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Dick, et al. I've lived with this steeeeeenkin' disease for 26 years and 58 years old. I am, like you, the beneficiary of the recent outbreak of public interest in seeing the end of this crummy disease - and in my opinion, that "end" should come sooner rather then later!!! Beginning in June of 1994 I a noticed a twinge of heavy-duty MAJOR pain in my (dominant)) left shoulder periodically that made itself known several times throughout the day and night, EVERY day and night. Because I didn't want to be thought of as a habitual complainer, I never mentioned the developing to my nearest 'n dearest, thinking that I had already dumped my having Parkinson's on 'em (REAL stupid act on my part - and I don't make a very good martyr or saint! <rueful grin> Eventually the pain increased till it was no longer like a thin streak of burning hot lightning making a pathway from shoulder to arm to hand. This was definitely NOT something I was going to be able to stoically fit comfortably into my life!! I went to an orthopedic specialist who informed me I had a torn rotator cuff resulting in "frozen shoulder. I received a cortisone injection directly into the shoulder joint and had physical therapy, finding both to bring me relief which unfortunately lasted only about 6 weeks At that point I was the recipient of Medicare (total-care medical plan - an HMO.) benefits so switched to "Kaiser Permenente" <my Medicare provider and the oldest HMO in the USA.. This move gave me a much larger pool of physicians to chose from, As I learned how to (work the system,") and came to know the some of the individual physicians, I found on orthopedist who was a font on knowledge when it came to sharing information with the patients and so I learned that approximately FIFTY PER CENT of all Parkies end up with frozen shoulder due to a torn rotator cuff after they're diagnosed. Some folks end up opting for surgery which offers them a long and not always successful recovery. Others rely on getting a cortisone injection every 4 or 5 months and kinda hang there in a state of medically supervised limbo, i.e., they try to live with the pain long after the cortisone has stopped working, Then they get yet another injection into the shoulder joint. pain goes away, then returns, then is gone, ad infinitum. Finally, there's a more then 50-50 chance that the problem will just plain go away for no apparent reason. And THAT, after many years of living with the seemingly endless pain, is what happened to me!. Weird, 'cause I had already scheduled the surgery, which ultimately I never had, 'cause the pain had just up and disappeared. Barb Mallut [log in to unmask] , ---------------------------------------------------------------------- To sign-off Parkinsn send a message to: mailto:[log in to unmask] In the body of the message put: signoff parkinsn