United Brachial Plexus Network, Inc.

Hi,
I'm Ally, I'm 14 years old and would like to talk to any teens out there with this injury.

Hi Ally, my name is Andrew and i'm 16. I have a complete right TBPI from a head on snowmobile accident. Do you have a TBPI or OBPI? you can post again with your email and i can give you mine if you want.

Hey Ally i am an 18 year old guy from scotland i have a TBPI which i got from a motorbike accident 15th March 2002 i can understand the lonlyness you are feeling at the moment as i felt exactly the same when i first had the injury but when you start posting on the boards you will find everyone here is willing to be your friend. If you would like to email me then feel free. kevin_anderson84@tiscali.co.uk i hope things start to get better for you soon but i think they soon will after you get to know a few people on the boards. Chin up

Kev

hey,
I'm a 15 year old with all avulsions from a SUV hitting me while I was on a cycling training ride last november in Atlanta (that's where I live). I had my first round of surgery at mayo clinic in rochester, minnesota last month. I'll go back on april 9 for a second round. how did you get your accident? feel free to email me if you have any questions regarding your injury or anybody else's injury on this site. be sure to ask all the questions you can. how's your pain? mine's pretty bad. what medicines do you take?

john

Hi Belllap
I'm on 2400 mg of Gabapentin (Neurontin), 40 mg of Oxycontin, and 75 mg of amiytripetlyne. I am a year and two months post accident and had surgery about a year ago. c5,c6.c7 were severed but still had roots that could be graphed c8 and t1 are avulsed. They took nerves from my legs and graphed them to c5,c6,c7 to give me biceps and most of my shoulder. So far i can move my shoulder and use my bicep a bit. The pain used to be really bad but since i have been on thease drugs the pain has been at least a little bareable. What drugs are you on? and how long ago was you accident? if you want to ask me anything i'd be glad to answer if i can.

Andrew

hey -
I'm on 50 mg amitriptyline, 200 mg topomax & 3600 neurontin. glad to know that your pain has been bearable for you. C5,6,7,8 & T1 are avulsed, and in the first surgery they did a contralateral C7, took nerves from both legs, the right gracilis muscle (from inner thigh) and phrenic nerve. accident was november 19th. where did your accident happen, and is that where you live? is the bpi in your dominant arm? I got lucky. who did your surgery?

john

Hey,
Wow that must be tuff having c5 to t1 avulsed because i know the pain is worst in c8 t1 (hand and lower arm) area. Have you tried Oxycontin? I have found it works well for me especially for the jabbing and burning pains. But from what I here about on the message boards it doesn't always work. The other problem with Oxycontin is it's an opiate and is addictive. My accident was a head on snowmobile collision and unfortunately it was my dominant arm. I live in Canada in a town called Dawson Creek its in northern British Columbia. The accident happened about a mile from my house. Where are you from? My surgery was done by two doctors Dr. Joughen and Dr. Harap I think that's the right spelling. Who did your surgery? Do you do any sports like snow boarding or skiing? If you do what do you do with your arm?

Andrew

hey,

sorry for the late reply. Oxycotin didn't work for me - it didn't help with the pain plus it gave me really wierd dreams. in july we will start tapering off with one of the pain medicines and see what happens since my dosages are pretty high.

I've skiied since I was four and tried snowboarding two years ago. I thought it was pretty fun but I would probably go back to skiing if I went again. might be going to winter park next year since they're good for handicapped people. Do you have any advice on skiing with one arm? I'm from Atlanta so don't get to ski much.

Going to Mayo Clinic in Rochester next Tuesday for my next surgery on Wednesday. They'll take my left gricilus muscle and four intercostal nerves. In February they moved my good C7 and phrenic nerve over, took the other gracilus and both sural nerves. the doctors are Shinn, Spinner & Bishop and my surgery will be filmed by Discovery Health Channel.

john

Hey John have you any idea when your surgery will be shown on discovery i think that would be brilliant watching it. can you email me with the date time because i will probably miss it on here. cheers

Kev

Yeah me too John it would be pretty cool to see your surgery could you email me at lowe_andrew@hotmail.com or post it on the message board with the time and date it will be shown. It would probably be better if you post it on the message boards because your email might get deleted with my junk mail. thanks
Andrew