United Brachial Plexus Network, Inc.

Okay, this is a weird one - but I was hoping someone could shed a little light on it..

My 4 year old daughter has taken to dropping to the floor, any floor...concrete, wood, in a mall, on the sidewalk, at home, where-ever and laying on her NON-BPI side. She has her cheek and chest touching the ground...so she looks a bit contorted. Her shoulder is pushed back to allow her chest to be on the ground. She does this several times a day when she's tired and she says she's resting. What strikes me is that the position is always the same and she gets her whole cheek on the ground. If it were me, I'd want to rest my head on my arm as a pillow, but she likes her head on the ground. She does NOT sleep like this at night (at least not that I've seen when I check on her).

I was curious if this positioning had something to do with either helping with "over-use" issues on her non-bpi side, or it help provide sensory input to her BPI side. She's just 4 so she only tells me she's resting when I ask her about it. AND of course, this could have absolutely nothing to do with her BPI!!! This started out of the blue one day about 3 months ago.

Well, any thoughts are welcome.

Regards,
Lisa

Well, I finally got her to tell me why she does it. She says it's to cool off her face because it is so hot. She always "cools" her non-BPI side.

So all you adults out there...I've heard that the BPI side tends to feel cold, but does that make the other side feel hot? She hasn't mentioned anything other than her cheek being hot. Also, is it a constant feeling of being cooler on that side? Maybe when she's flushed she only feels it on one side? Any thoughts?

Just trying to understand...

Lisa D.

Lisa,

Actually I feel hotter on my bpi side, but that is because I have Horner's and don't sweat on that side of my face.

The sympathetic nerve system can also be affected by this injury and that controls how we feel temperature. I know from talking with other obpi adults that some feel colder on that side and some feel hotter. It is just simply off kilter so to speak.

It's really weird when I flush, and my ear on the bpi gets really red and the other side stays normal. Looks pretty strange!

Nancy

I am always cold on the bpi side. My face and ear feel like I am freezing when I sleep. I don't feel heat on the robpi side. It is annoying I tend to sleep with the covers on that side of my face and ear because it is always cold... maybe she feels warm and wants her face to feel even... interesting...
I can not stand to have anything cold placed on my right side. I experience sharp pain when ice packs were placed on my arm shoulder during PT... I was almost in tears.

thanks for letting us know what was going on.
Kath

Hi Lisa

I read your post when you first posted it, without an answer, I did not reply previously.

My thought today, when I read your daughters explanation. Ingenious.

Your little girl is very smart to come to her own solution at making herself feel better, and cooling off her warm side.

Certainly she will continue to do this in all areas, all through her life. Such a smarty.

Thank you all so much for your posts. It really helps me understand my daughter better when I can hear about your experiences.

Thank you, thank you, thank you!