I am SO HAPPY to have a diagnosis!! I just left my orthopedic surgeon's office. Here is my interpretation of his doctor mumbo jumbo:
Rare, special people are blessed with the rare occurence of inflamed nerves in their shoulder. This is known as Parsonage Turner Syndrome. I am one of those people - but instead of having some unknown reason for the inflammation, my inflammation is caused by pregnancy hormones. Aren't children wonderful?! Some people have it MUCH worse than me - even paralysis in the affected arm.
With my first pregnancy, the nerve ended up damaged and the muscles were so weak that it would have taken a VERY long time to heal on its own. I had muscle weakness and decreased range of motion. Thus I had surgery to relieve my pinched suprascapular nerve. The nerve runs through this "hole" on the top of your shoulder blade:
That portion on top of the hole is a ligament in most people. In 3% of people (including me!) it has turned to bone. That portion on top was REMOVED one year ago.
Essentially, this time, the nerve(s) are inflammed and I'm in pain, but with that ligament removed, the damage and atrophy should not be as bad. This time, I should feel better after pregnancy hormones are gone. This time, if I don't feel better after giving birth, surgery isn't the solution - they've removed what they can!
The surgeon recommended that I have a steroid injection in my shoulder. I'm waiting on my OB to approve this. I'll see the surgeon again 6 weeks thereafter. In the meantime, I'm supposed to watch what I lift because the steroid will make me feel better than I really am!
Now that I'm out of the surgeon's office, other questions are coming to mind. Will this pain continue while I'm breastfeeding? (If so, that would be terrible - I couldn't breastfeed in bed with Grant because of the shoulder pain and I was looking forward to it this time around.) Will I/Can I continue steroid injections until these hormones and pain are gone? And most importantly, if I get steroid injections in my arm, will I end up looking like this?! Clearly I've been watching too much Jersey Shore.
