Tips and Tricks

[flowerchild]

A few things that I have found helpful in my journey:

1. My physiatrist has prescribed a new topical pain ointment. It is a compounded Rx, which is a custom topical pain med. It is 5% Ketamine, 2% Amitriptolene, and 2% Cyclobenzoprene. It has been extremely helpful to calm that deep, aching soreness, and also the super-hypersensitivity of the skin. There are other things that can be added to this compound, such as neurotin, to further calm things down. It takes about 5 days for it to kick in. It costs about $60 per month. You would need to find a pharmacy that compounds, and a doctor who is familiar with this.

2. My physiatrist has me in a water therapy program called bachlorage. It is a therapy developed in Sweden where the patient totally floats in the water, with floats attached, and the therapist is able to excercise your muscles, without moving the nerve, and as a result, not cause inflammation. We have also be able to tone down a lot of the spasming.

3. As far as good, solid information, two books that I have found to be very helpful are "Surgery of the Peripheral Nerve" by Dr. A. Lee Dellon. He explains very clearly the surgery in the brachial plexus. Also "Brachial Plexus Lesions" by Dr. A. O. Narakas. My local library was able to get them through an interlibrary loan. These are the 2 books that my BP surgeon recommended.

Hope this is helpful,

Flowerchild

[francine]

Dear Flowerchild....

thanks for posting such good information! I'm going to print it off and hold on to it.

Can you physiatrist write something up about this mixture for us? I'd like to know more about why these things are mixed together and what each piece does.

Also - do you have more information about this type of water therapy?

Looking forward to hearing from you,
francine

[francine]

There is an international group called the Narakas Club (named after Dr. Narakas) that meets every couple of years to discuss brachial plexus injuries. This year the symposium will be in Paris in January. It's quite famous...just thought you might want to know about this Narakas fellow.

I will seek out these books. Also - there is a new book out by Pr. Gilbert. I will try to get you information about it.

-francine