United Brachial Plexus Network, Inc.

HI,
I was injured January 2004 at work, i slipped on a patch of ice and as i fell i grabbed a rail that was about shoulder high. my arms took my full weight of 370 pounds. i pulled myself up, took a step and went down again, again grabbing the rail with my arms holding me up. i immediately began having problems with my back and neck (have had a previous back injury due to a car accident in 1996), i had pain and spasms in my back and neck. i went to my chiropractor the next day who started me on treatments for the back & neck and also took me off work. Since this happened at work it went through SAIF (oregons workers comp). they made change to someone on their list of providers, another chiropractor. Within 3 weeks of injury the new chiro sent me back to work on light duty, at that time i began to notice problems with both of my arms, burning tingling numbness in hands, pain traveling down both arms, swelling in forearms, feeling of weakness, decreased grip, and stiffness in shoulders, inability to sleep due to pain in shoulders and arms. The chiropractor felt it was just tendonosis and tried manipulation of the shoulders. this worked the first couple of times to reduce the symptoms but they just keep coming back and getting worse and got to the point that it hurt to much to have him mess with my shoulders. I requested that he send me to a regular doctor. It took almost 2 months to get the referral to a orthopedic surgeon. the orthopedic surgeon then took another 2.5 months and 3 mri's and a nerve conduction test for carpal tunel to inform me that he saw nothing on any of the tests that required surgery and nothing to explain my symptoms. the mri of the shoulders showed mild tendenosis of both rotator cuffs and the nerve conduction test shows that there is a mild conduction problem in both arms. the orthopedic then said he couldnt help me any more and sent me out the door. since then i started seeing an regular M.D. who put me on prozac (he said i was depressed, i say im pissed off and ready to go postal over the whole thing), trazadone (for sleep),vicodin (for pain), and started me in physical therapy. On september 29th 2004 i saw an independent medical examiner through workers comp (SAIF). I have not yet seen his report, but he stated to me that he felt that i have the text book symptoms for a traction injury to the brachial nerve plexus and that the pain and numbness should go away. per his recommendations im now taking amitriptylline, trazadone, and vicodin. The physical therapy over the last month has helped me regain most of the range of motion that i was losing/lost, the amitriptylline seems to be helping a little bit. NOW TO THE QUESTION. What next? I still have reall bad days, about once or twice a week where my arms literally feel like they are falling out of socket, with lots of pain down both arms and mild numbness tingling in hands. the pain down the arms can either go down the back or front, with tingling mostly occuring in the last 3 fingers (pinkie, index, pointer, continued swelling in forearms (which no one seems able to explain), lots of headaches, and iam now having pain in my jaw joints (i think im gritting and grinding my teeth in my sleep). I can truly say I've just about had enough. Due to this being an injury at work im still dealing with workers comp, and have been on light duty off and on since january. work has now informed me that as of october 16 i will be put out on workers comp that i have used up all my time on light duty. i dont even know if workers comp will pay me after this happens. or what happens with my job, future, etc. I work taking care of developmentally disabled adults and cant do my job effecitvely. Im totally lost and tired of people treating me like im just making up the pain. thanks for reading this, any thoughts or ideas would be greatly appreciated. WHERE DO I GO NOW? ----BILL

Bill I am sorry to hear about this! A Brachial Plexus injury of any kind really can be a pain in the arse! I would advise you to see and BPI specialist asap as they can lead you better in the right direction. Check out http://ubpn.org/medicalresources/us-bpi.html for some listings and see if you can get any help that way. I Am sure that there are others around here that can offer great advice as well! Best of luck to you!

COurt xx

HI
Well i recieved some paperwork from Saif. They now accept that i have right and left brachial neuritis due to my injury as a disabling injury. I guess its now time to find an expert and a lawyer. Anybody know of any experts treating adults with a traction injury somewhere close to northeastern oregon. thanks bill

Hi Bill,

I can understand your frustration. I also had a nerve traction injury, although it was in my lower back, not the upper back. During the healing process, I noticed that the pain and symptoms got worse as the nerves healed. My ortho guy told me that I had damaged my nerve roots, and that the nerves would have to regenerate and grow from my spine down to my toes. The entire process took about 2 1/2 years...the nerves to the legs are the longest.

I know it seems as if you will never get better, due to the length of time you have been in pain, but I do know that nerves do take a very long time to heal, and can continue to do so, long after the average time of doctors' predictions (most seem to say 18 months). Mine took a lot longer than that, and I eventually became pain free! (I am on this board for a more recent injury).

One of the interesting signs I had during the healing process was that twitching where your muscles ripple without your control (fasciculations)...and the longer the nerve grew, the lower down my leg those twitches would occur...until they finally abated.

Again, just to give you a bit of hope, nerves will continue to try and heal, if indeed that is what your problem is. I hope you continue to seek advice and feedback both from doctors and members of this wonderful forum, but I just wanted to add a bit of my own experience, so that you would not become discouraged.

Karen