his opinion and care. I felt he had my best interests in his mind and that I was in good hands. Thanks Dr. JD! I’ll monitor my shoulder this summer and see how it goes.
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