Question
I have type 2 diabeties and my shoulders have been "burning" for about 6-8 months. My doctor prescribed both Lyrica and Celebrex and I take Ibuprofin for the pain. Recently, my left shoulder has been hurting from the shoulder blade into the shoulder area. When I stand up, it gets really bad.... almost to the point the arm feelling like it is going to fall off. It pops and grinds loud when I rotate the the shoulder and I have serious trouble reaching up. More recently, the pain is starting to move towards my mid neck area. I also have a C4-5 replacement in my neck.
Any ideas, before I go see my doctor again??

Answer
James, I am sorry for the delay.  Let's just say SPAM had something to do with it.  

Regarding your shoulder and diabetes.  I do not believe that your diabetes or for that matter your surgical history has anything do do with your shoulder.  I do believe that some of the discomfort in the neck, the buring in the shoulder and the pain you now feel in the mid neck area are a result of what is occuring in the shoulder itself.

Diabetics typically are well managed with their medications.  While it is true that some diabetics notice more pain as their threshold is less, this is due to poor self management of their medications and their bad habits.  

Shoulder popping/cracking is known as crepitus.  Crepitus is a result of a few different things, the most popular being arthritis.  Arthritis in the shoulder and misaligned bones will cause pain, the pain response will cause surrounding muscles to contract while trying to protect the joint, if left untreated the contracted muscles (muscle spasm) can lead to other areas of pain, where the muscle attach or originate from, in your case the spine and lower neck). Others that are less popular include organ disease, tendonitis, broken bones and cancer (again, all of these are less popular and infrequent).

Recommendations:  Find a chiropractor that does manual manipulation by hand and have your back and shoulder evaluated. A few visits most likely will give you significant relief.  If no relief occurs, hopefully that chiorpractor will have an orthopedist who specializes in the shoulder the (s)he can refer you to.

I hope that this gives you some answers.



**This post is for the purpose of providing medical information and is not a substitute for a face-to-face consultation with a doctor. This post is not intended to give or rule out a diagnosis, create a doctor-patient relationship or replace an existing one. I am not able to diagnose medical conditions online. Please consult with your doctor or a qualified healthcare provider for diagnosis and treatment options