What would the success of using Euflexxa injections for chronic shoulder pain

[Scotty505]

Doctor, I am 53 years of age and have had Cerebral Palsy all my life and now both my shoulder joints are completely worn out from the constant physical strain of lifting my upper body whenever I stand or move.  My doctor x-rayed both shoulders and documented that both shoulder joints are literately bone on bone with every movement.  In addition to the audible popping and grinding noises, I have severe chronic pain (10 plus on a scale to 1-10) that has totally interupted my once very active life.  Presently my only options are the large dosages of Oxcontin and Oxycodone and having to tolerate all the negative side effects from both. The pain seems to be getting worse and the oral pain medications seem to be less effective as time goes by.  I have consulted several othopedic surgeons that have discouraged me from attempting shoulder replacements.  I was told that I would have a very high risk of failure of the new joint and/or even tearing out the new joint because of the great amount of stress I put on my shoulders to stand and move.
How much of a dosage should I need if I decide to choose Euflexxa injections as theraphy for restoring mobility and defusing the enormous pain levels? I have found some online providers to have both the 10 and 20mg dosages.  
Thank you in advance for any advice or refferal information you might have available for my case.  Scotty505


This discussion is related to Euflexxa Injection.

[Scotty505]

Thanks for you feed back! I have also tried the patches, but was not pleased the outcome.

[geminigirl1963]

While I'm no doctor, I do suffer from bone one bone pain in several of my joints, so I can definitely relate o the pain that you're suffering from.  I had my right shoulder replaced a little over two years ago.

I've had the Euflexxa injections done in one of my knees, but unfortunately, did not receive much, if any, kind of relief from it.  Prior to my ortho surgeon injecting my knee, I asked him if it was possible to have the same injections done in my other joints.  He told me at that time (about a year ago), that, while the Euflexxa may provide some relief from the pain, etc., it had not been approved for use in any other joints other than the knee. Therefore, insurance more than likely would not cover any of the cost - and even with insurance, the cost of the injection was already quite high!

I would be very leary of purchasing ANY type of medication from an online provider - you will never know for sure what you are getting and in some cases, it is illegal.

You mentioned that the oral medications have become less and less effective - that is very common and normal - the longer we are on narcotic medications, the more we build up a tolerance for that medication and therefore, it doesn't work as well as it once did.  There are many other medications you could possibly try, however, that may give you good pain control.  Have you ever disccused the fentayl patch with your doctor?  If you haven't, you may want to consider talkign to him about it.  While it's  astrong medication, because it is in patch form as opposed to oral form, it tends to be easier on the stomach than oral meds.  It also gives you round the clock pain control.  Many chronic pain sufferers also take a short acting pain med for breakthrough pain, but I've heard of many thad have found with the patch that they need much less of that breakthrough pain than they did when they were taking long acting pain meds with teh short acting ones.

Obviously, you and your doctor at the only ones who can make the treatment decision - I just wanted to let you know that I had previously checked into getting the Euflexxa injection in joints other than what it has been approved for and also to give you some (hopefully) useful information regarding pain meds that you might be able to try.

I wish you the best of luck!