United Brachial Plexus Network, Inc.

Hello Everyone,

I am new to this board am I'm desperately seeking some answers, advice or ideas for my wife's constant arm pain from BP. On a scale of 1 -10 she is at 8 -10 most of the time 24/7. She is 49 years old if that is a factor for some doctor reading this.

Her story is: She has breast cancer since 95. In 98 Lymphedema started in the left arm. Breast Reconstruction was done in 2000. In Nov. of 2001 she had a flu shot at work in her right arm. Within 2 weeks of the flu shot she started to lose the feeling and function of her left arm over the next 6 – 8 weeks. She could not even raise the arm on it’s own. But she still had use of her left hand!

Then in 6/01 her arm started to come back to the point that she could raise it level with her elbow. That was a great sign it was coming back. But by 12/01 the arm was gone again and this time the hand too!!! Now she can not use the arm or hand at all and has no feeling in it at all. During the process of the arm and hand dying she was in pain. But after the arm had totally died the pain stopped too.

At this point she had lost all use of the left arm but at least the arm pain had stopped.
Then in May of 2003 right after coming back from a plane trip to FL. the arm pain started back up again and has been non stop ever since.

The doctors have given her at first 20mg of Oxycontin CR along with 5 mg of Oxycodone HCL. At first all that was need was the Oxycontin. But after a while she need the break through meds of Oxycodone HCL. Several time a day.

Then the 20mg of Oxycontin CR was not working any longer and we went to see a pain management doctor. He upped the 20mg of Oxycontin CR to 40mg. But that still did not relieve the arm pain. She went back to him on 11/20/03 and he now has her on MS Contin-CR 30 mg and for break through pain Morphine SUL 15 mg. (Morphine) and still she is in constant pain in the range of 7-9. The PM doctor told her that is all he can do for her.

We live in the Houston, TX area with a world recognized medical center and she has seen
some of the supposed best and they are at a lost as the cause of her arm problem or how to fix it.

We will be happy to just get her out of pain and live with the loss of the arm. So please if any one out there has had a similar problem or knows of a great doctor for this problem please pass this posting on to them. She has even tried acupuncture for the arm with no help. Thanks for all your help in advance.

Bill Melber
wmelber@sbcglobal.net

Hi Bill,

Welcome!

Sorry to read about your wife. Just want to say you have found a great place to get help. My adult son was in a motorcycle accident and also has no movement in his left arm and hand. Was in way to much pain. Had surgury by a doctor in Baltimore, surgery ease the pain a lot,and eventhou he still has pain once in awhile, it took a year or soon for the pain to ease up.

Keep watch of this post as other people will help.

We have a lot of wonderful people who post here and give lots of support.

Wishing you and your wife well,

Hugs, Karen

Hi Bill...I am so sorry to hear about the pain your wife is in. The pain is undoubtedly the worst aspect of any nerve injury.

Unfortunately, we have heard of quite a few people who have suffered similar symtoms after an injection into the arm, but most, if not all have recovered function slowly over a matter of weeks or a few months. Has your wife had any diagnostic testing like EMG's and MRI/CAT scans? I assume she has, but if they were a while ago, perhaps it might be time to have them done again? It's worth a try. Maybe something will show up and give them some clue how to treat the underlying cause of this pain and she won't need such high doses of painkiller anymore.

I hope you find answers soon....
Best wishes...

Liz B

Hi Bill
So sorry to hear about this, and I know how badly you are feeling your wife's pain and suffering.
It would probably be a good idea to see a bpi specialist whose main interest is adult onset bpi.
Meanwhile, here is an article that might interest you. http://daffodil.uthscsa.edu/faculty/dum ... mpain.html I know that Dr Kline of Louisiana has also written some articles on bpi caused by injection, his details are in the medical resources section on the home page of this site.
Please let us know how things pan out, and I really hope your wife gets some relief soon. Take care :0) Jen NZ

Hey--
Main problem I've had is finding Dr.s who believe you. I had my arm amputated 2 years after my accident (m.cycle) and now all they are willing to see is "phantom pain from your amputation".It's the simplest solution for them. In 10 years I've seen maybe 30-40 Dr.s and have yet to find a single one who will look beyond the amputation. "it's all in my head---I need prozac--take 850 mgs of ibuprofin-I actually had a Dr tell me it "couldn't be that bad or I'd kill myself. A human being couldn't live with that level of pain. You'd be insane." A DR. TOLD ME THIS TO MY FACE. I've been accussed of being a 'drug seeker"---An orthopedic simply told me to "find Jesus" and walked out of the room. We are not being listened to--we are not being believed.YOU MUST MAKE THEM BELIEVE YOU. I've been accussed of EVERYTHING. I was arrested on suspicion of being a drug dealer for filling a prescription I did not know was out of date. (the charges were dropped when they realized thier "mistake")--but the arrest is still on my record. I've been dealing w/this for 10 yrs come Dec 12 and I still have no idea what to do. Please be carefull--be strong and do not let the Doctors brush you off with things like "phantom pain"--good luck--Ronin