United Brachial Plexus Network, Inc.

Ive had no use of my arm alittle over 6 years now.Im finally seeing a pain management doctor because theres no more the other doctor can do for me.Ive been given every narcotic in the book to help with pain at work.They all make me sick/sleepy and cant function like that.At night I control some of the pain with heating pad,lidoderm patches,tenns unit,and vicidin.At work for now all I can do is wear my sling and for some reson taping the upper arm helps some.Since this pain is constant and long time pain,my pain doctor brought up a spinal stimulator.Im all for doing the trial run with this.(if work comp will pay)Anyone else do this?If yes,please respond.Thanks

Hi Sam,

What device are they recommending?

Although my pain is at a level I can deal with it without assistance, I was at a Rotary meeting when we had a presentation done by Advanced Bionics, they are in the town I work and it was on their Spinal Cord Stimulator for pain. I asked the person to stay after and talk with me for some time and it sure seems like their device would be perfect for our injury. Even though my pain is not terrible, it does flair up and I wanted to know more about it in case mine got worse.

Here is a link to their site.

http://www.controlyourpain.com/index.cfm?langid=1

Has anyone had experience with this companies product?

Good luck,
Dan

Dan,
That is what the pain doctor is recommending for me,he says its my ONLY option.Now just waiting for work comp to agree its needed.What are your pain symptoms? How did you get plexus injury?

Why was my post removed??

Hi Sam,

I had my accident back in May of 1986. I was a competitive water ski racer and fell at a very high speed head first, pulled all nerves out of spinal cord. Had surgery approx 5 months later that gave me use of my bicept with the intercostals(sp) and the sensory from my face to the hand.

My pain symptoms I think are the usual, the feeling of my hand/arm being on fire or in a vice. I also have pain in the neck area that is from the weight of the arm, it also has some phantom pains tied into it, I think. For me, I am always in pain, it just depends of the intensity, I would say 95-99% of the time it is at a level that does not distract me from my daily life, but there are a few times during the a day, once or twice a month that the pain intensifies very strongly and it does "stop me" in my tracks. This level usually does not last more than a minute. When it does hit, I focus on relaxing and making sure I sit up tall and stretch my neck away from the pain, seems to help not only get it to go away but to also reduce the intensity.

There are a few times a year the pain impacts my sleeping, I just get out of bed and do something so I am not laying there focusing on the pain. When I either get really tired or can get the pain to subside, I go back to bed. There are times my wife says I cry or whimper in my sleep and toss around and thinks it is because lf the pain, but I don't know because it doesn't wake me up.

I feel very blessed that I don't need to take drugs, part of that might be that I just made up my mind right from the start I wouldn't take them, but the more I read what others deal with and knowing how painful my intense times are I just think mine are just not bad enough to have to take drugs or the stimulator.

I do know for me that keeping busy and making sure I am active keeps the pain down or at least keeps my mind from focusing on the pain.

Best of luck with the workers comp covering the cost and when they do with the device.

Dan

Wow, Dan!!!! Everything you sad, from your pain to your beliefs of not being on pain medication is exactly like me!
It is amazing how our symptoms are the same.
Have you tried skiing after your accident? I use to water ski all the time before my accident as well. I did ski a few times after my accident but I think if I tried now I'd be in a body cast. It hurts thinking about it............
How old were you when you had your accident? I was 17 (almost 18) when my accident happened in Aug of 1987.
Kath

Hi Kath,

Yes, I water ski,in fact it is one of the activities I do the most. You might ask Chris to post pictures, but just met up with Fernando and Chris in Mexico a few months ago to go skiing. If he starts that thread I can comment there more about my harness and skiing.

My accident was in May of 1986 and I had just turned 18 two weeks earlier, I was two weeks away from graduating HS.

I have been very active right from the start with my injury, I started playing golf within a month or so and was snowskiing within six months. Fortunatly for me, I "only" hurt the arm, no other imjuries. I think that helped alot as I was only on "normal" pain meds for a very short time after my injury and then again after my surgery. I got involved in many sports and still am fairly active, not as much as I should and I think that is also why I am experiencing a little more pain lately than I have in the past.

It was interesting talking wiht Chris and Fernando and how their Dr's told them different things about how much or little arm movement they should allow, especially with raising their bad arm over their head and movement in the shoulder. I manually raise my arm up as far as it can go and move the arm in shoulder all the time stretching it as far as I can in all directions. It helps my to "break up" everything in the shoulder and keep it loose, which in turn for me helps reduce the pain. Which I think goes hand in hand with being active, the more I go jogging, hicking, biking or anything that gets the blood flowing and my body moving, the better my arm feels.

I know a long post, but I think there are many reasons I have not had to be on pain meds in 20 years, like I said earlier, I just don't have as much pain as others, but I also think alot of it is a by product of how active I gave been.

All my best,
Dan

Hi Dan~
Great to hear from you. You are one yr older than I am. My accident was in 87-two weeks before my 18th.
What is the extent of your injury?
I wish I could have stayed active but once I became a mom in 96 and I went on to have 3 more children (my youngest being 2 right now) so my social life, as far as those types of activities, halted. I also have had several surgeries at Mayo clinic to do some reconstructive surgeries, my last surgery was just this past July. Its tough to recover with 4 children running around and laundry that needs to be done. As you see, I am very active but not active like you. I wish I could ski again. It is such an awesome feeling.
I have pain................this time of year its pretty painful. The cold is like sharp knives going into me. I also describe it as someone cutting my arm open and pulling my veins out. Gross, huh? I do have my children for distraction.
I 100% agree with you. No pain meds. I have to much responsibility to be "on" medication. I have tried it so I can knock it! I even went to Mayo to try an experimental surgery I read about 5 years ago involving brain surgery. Dr Spinner was not comfortable with it and said he would not preform it.
Where do you live? Do you have a family? I am really curious to know what your injury involves.
Kath in Chicago
BBBBBBBBBBRRRRRRRRRRRR

Hi Kath,

Rep, you are very busy, four children under 11 makes for a busy time.

My injury, I evulsed all five, had the intercostal surgey in sept of 86 so I have use of the bicept. They also cut the sensory nerves to the left side of my face and connected them to my median nerve (I think it is the median nerve) so I have some sensory in my hand. More of a parlor trick than actually helps me. So other than the bicept and little sensory, my arm does not work at all. No other surgeries. I have broken the arm twice, once the ball that connects to the shoulder, I shattered it into four peices and then the elobow. Both were doing sports without having my arm wrapped up. Other than that, I have not been seen by Dr's for the arm. I really hadn't done much thinking about my arm or the injury and dealing with it till I found this site by accident almost two years ago. Once I did find it and read about others dealing with their arm and the other issues that go with it, I read and have posted a few times when I thought I could contribute to the conversation.

Live in Los Angeles, so don't have to deal with the cold, other than when I go snow skiing, don't think I get more pain when in the snow, but again only in it a few days at a time and then most of the time it is being very active which helps.

I am married and have two children, my daughter Jordan is 2 1/2 and my son Caleb is 9 mos. I do financial planning as a profession.

Be glad to chat via e-mail or call if you wanted to discuss or pick my brain in more detail, just let me know.

Dan