United Brachial Plexus Network, Inc.

Greetings . I had cervical neck surgery last October and when I came out of recovery my right arm lost all function , except my hand and fingers . It has gotten better , but my bicep is still so weak ! I can only raise my arm up totally when lying on the floor . My neurosurgeon insists that no nerves were " cut " . He has refered me to a shoulder specialist , who I saw this week . My MRI showed no rotator cuff injury . sooo ,I am being refered to a arm and shoulder specialist . There are times my shoulders and hands lock in a cramped position . Anyone out there with similar problems , history ? Any help would be greatly appreciated .
Thanks ,Hawkeye

are u still looking for answers referring to your pain. I have had my right accessory nerve cut in my neck, upon removal of "lypmh nodes" and suffer now from shoulder pain, muscle atrophy etc. Does this sound familiar to you? Contact me if you want to talk more. leeangelau

I had double cervical surgery in january to supposidly fix my shoulder, arm pain and numnous in my fingers the day after surgery my pains were back along with a very painful neck. The doctor seemed to think the original pains i was feeling were all in my head so I went to a secound nero specialist. He did a mri on my shoulder and found a bad case of brachial plexus
Now I am not sure if I had it before he did the surgery and worked on my neck for nothing or if the surgery caused the brachial plexus
I am not sure if that answers anything for you but if anyone knows how to deal with a doctor like that let me know. GOOD LUCK

After your experience, maybe you can help me. Just found out by mri that I have multilevel cervical stenosis and cord compression. Do you think I should have surgery?

Hello Hawkeye,
I had a Triple Anterior Cervical Fusion with Titanium Cage, Plates, and Stainless Steel Rods on Both Sides. All my surgeon was concerned with was the Awe of his work. Nothing else matters to him. I have told him about the NEW pain I have POST hello P O S T! Surgical. I have pain so intense it makes my hand stay in the closed position. When I try to open it, you would think someone is sticking needles in the joints. When I lay flat in the Bed I begin to have Very Intense Right Shoulder Pain that "sometimes" travels down my right arm. I have had many ER Visits as a result finding Doctors that don’t give a hoot about my pain and sometimes think I am seeking drugs, A LOAD OF CRAP is all I get from them “I even have my Primary Care Doc call them to relay the seriousness of the situation”. I have seen Doctors that took an oath to have compassion. All they want is another Dollar. I have found some GOOD RELIEF in doing the following:

#1. Have an open mind in the following: I requested a medication that would provide pain relief on a long-term basis without the Euphoria of the Sought After Narcotics. Believe it or not I am PAIN FREE MOST OF THE DAY. I suffer from Acute Shoulder Pain in the late evenings, when lying down. The medication was originally designed to treat pain but is also used to treat addiction. Try LOW DOSE Methadone. I am on 40mg a day and the relief last’s up to 30 hors before I take the next dose and has NO SIDE EFFECTS.

#2. Take anti-inflammatory meds daily like Naproxin Sodium, Advil, or Vioxx (Carefull Here, Vioxx can cost $400 (60 Tabs) for a months supply, Canadian Online Rx line Canadapharmacy.com are CHEAP CHEAP).

#3. Heating Pads can cause problems, while ICE HELPS much better at least for me.

I can go on and on but you asked if anyone suffered similar circumstances. I would be happy to help. Please feel free to email me and I will share more of my methods with you.