Karen,
I visit the boards almost everyday but rarely post. I guess you could call me one of the silent lurkers here, but this site has been a wealth of information and support. There are wonderful and amazing people here and you could not have found a better support group.
I am a 53 female and I was injured in Oct. 2004 due to myself mostly. I was going through some very bad times. I was married for 18 yrs. before my husband decided to tell me he was gay. As a result I kind of lost it and over-medicated myself. I slept for over 18 hours on my arm before someone found me and I apparently had fallen at some point too. I was left with LBPI, which they were not sure if it was from sleeping on it or falling, but I feel both were a factor.
I quickly learned few people are familiar with BPI injuries. They sent me to an ortho doctor first which was a waste of time and money. It did not take long for me to figure out I had to take control of my own situation and become pro-active in my search for adequate and knowledgeable health care. That is when I began to search the net and found this wonderful group. The first thing I did was find the best neuro in this area and made an appointment. Even he was baffeled at first with my injury. I went through the normal tests MRI's and EMG's. No one can accurately read an EMG unless they are a BPI specialist, I learned this from experience. My neuro eventually referred me to Dr. Kline in Feb.of 2005 (it takes a while to get in), who evaluated and correctly conducted an EMG and sent the results back to my neuro, Dr. Rogers. I was diagnosed with a severe stretch. I am still under the care of Dr. Rogers.
Anyway I thought I would give you a little history before I gave you a breakdown of my recovery to this point. The first thing I did when they finally got me awake was tell them I could not move my arm. I had complete paralysis from the shoulder down. It was totally and dead asleep. I freaked, cried, was depressed and most of all was mad at myself for being such an idiot and injuring myself. About the first three weeks I had no feelings at all. The only thing that bothered me was an ache from the neck to the shoulder from carring around dead weight. It felt like my shoulder was pulling out of socket. This was relieved by wearing a sling, of which Courtney recommended the 'ultimate arm sling' which was a life saver and sooo comfortable. Shortly after this my arm began to slowly wake up a little bit. It began with pins and needles, constant burning and a never ending deep ache. Believe me when I say no one can understand nerve pain unless you have experienced it. It is unrelenting and constant. Thankfully Dr. Rogers is also a pain specialist. This is an important aspect of treatment. I could not have coped without some kind of relief. If your doctor has problems with prescribing pain relief, dump him,it indicates he knows nothing about nerve pain. Dr. Rogers put me on neurontin then trieptal which did not work and we finally settled on lortab 10 which did work and I am still on.
First I began to get some feeling back in my upper arm and I could wiggle a couple of fingers then I began to regain some tactile surface sensory. I could tell you were touching me but it was numb below the surface, but the pain could reduce you to tears, very weird feeling. Once I started to feel anything I began my own physical therapy. I refused to give in I was determined to do everthing I possibly could. I knew all those muscles remembered how to move I just had to remind them they did. As I lay in bed at night I would try to will my arm to move. I massaged it, talked to it, visualized my arm moving, dreamed about it and utilized the most powerful organ in my body, my brain. This was an on-going process and low and behold as I was laying there one morning I slightly moved my arm, it was barely more that a twitch, but it moved. I awoke my daughter and told her to come look to make sure I was not imagining it. I could tell that movement was generated by using my upper arm strength. At this point I could only move it when laying flat on my back. I still could not bend my elbow so I knew I had to teach my elbow to bend next. So I started on this, again laying down finally after weeks of trying I bent my elbow. I would lay in bed move my upper arm then move my lower arm by bending my elbow and making my lower arm move. I didn't have good control but I could make it move. At this point I still could do nothing when standing up except make my upper arm move slightly. I could not bend my elbow while standing, it just would not work against gravity. Next step I knew was lifting my arm and teaching it how to overcome gravity. Again I began to practiced this when laying down. I knew I had to teach that arm how to lift. I would lay down and try to lift from the elbow up. This was accomplished in increments of mere inches until I could raise my arm in a verticle position from the elbow up while laying down. I had began to work on my fingers when I first felt upper arm movement so this was an ongoing process also.
Gravity was the only thing holding me back at this point so I began to try to bend my elbow while standing, then after a lot of hard work I did, and another milestone was accomplished. I still had no strength in my arm and fingers. As different parts began to move I then began to work on gaining strenght. I began to try to lift things or carry things, to constantly challenge myself with different tasks. All of this brings me to the point where I am at now. My arm works now, I can lift it fully extended over my head and move it in any and all positions. It's still weak and I don't know if I will ever regain the fine motor skills in my fingers again but I can tell you I will never stop trying. My arm still has numbness from the elbow down and the fingers are the worst. But again the fingers are the longest point from injury and nerves are notoriously slow to heal, about one inch per month, maybe.
So here is my story I hope in some way to have been helpful. It will be one year in October since my injury. I have learned to have a lot more patience, to take one day at a time and be eternally grateful for the little things in life. So I am sending your way some hope, some patience and the will to never give up. Please email me if I can be of any help, ever. Wishing you a speedy recovery of mind, body and spirit.
Annette