Shoulder Surgery caused BPI - Need Advice
Posted: Mon Jun 11, 2012 4:26 pm
On January 26th 2012 I had a 2nd shoulder surgery to remove bone spurs, torn tissue and remove anchors from my 1st surgery that had been ripped out & were getting lodged between joints. After the surgery I was in a lot of pain from everything that occured, but also had nerve pain all the way from my shoulder/neck area through my arm and into my fingers.
This continued on for months (nerve pain was constant and never going away) even through physical therapy. My shoulder totally healed, but the nerve pain just continued to get extremely worse to the point it was/is unbearable. Constant shooting pain up to my neck, down my arm and into my hand, sometimes it shoots pain into my rib cage and chest area.
After months of trying different things and seeing numerous doctors I was referred to a Spine Specialist that did an MRI and found bone spurs in my neck, but he didn't believe my symptoms were being caused by that. I had an EMG performed at the end of April and it confirmed that I have nerve damage in the Brachial Plexus at the C8.
The Spine Specialist said the Brachial Plexus damage was out of his specialty and referred me to a Pain Management Specialist. They "think" the damage may have been caused by the Interscalene Block I was given before my shoulder surgery. I've tried numerous drugs to try to get some type of pain relief but nothing works. I've tried Lyrica, Hydrocodone and numerous other drugs, but I'm currently on Neurontin and Nucenta ER but neither seem to help.
Has anyone experienced this type of issue? I'm not sure if I should find a Brachial Plexus Injury doctor to find the real cause. I can't help but wonder if there's something actually pinching the nerve (such as a bone spur) or possibly the nerve was slightly cut during surgery. I've been in excruciating pain for almost 5 months and nothing seems to help. This has basically caused my life to halt; I went from working out 5-6 times a week to nothing at all, I'd rather stay at home than go out with friends - I find myself getting easily aggitated with people due to the amount of pain I'm in.
My friends and family don't understand how much pain I'm in and how this has effected my life. Any advice would be greatly appreciated. Also, if anyone knows a good Brachial Plexus Specialist around/in the Dallas, Tx area I'd appreciate a referral as well!
Thanks,
Leslie
This continued on for months (nerve pain was constant and never going away) even through physical therapy. My shoulder totally healed, but the nerve pain just continued to get extremely worse to the point it was/is unbearable. Constant shooting pain up to my neck, down my arm and into my hand, sometimes it shoots pain into my rib cage and chest area.
After months of trying different things and seeing numerous doctors I was referred to a Spine Specialist that did an MRI and found bone spurs in my neck, but he didn't believe my symptoms were being caused by that. I had an EMG performed at the end of April and it confirmed that I have nerve damage in the Brachial Plexus at the C8.
The Spine Specialist said the Brachial Plexus damage was out of his specialty and referred me to a Pain Management Specialist. They "think" the damage may have been caused by the Interscalene Block I was given before my shoulder surgery. I've tried numerous drugs to try to get some type of pain relief but nothing works. I've tried Lyrica, Hydrocodone and numerous other drugs, but I'm currently on Neurontin and Nucenta ER but neither seem to help.
Has anyone experienced this type of issue? I'm not sure if I should find a Brachial Plexus Injury doctor to find the real cause. I can't help but wonder if there's something actually pinching the nerve (such as a bone spur) or possibly the nerve was slightly cut during surgery. I've been in excruciating pain for almost 5 months and nothing seems to help. This has basically caused my life to halt; I went from working out 5-6 times a week to nothing at all, I'd rather stay at home than go out with friends - I find myself getting easily aggitated with people due to the amount of pain I'm in.
My friends and family don't understand how much pain I'm in and how this has effected my life. Any advice would be greatly appreciated. Also, if anyone knows a good Brachial Plexus Specialist around/in the Dallas, Tx area I'd appreciate a referral as well!
Thanks,
Leslie