United Brachial Plexus Network, Inc.

Hi, I thought I'd start with the "experts" - the UBPN family. I'll be calling our OT also, but I'll start here. Since Saturday, my son, who is 7, has been having what he describes as "my hand is shocking me". He has a full plexus injury, he had caps in December, and re-started TES about 3 weeks ago. He says it feels like a regular e-stim machine, but very painful. It only lasts about 1 second, he jumps and grabs his hand, and then it's gone. But he's having it dozens of times a day.
Any thoughts? Could a nerve be waking up now, at age 7? Seems unlikely to me...but it does seem like a nerve pain.

Hi i get those shockes in my hand aswell i am a TBPI and am recovering from the surgery and my theory is it is the nerves healing or starting to work so i think it could possibly be the nerve wakinkining up or something like that. hope it is. my shockes are like electric shockes and is very painfull mine last quite long though

Kev

My son has had those pains at different times. When it is rainy and when his elbow was dislocated and bones rubbing against each other. He said it is very nerve wracking. We've tried massage, warm water, ibuprophen.
T.

sounds like waking up nerves to me...
have you ever heard of that hot wax treatment? I think you can buyt them at Walgreens -over the counter, just feels good I think -

Michaela has these occasionally. We found that applying pressure to the area seemed to relieve it for her. Check into accupressure.

I had these after my surgery, and get them occasionally still esp. whenever I have worked my arm. Same is true of fasciculations. Both the electric shocks and fasciculations seemed to follow and in some cases precede new movement. Just my personal experience. The shocks are over so quickly that there really isn't anything you can do about them.

These shocks are different however from the ones that come from a nerve compression. Those were really painful and brought tears to my eyes. Surgery to decompress the nerves helped. So I think it is important to differentiate the kind of shocks. Can he describe them a bit more, I know it is probably hard for him to articulate but it might help the doctor when you describe them to him.

Nancy

Thanks everyone. Tyler describes it as a "shock", some worse than others. The easier ones he describes as "fuzzy", like when the e-stim unit is on. The harder ones, he jumps and grimaces quite hideously. He also has had a fever for the past couple of days, and is just not feeling well, so I don't know if he's just less tolerant of them, but he's never mentioned anything like this before. I'm trying to get a better idea from him of how it feels, how often etc. We're seeing the surgeon next week, so unless it starts to really bother him, we'll wait until then. Nancy, do you still continue to have improvements? Have you always? Or had you hit a plateau before surgery? I've wondered if Tyler's recovery will keep changing/continuing....I've read lots about recovery being complete by a certain age, and I thought he was past that. Well anyway, thanks again! Jaime

Jaime,
I had definitely hit a plateau by my twenties.
Things started to go downhill in my forties, which is why I sought out surgery. That surgery not only took away the pain I had been having but gave me lots of new movement. And yes, I am still seeing improvement, 2 years post surgery, slow changes but consistent, and most important of all, no pain.
Nancy

Hi,
My daughter who is 8, also has these "shocks & fuzzy" feelings in her arm and mostly her hand. I certainly think this could be nerves waking up. Whenever Ashlyn experinces these feelings she starts to gain new movement. Sept of 2000, it was her wrist- which she can now pull upward somewhat. Last May -it was her fingers. She hasn't really gained alot of fine motor, but is able to wiggle her 3 middle fingers more so than before. Ashlyn also has a severe injury. She's been thru six surgeries so far, with more in the future.
I was told last May by TCH that they are seeing some children who are 6-10 yrs out of primary, that are still having some nerve regenation.

My daughter had these sensations (I believe, anyway, she was because she was only about 12-18 months old). she would take her arm and "beat" it against something, really wack it hard! There was also a period of time she wouldn't get in the bathtub...seemed like the warm water bothered it.

This didn't last real long but we thought it was her nerves reestablishing themselves! She had 2 avulsions and nerve grafting done to repair the damage at 5 mo. of age. Her recovery has been phenomenal. We've used both TES & NMES since age 2, two years ago.

I hope this is good news for your son! How wonderful if his nerves are reinervating!