United Brachial Plexus Network, Inc.

Hi
My dad was involved in a serious RTA on the 19/6/01 and sustained a complete left BPI.
This has left him in severe, constant pain.
Has anyone suffered similar injuries and if so how are you now. How do you "manage" the pain? Has your life returned to anywhere near normal.
My dad seems to be in a deep depression at the moment and spends all of his days sat in bed. Is this common?
We really could do with some help as we are at our wits end. Nothing seems to help. All conventional medicine has failed to easy the pain.
Please reply soon as i can not bare to watch my dad in such pain.

I suffered a complete BPI December 20, 2000. I suffered a great deal of pain, but with my arm feeling numb also, I took the pain as a good sign, at least I could feel something. That is not to diminish the pain however, it is real. The depression was very real also. I could not have made it without the help of a counselor and antidepressants. It took about 5 weeks on the antidepressants before I felt a lot better, but all of a sudden I felt like I could take a deep breath. Please continue to support your father and see that he sees a counselor for the depression. I would welcome a chat if he is up to it.

Good luck.

Hi Simone,
I feel so bad for u and your dad.The first few months of this injury are very very hard and depression is no joke but your dad needs to get up out of bed and do something.This is hard but if he talks to others with simular problems things wont seem so bad.
Talk to your doctor, antidepressants may help or a short stay in hospital where he could meet others could be of benefit or try to get him involved with this site.
There is no easy answer but things do improve with time.
Best of luck to u both.
your not alone.
jerry

Simone

I sustained a complete left BPI 4 years ago. I agree with the things other people here have said. Following my injury I was not referred to a counsellor and as a result I had no idea how to handle it. After 8 or 9 months I was at my wits end and realised that things were not right. I behaved in ways that were not characteristic of me. I felt more and more sorry for myself. At times the slightest problem or setback could reduce me to tears. I found it difficult to cope with everyday tasks and so made the decision to seek counselling. He does need to get back to normal and this will take some time as he needs to do it step by step. May sound like a cliche but it really is true. To have someone he can talk to about everything that's going on in his head is a start. Personally I believe one of the biggest milestones I reached was realising that feeling sorry for myself made things worse and worse. At that point I was able to get on with my life and start appreciating the things I had. Counselling started this process for me.

I believe you need to spend time on your arm also to feel better about it. To allocate undivided attention to physio and stimulation and to general excercise helped reduce the pain. This is partly distraction therapy. The most effective painkillers I have found are Neurontin. These replaced my carbamazopine which were not as effective and did NOT mix well with alcohol (by the way alcohol can cause extra pain the day after!).

I know at the time I would have benefitted from speaking to someone who had been through it - and now I have a lot of useful hints that I would like to share. If your dad would like to get in touch I'd be happy to chat.

Dan

Hi Simone,
So sorry to hear that your Dad was injured. You asked if it was normal to stay in bed all day.....no, it is not normal. But it is normal to see this type of reaction after a bpi. I think we have all gone through it. I can't add anything to what the others have already told you. And I have done the same things as the others to help me to stop concentrating on my arm and the pain. It may seem hard to believe right now, but time seems to help smoothe out the rough edges of this injury. It may do your Dad well to come to this board and talk, or to e-mail if he'd like. I sure remember going through the emotions, and it was a big help to have others to talk to that knew what I was going through. Wish you and your Dad the best.....

George

Simone, I to have trama bpi, my right side. I have been do doctors who don't know a thing about my injury, and them telling me it was in my mind. To doctors that finally diagnosed me correctly. That process took one year. Since then I have gone through physical therapy, trigger point type injections for pain, and surgery. Now they want to do surgery again and if I dont have this particular surgery I will never get better. The first surgery they took a piece of bone out of my should bone to relieve the pressure on the nerve. It didn't work. I spoke to Dr. Nath he said that I did not need nerve transfer surgery, however 2 doctors do agreee that the scar tissue needs to come out. I was able to finally get into a Dr. Harold Urschel and he says that I have brusing where the nerves/veins/etc. go under the shoulder but on top of the first rib, and that he want to take out the first rib. It would give the nerves/veins/etc. room to heal, and that if I don't do it, they will never heal. I just found this out yesterday. So the surgery is scheduled for after Thanksgiving Day. Anyway, my injury was on 12/8/99 and I have been in constant pain since then. And is, after bein in sooo much pain for soooo long, it does get you very down. It has been a very long hard 2 years for me. I hope your father will have better luck at getting to the correct physicians that he needs faster than I had. And I pray that his pain is relieved a lot faster than mine. If you want to talk further, e-mail me at MsPinkShop@aol.com My name is Debra.

Simone I'm so sorry to see your message. People often forget the distress that his injury causes to the immedite family.

Sadly I recognise the scenario you describe all too well. I too had a serious RTA in April 2000 with left BPI. The pain was incredible until about six weeks ago wehen I was referred for surgery on my cervical spine.The surgery seems to have worked! But it may not be for your dad or it may be too soon to consider. In the mean time though it is VERY difficult your dad needs to be encouraged to keep occupied as it really is the best therapy.

I am married with 2 young children and I know my injury has had terrible consequences for my family so I really feel for you. If I can help or if your dad woukd like to make contact dont hesitate.

Hey Simon, My name is Scott and I had a total BPI injury in Dec of 99. I'll tell you what it's hard to deal with the pain but he must try to be stonger and of course the use of percocet and nuerontin sure does help. In time it will start to get better but my hand almost always still is painful. Bed is where it hurts the least tho. Tell him to try the anti-depressant amititryptoline, it heps with the deppression the pain and it helps sleeping so much. It's almost been two years now and three major surgeris. I had muscle/nerve transfers from my leg into my bicep that gave me alot of feeling and elbow flexion. If you want to know more about the surgeries or pain relief feel free to e-mail me, I know alot of ways to help and believe me the best Doc in the US for this.

Scott

I too have BP, and am always looking for ways to kick the elephant from standing on my hand, could you tell me more about the spinal surgery, where and how they went about it. Thank you, Rob