United Brachial Plexus Network, Inc.

Hi Again and thanks to those people who replied to my last email. My brother is in his 4th week of recovering from his bike/car collision resulting in tbpi.

What his fiance and I are wanting to grasp a hold of is how long does the fierce/horrendous pain continue? (We have read many stories and reports etc)My brother has continual "attacks" that can last up to 30 mins without stopping. Understandibly this traumatises him and us by his bedside. Two days ago his medication was changed again as nothing they have tried is making too much of a difference. We are in a regional location but wanting to relocate him to our capital city. We are told locally that what they are doing is no different to what they would be doing in the city but we wonder......Our faith in his healing ability is still there but we wilt each time we hear his screams of pain that just build and build and build.

And it would be of great assistance if someone could give us a mudmap of the process of evaluating the injury eg. methods and a timeline. We are having difficulty tracking down his Dr etc. Thanks again in advance for your time and assistance.

Regards K & G

Hi! I have had my BPI almost 3 years now and I will be the first to tell you that the pain very rarly ever goes away. It will get much easier with time but it usally is always there. Mine is liveable these days. I havent taken pain pills on a regular basis in about 2 years! Dont get my wrong, I Still have pain but it gets easier to deal with over time! As far as the doctors and the evaluations and such, it can be a crazy process and things seem to vary from place to place. I searched on the internet and found a few doctors that I went to see for opinions and such. Time is of importance, I learned that the hard way! The sooner you can see a doctor and get evaluated, the sooner they can decided what to do, surgeries and such. I have had two surgeries to repair the nerves. One thing that really helps me when my pain gets bad is to keep myself busy, go to the gym, shopping, school, or even a hot bath! Feel free to email me personally and I will gladly help with anything that I can. Have you check out this website also....http://tbpiukgroup.homestead.com/Index_1.html
That is great siste as well that is strickly TBPI! The mates there are great too! Good luck and I hope tp hear from you soon!
COurtney

Hi Courtney

Thank you for your reply. I have read a little about keeping busy during the pain to distract your focus. My brother has been trying this and it hasn't helped him so far. It might be different once he is out of hospital and is up and about. He still has injuries which prevent him from being up and about.

Can you tell me in your experience is the correct pain control treatment being administered when he is screaming in pain whilst in hospital. We find it very hard to understand that he cannot be a little more comfortable. We also understand that the pain will not be totally blocked but it is still intense and has him writhing in his hospital bed......

I await your reply, thanks for your assistance.

K & G

The pain that I was having very early on was subsided by morphine and when I was out of the hospital oxycontin! That damn pill was my BEST friend! If I doubled up on it or ran out early, I was MISERABLE! The pain was bloody hell! That could be! Talk with the doctors about switching it up and see if maybe there is another option! Keep asking questions, thats what we are here for!! Best of luck!
COurt

Don't know what your brother can tolerate. John didn't do well w/narcotics, so what worked best for him was neurontin, amitriptyline & topomax. Seems it wasn't until we added the topomax that he got the best relief.

There's a lot of trial & error with this, since everybody is different. I'm so sorry you're all having to go through this.

Ellen

Hi Ellen

We appreciate your response. We are meeting with my brother's consultant tomorrow morning. I will present your experience and see where that leads us.

Thank you again.

K, G & J

Courtney

The morphine is only just enough to calm him. The pain is definitely still there. He is also on lignecane (not sure of the spelling). A low level anesthetic that is delivered via IV. It is his fourth day today on this drug. A small improvement has been made but the msmorph, lignacane and epileptic drugs he is on is a strong cocktail but as you mentioned nothing quite quell's the pain.

Hope your doing alright. Thanks again for the contact.

Karen