United Brachial Plexus Network, Inc.

We have been told that some injured brachial plexus nerves may be just stretched and over time will heal. Was also told by one doctor that there is nothing we can do to help baby's nerves heal. Is anyone aware of foods or vitamins that have proven to be helpful to nerve healing?

OH NO!!! that is what i was told, "you just have a stretched nerve" it will heal on its own. give it 18 months and you wil be fine. at 8 months, i was losing more and more function and he just kept telling me it was getting better. NO IT WAS NOT!!! if i would have listened to that, i would not have any function at all in my hand and i probably would have lost the strength in my entire arm also. it was stretched MUCH MORE than the dr claimed. it is as of today 18 months since my injury. i had corrective surgeries 14 months out and was told if i waited any longer, my muscle would have been too far gone to have even completed the surgery.

Yeah, I was told that too. Over and over and over. You need to (under the care and advise of a receptive, knowlgeable Dr-for the meds- and an Occupational Therapist) address a lot of issues.You need to do ROM exercises ATC so that when/if the nerves do heal, the muscles can do their job. Also, you need the bones to grow as much as possible, and that means doing ROM exercises ATC. Don't wait for that. I was also told we could do all the therapy we wanted, but if the brain doesn't connect with the nerves once their healed (to whatever extent), then you won't get good results. There are things you can do to promote that. Also, for normal development of the brain, look into exercises moving the arms and legs in a crawling motion. The list goes on, but it's not just the nerves. It's making sure as best as possible that the body and brain are ready and wired to use that ability if and when the time comes. And to minimize damage resulting from the nerves not working at the time. There are so many other things too.

I've forgotten all the supplements I gave to help promote nerve growth, but orchestrate that with your kids Dr. Make sure you're not doing any harm. I think we gave 3 supplements with permission. One was a B vitamin. I just now googled it and found some answers. Do that and then present it to a Dr. who listens.