United Brachial Plexus Network, Inc.

My mother had surgery in april 2002 and has had pain ever since. They removed a node under her arm and the pain started after that with numbness in her fingers and she started to slow down. Quit drive after a while. In the last 3 months she hasnt left the house. In the past month she doesnt even get out of her lazy boy and with in the last couple days she has only been awake 2 hours a day. Its a downhill slope. The doctor just told me today that there may be nerve damage to the Brachial Plexus or as least swelling. She has an appointment in Nov with a pain specialist, and maybe a nerve block. The doctors had her on percacet?? and then switched to Oxy coton 40mg she just sleeps all day now. We've been to a dozen doctors with no real help, just passing the buck so to speak. If anyone has any good direction please tell me. She is in aweful pain and we dont know what to do. We live in the pittsburgh area so if you know of any help there please tell me.

Thanks you in advance
Adam

Hi Adam

I am so sorry that your mother in law is going thru all this. My advice to you is try and get her to see a BPI specialist as soon as possible...it is very important that she gets a proper diagnosis as soon as she can. If you go to the medical resources page on this site, you will find a list of doctors/surgeons in your state who are experienced in diagnosing and treating this injury. Here is the link; http://ubpn.org/medicalresources/us-bpi.html

Her sleepiness is almost definitely being caused by the high doses of painkillers that she is taking, particularly the oxycontin. I can understand how worried you all must be. In my limited experience, the sleepiness usually becomes less as time passes. If she is going to see a specialist in pain control at a pain clinic soon, they will be able to fix the dosage to a level that will allow her to be more awake as time goes by.

Hope this helps a bit; please let us know how she gets on.

Best wishes...Liz B

Sorry to hear about your mom. I found this name under the medical directory, he's at a children's hospital but may know someone who can help.
Approved contact information:
Associate Professor of Neurosurgery
Children's Hospital of Pittsburgh
University of Pittsburgh
Director, Brachial Plexus and Peripheral Nerve Injury Center and Clinic
3705 Fifth Avenue
Pittsburgh, PA 15213

phone: 412.692.5090
fax: 412.692.5921
email: David.Adelson@chp.edu

I truly hope your mother's pain has lessened.
I have seen pretty good results in a limited number of bodies treating nerve pain using a tincture of deer antler (ingested). This is touted to be a great Yang Jing tonic. http://www.quantumwellness.com/pages/members/audio.asp Whole antler is better that velvet and tips are best.

Far infrared is soothing, encourages healing and knitting of tissue as well as detoxifying and pain relieving.

I’m in Penn Hills and have a whole body far infrared unit here. If your mother is ambulatory you can bring her here and use it for free conversely the unit is somewhat portable. Feel free to phone me 412-243-0755

David - can you give us more information about infrared - tell us how it works and why? I've been wondering about this for a long time. Thanks.
-francine

DAvid - just read your bio on the site.. I am a shiatsu practitioner and my daughter also has a bpi. I would love to talk to you more about your work.
francine@injurednewborn.com