United Brachial Plexus Network, Inc.

jmar, I have complete hand, wrist, elbow function. It's just my shoulder joint that does not work much (no external rotation, no complete shoulder flexion/extension...)

even with "just a bad shoulder" that is still very good that you can do that.

Hi,
I have a 16 month old son with ROBPI and had been asked by a nurse once if it was okay to do his immunisation needles in his injured arm and just didnt know what to say, had never really thought about it. He has had a few needles in his affected arm now and didnt seem to get too upset but do you think that i should start asking them to do the needles somewhere else when he gets immunisations and stuff?

if he has no feeling in his arm he wont be bothered by needles in it. but infection can set in any time there is a puncture of any kind and he would not be able to feel that either. i avoid any needles at all in my affected arm. please read all the posts on this thread and you will know more about this issue. also be very careful with any knid of scratches, burns, or anything else that breaks the skin. good luck to you and you baby. i hope you both do well.

There is a very small risk of permanent muscle damage from shots. My son has a smaller deltoid on that side, and probably worse circulation also, and so that muscle is probably at higher risk of complications than normal. And I figure his BPI arm has already been through enough, so why add insult to injury so to speak.

Kate

i had a procedure last week and i told them i wanted a restricted status on my left arm before i was put to sleep. i about flipped out when they told me they would put the pulse-ox on my finger after i was out. i told them they would leave it alone. put it on my toe if you cant put it on my right hand. hopefully, they listened.

I'm glad this post got bumped up because I have a post asking about this issue on the OBPI Board. I had heard a long time ago not to get shots in that arm but I couldn't find a reason anywhere. I hate it when my good arm is sore because I rely on it more! On Tuesday I got a flu shot in my bad arm and it went fine. I dont have full feeling in my upper arm and it was a tiny bit sore (probably the only time I've had sore muscles in that arm!) but it didn't last too long. My arm isn't ultra sensitive or ever hurt so it didn't really feel like a risk. I hadn't thought about infection though so I'll keep an eye on it. When it comes to donating blood I definitely use my good arm though. My injured arm doesn't straighten all the way so I dont think it'd work too well. Also my pulse is pretty low from running and it takes me forever to fill up the bag so I couldn't imagine trying it with poor circulation! I also always get my bp from my good arm. Although during senior year of high school I did an AP bio lab where we measured bp and I had my friends test both my arms to compare them. Haha the results may not be very reliable but the bp was the same on both arms for me! I still only get bp from my good arm at the doctor but I thought it was interesting.

Brittney, 19
LOBPI