United Brachial Plexus Network, Inc.

I see a bit of a common thread...Several people have mentioned pain in the affected arm with fevers and/or illness. My son, who is 7, for the first time a few weeks ago had "shocks" of pain in his arm with a high fever. He'd never had it before then. It's very odd isn't it? I bet we could speculate what the source of that pain is, but I also bet doctor's couldn't really tell us the cause of it. It has me very curious...

Jamie

I had shocks in my arm ever since I can remember. They come out of no where and as soon as someone rubs my arm for a bit they go away.

I rarely get them now but if I am sick it is worse.

When I was a child I think it was during growth time. As a small child we are always growing. The doctors often told my Mom I was using it as an excuse or to get attention... They were wrong!

I think most physicians who are experienced with bpi injury know better now but I don't think most Peds are really aware of it.

Once on this board a few years ago one of the children told his Mom that he felt like someone was hitting him with sharp sticks...

I guess I am not growing anymore at 63 so it does not happen as often. LOL... LOL

Kath

Kath,

Thanks for your insight here!
I hope that these sensations subside for our kids, too.
It's hard when you don't know what to do for the pain. Unfortunately, Emma's got a lot of growing still to do and she seems to have inherited my ability to catch whatever illness happens to come around (you'd think that would make you a more healthy adult...but it didn't me. I was always getting sick as a kid and now as a parent, I seem to get sick just as often!)

Peggy

Jamie, If it means anything to you Ashley also has this from time to time. I always believe her , she would not fib about such a thing, and tylenol and a nice massage always do the trick. )

Lenni

I think it is almost impossible for them to make up those sudden "lightening strike" shocking pain. You can see it in their faces, the shock of the intensity, the sudden onset. We see Kaitlyn doing this and it does get worse with illnesses, fatigue and growth times. The look on her face and the sudden grabbing of her arm reminds me of someone getting an unexpcted electric jolt. BUT she doesn't not let us rub it, she grabs it and starts howling for a few! She also stops almost complete use of her arm when she is ill or growing.

I know that Emma doesn't make it up. It comes out of no where and she doesn't normally complain about things hurting (everything else, yes..like things not going her way) but when she specifically tells me that something hurts, I believe her.

Peggy

my two sense worth on this issue.
years ago....i was 13 I had a knee problem...after months of tests and xrays and the like, they figured out that I had sinavitis, a condition in which my infections settle in the weakest part of my body at that time my knee....due to a softball accident. I feel that this would be the same issue with our bpi kids !@

My daughter has the same problem. The pain usually starts with a fever/illness. We have spoken to the doctors about this and they stated that most of the time a illness will attack the weakest part of your body, and for my daughter that is her right arm with the BPI.

This happens to my almost 2 year old also. When she runs fever, she will just grab at her bpi arm and howl. Our ped. told us to give her Motrin which seems to help, but the pain just comes and goes while she's sick. She also quits using her arm while she runs the fevers. This just is so puzzling. At least now I know its pretty normal for bpi kids. I was wondering if Savannah had maybe re-injured something that was only showing during illness for some reason.