United Brachial Plexus Network, Inc.

Hey all,
Go The Aussies. Good to see some of you posting on here,its a great site.AUSTRALIA TO WIN THE ASHES 5 TO 0, WHAT DO YOU POMS RECKON. HA HA.
ps no movement at all as yet but a lot of tingles all through my arm and fingers.
cheers DEAN

Hi Michael,

I'm so sorry to read about your accident, but it's good you've had surgery to transfer nerves & get some movement back. How many nerves were avulsed?

Re your post about pain, it can vary all over the map. Some people have severe pain no matter what, some have hardly any, some start with severe but over time it gets better. That's been the case in our situation & I think it's due to two factors: learning how to manage the pain (mainly thru distraction but also finding the right combination of drugs), and also lessened pain as the transferred nerves begin firing the muscles.

For John, the best combination of meds were daily dosages of 3600 Neurontin, 200 Topomax & 100 Amitriptyline (Eleval). At this point, he's been able to completely taper off unless he's under stress or really tired & he takes 600 Neurontin. He couldn't tolerate narcotics so this was the best we could find for him.

Good luck & keep us posted.

Take care,

Ellen

Well, oops, Michael! I see I already wrote all that to you on page one. I'm hopeless... (smile)

Ellen

Hi everyone, it was strange to see this post come up after such a time. It has now been 14 months since the accident and nearly 12 months since surgery. I haven't posted in quite some time. I have been quite busy studying and getting on with things.

Since the post is here I will fill you in on what's been happening. No actuall movement in the arm yet, avuled 4 of the 5 nerves. The other one was severed. When I think about moving my arm at the moment you can actually see things trying to move. I am able to bring my shoulder outwards now and lift and rotate the shoulder as well. Getting some very weird sensations down in the fingers and other parts of the arm. I suppose it is a slow process and only time will tell. Am back to Dr on 9th August, 12 months out from surgery to see what he has to say and what is my next option.

Pain is still there, however over last few months I am getting more good days then bad. Perhaps it is me getting me used to the pain. Still on neutrotin 300mg 4 times a day. I don't think I can give it up yet, but hopefully one day will be med free. Still have the bad days though when it is a trip to hell and back. You know those buring, piercing, stabbing out of control pain days.

I have been attending school this year and am doing my Real Estate Certificate. Hopefully by the end of the year I will have my license and will get employment in that industry. Still don't have any work at this stage. There don't seem to be many people out there ready to hire someone with only the use of one arm. Anyway will keep trying. As for my results for the first semester, I received "Distinguished" in all subjects and was very pleased with myself. At least I am keeping myself busy to a cetain extent.

Thanks Dean and Ellen for your messages. Don't worry about the oops Ellen is good to see messages from you any time.

Anyway just a quick rundown. Take care everyone. Hope you all have more good days then bad ones.

Regards Michael.

Hey man I live with pain everyday its but you just go throught it.. my neck is in pain 24/7 and my hand and arms are always tingling and shooting pain all the time.. now I don't take any kind of dugs or painkillers and I found out that I just ignore the pain. I have also had marine corps training though too so being tough is something I am good at LOL .. all I can say is hang in there bro and ask your doctors tons of questions to help you out.

-fit4lfe