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Michel.... I'd had severe pain in my left (primary side, since I'm left-handed) for about 5 months before going to the doctor about it (I know... SHOULDA gone earlier... but was and am heartily sick of doctors!!) I initially went to my internist, who sent me right to an orthopedist. The ortho took x-rays, and said that I not only had bursitis, but also had "frozen shoulder," having lost about 40% of the movement in the shoulder. He injected a whopper of a dose of cortisone, and had me begin physiotherapy in the hopes of returning full movement to the shoulder rather than being forced to perform surgery. The cortisone worked, the pain disappeared, and after 3 months of physiotherapy I had full movement back in the shoulder. However, within 4 months, the bursitis was back. Because I'd continued doing the exercises the physiotherapist had instructed me to do at home, no range of motion was lost this time. So far, this pattern has been repeated 5 times. Additional x-rays were taken a year after the original ones were done, and the ortho got together with an orthopedic surgeon to discuss them. It was concluded that the "rotator cuff" in the shoulder was shot, and that this would be a chronic condition, possibly relieved by surgery in the future (and not the immediate future... as a last resort) Old age might truly be the 'Golden Years," but GETTING there has sure been fraught with pitfalls! Barb Mallut "Lil_Honey" on the PD Chat [log in to unmask] ---------- From: PARKINSN: Parkinson's Disease - Information Exchange Network on behalf of [log in to unmask] Sent: Friday, January 24, 1997 9:27 AM To: Multiple recipients of list PARKINSN Subject: Re: doc's ignorance In a message dated 97-01-23 19:29:10 EST, you write: << Subj: Re: doc's ignorance From: [log in to unmask] (Barbara Mallut) .... symptoms of the disease (at least now.. since the surgery they mask symptoms). As I'm typing this, I've realized that virtually all of US (here on the list) seem to weigh whatever general medical problem or symptoms we may be experiencing against the PD... For instance, when I began getting bursitis fairly regularly in one of my shoulders, I immediately wondered it this was something related to PD. My managing doctor at Kaiser Permanente (an HMO) never even thought of any correlation between the two. Yet I've read several posts here on the list referring to list members having nasty, bursitis-like pain in a shoulder joint. Upon doing further research, I found that shoulder pain isn't all uncommon when one is beginning to get PD on the OTHER side of one's body when one's had it on only one side thus far. And sure enough, it appears I'm one of the 30% of Parkies who get that bursitis-like pain before the disease makes an obvious appearance on the other side of their body, 'cause it showed up on my left side this year. Barb Mallut "Lil_Honey" on the PD Chat ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ ------- Hi Barb Mallut: My Barbara has had 'bursitis' pain in her left shoulder for many weeks, and our neuro disorder specialist has sent her to her primary Dr., and she's had two cortisone injections with no relief, then going to Sports Medicine specialist, with still no relief also using electrical impulses... Orthopedist is probably next. How did you handle yours? Has anyone else had this problem, and how was that treated? The best to you all. Michel