United Brachial Plexus Network, Inc.

Sorry for so many posts on this subject but I think it is important for parents as well as concerned adults to read the latest studies on pain and newborns.

When I was young my parents were told no pain... Therefore my pain denied. When I would complain the doctors said I was using my arm as an excuse or to get attention.
I have been told I have an extremely high pain tolerance and that is not always good because you tend to neglect things that should be taken care of. It is important to be well informed in case children try to talk about pain and cannot.

New England Journal of Medicine, Volume 331 (8), Aug 25, 1994, pp 541-544
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Pain, Hurt, and Harm:
The Ethics of Pain Control in Infants and Children.
Walco, Gary A.; Cassidy, Robert C.; Schechter, Neil L.
http://www.cirp.org/library/ethics/walco/

Kath:
Dr. Nath told me that babies have different and immature pain pathways. Especially before the age of three. He did not say they don't have pain, just that it is different from what we would, as adults, feel. It is one of the reasons that we look at our bpi kids and are amazed at how quickly they come back from surgery. If I had done now, what Juliana has had done as a baby, I would need morphine every 6 seconds!! I know for certain Juliana was in pain as an infant (it got better after primary). I also know that as a 2.5 year old, she can tell me that her arm hurts. She can't always be specific about where it hurts and she even sometimes points to the wrong arm!! But I respect her pain. Of course the the older 3 kids are told to "walk it off"!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! We do not make a big deal out of it, though, as I want her complaints to be "true" and not manufactured by what she thinks we want to hear.

Jameson has pain that comes and goes...I kind of think the weather plays a role in this. Thank goodess(tongue in cheek/108 degrees today)we live in AZ and it is VERY dry here(We're having a drought right now!!) But when it rains he gets aches and pains..Doctor says its probably bursitis(sp)..He has also complained about a pain that he discribes as like when your foot falls asleep and when it's coming back..it feels like pins and needles. He sometimes can't describe the pain very well because it seems like it radiates or throbs. He usually doesn't take anything because the ibuprophen tends to give him bladder infections....We try warm wash cloths, massage, etc.
Usually it's not too bad for him just about once a year(during monsoon season).
T.

Thomas is 13m and can't tell me if he hurt's but I can tell you he cried non stop for the first 8 months. He did not really stop until about a month after primary surgery. I kid you not. He cried no matter what you did for him he cried. So I know he was hurting. I get getting told he has the collic......... nooooooo
He is still a fussy baby but since he has started crawling and pulling up he is much happier. He also does not like things touching his arm ? but I know he does not feel pain like we do in his hand. He shut the door on it the other day and it made places on it I ran and opened it and he never did cry. I did but he did not feel it.

Thomas is 13m and can't tell me if he hurt's but I can tell you he cried non stop for the first 8 months. He did not really stop until about a month after primary surgery. I kid you not. He cried no matter what you did for him he cried. So I know he was hurting. I get getting told he has the collic......... nooooooo
He is still a fussy baby but since he has started crawling and pulling up he is much happier. He also does not like things touching his arm ? but I know he does not feel pain like we do in his hand. He shut the door on it the other day and it made places on it I ran and opened it and he never did cry. I did but he did not feel it.

Peyton woke up the other day whining, saying that his hand hurt, that it was feeling "poky", so it must of had that feeling is if your foot were asleep. I rubbed it for him and after a few seconds it was better.

I have BPI in my left arm and i have sometimes felt pain in it but it seems to arise when a mormal arm would be tired so instead of fatigue its light pain This is only very recent though because i think lately i have been overusing my arm

Hi! I also take my daughter to St. Louis for treatment. She just had primary there. Dr. Parks is excellent. I would love to answer any questions if you have any. My email address is Crafton4@hotmail.com. Talk to you soon! Heather :O)

Hi,

My daughter is almost 5 and she has been complaining of pain intermittently for the last 12 months. She says it hurts in the crease of her elbow. We have had many different explainations from tight muscles to tight tendons to tight nerves.

What worries me most is that for a few months she did not complain and so I assumed it was better but later on she told me that it still hurts. Is the pain so much a part of her life that she has just accepted it?We then went through a period where she was regularly complaining again. With some extra stretches etc the complaining eased off but if I ask her about the pain in her arm, she says it's "not very good".

We just went to a neurologist to discuss this yesterday. He said that he would expect that there would be pain during growth spurts but seems to think that she is saying there is pain when I ask her because I am bringing attention to her arm or because she thinks it is what I want to hear. He thinks that she has too much therapy and maybe it is her excuse to get out of it. He has recommended that she doesn't wear her splints and that we ease up on exercises etc for 3 months and then review.

I don't agree with most of this. She enjoys most of her therapy. She often wants to stay at the O/T or physio and will ask me to do extra exercises with her at home (but I think this is mostly to spend more one on one time with me).

On the other hand, sometimes there is no visible sign of pain when I ask her about it and she says it is hurting eg. she is still using it as per normal.

The neuronlogist has suggested that I don't ask her any more. I plan to go along with this and I will leave her splints off for the 3 months but I am going to start a diary. I will record every time that she complains (on her own) and what she is doing at the time, what time it is and what the weather is like etc. I will take this to our next visit in 3 months.

I have often wondered if it is the type of pain you get when your arm has been asleep. So thank you to the Mum who shared that one.

Regards,
Kelly.

christy, I think sensory return can be experienced as pain, which may be why some of your child's feelings of pain are new/different than before. I think it levels out after a bit as your body gets "used to" the new sensation, so hopefully this is the case!