Shoulder nerve test OT

"Booker" wrote in message
...


On 9/5/2011 11:07 AM, Christina Websell wrote:

I can assure you that needles that are put into your nerves can be felt
at
every moment while you wait a minute or two to see what zuzzes come up on
a
screen to see how they are working. I got around 20 needles, seemed
more.
I never want to go through that again. There was blood all over my
clothes
too.
Tweed


Been there, done that. Yes, that test hurts like h*ll. The needles
actually are put in the muscles, and they make you contract the muscles
while they test the nerve impulses. Hurt the next couple of days, too. I
had it done in my leg due to nerve damage around my knee causing foot
drop.

I eventually recovered completely. It took a long time, and nerve
regeneration hurts. Once you figure out which hurt is the nerve
regeneration, you can think of it as a "good" hurt, because it means
things will be working better. In my case, it was really nice not to
stumble every time I tried to walk.

I'm with you on the "never again" sentiment.

I really thank you for this post. I don't know why I am still hurting so
much to have to take 18 painkillers a day but perhaps as you say "it's a
good hurt"
The ultrasound I had and this nerve test was trying to find the cause of it.
If they offered me another nerve test, unless it was absolutely essential I
would now say absolutely not.
Strangely they had lots of boxes of tissues in the cupboard for their
patients to cry into which came out for me. Which suggests that the test
can be very painful and I think they should have said so, from the start.
Tweed

"Christina Websell" wrote in message
...

"Booker" wrote in message
...


On 9/5/2011 11:07 AM, Christina Websell wrote:

I can assure you that needles that are put into your nerves can be felt
at
every moment while you wait a minute or two to see what zuzzes come up
on a
screen to see how they are working. I got around 20 needles, seemed
more.
I never want to go through that again. There was blood all over my
clothes
too.
Tweed


Been there, done that. Yes, that test hurts like h*ll. The needles
actually are put in the muscles, and they make you contract the muscles
while they test the nerve impulses. Hurt the next couple of days, too. I
had it done in my leg due to nerve damage around my knee causing foot
drop.

I eventually recovered completely. It took a long time, and nerve
regeneration hurts. Once you figure out which hurt is the nerve
regeneration, you can think of it as a "good" hurt, because it means
things will be working better. In my case, it was really nice not to
stumble every time I tried to walk.

I'm with you on the "never again" sentiment.

I really thank you for this post. I don't know why I am still hurting so
much to have to take 18 painkillers a day but perhaps as you say "it's a
good hurt"
The ultrasound I had and this nerve test was trying to find the cause of
it.
If they offered me another nerve test, unless it was absolutely essential
I would now say absolutely not.
Strangely they had lots of boxes of tissues in the cupboard for their
patients to cry into which came out for me. Which suggests that the test
can be very painful and I think they should have said so, from the start.
Tweed

Yes, medical people are very bad about warning patients about pain. I think
there should be a requirement that, before anyone can administer a test like
that, they have to take it, so they know what it feels like.

OTOH, that wouldn't be a complete solution, because individual pain levels
vary widely. My mother-in-law was so insensitive to pain that when she was
using a sewing machine, she once got her finger under the needle, and the
needle went through her finger. She kept on sewing for four more stitches
before she stopped - AND SHE WAS USING A PEDAL SEWING MACHINE! She was in
her late 80s when she fell out of her hospital bed and broke her hip. A
couple of *days* later, she had been moved into a rest home. They put a
wedge-shaped pillow in the bed to keep her legs in the right position for
her hip to heal. She kept kicking the pillow out of bed. She told us,
"They tell me I have to have this thing because I broke my hip. There's
nothing wrong with my hip."

Joy

Joy wrote:

My mother-in-law was so insensitive to pain that when she was
using a sewing machine, she once got her finger under the needle, and the
needle went through her finger. She kept on sewing for four more stitches
before she stopped - AND SHE WAS USING A PEDAL SEWING MACHINE! She was in
her late 80s when she fell out of her hospital bed and broke her hip. A
couple of *days* later, she had been moved into a rest home. They put a
wedge-shaped pillow in the bed to keep her legs in the right position for
her hip to heal. She kept kicking the pillow out of bed. She told us,
"They tell me I have to have this thing because I broke my hip. There's
nothing wrong with my hip."

Wow! I used to think that would be great, never to feel any pain, but
actually, it's horrible. You never know if something's wrong with you.
You could have appendicitis and have no idea, until it bursts and you get
severely ill.

Was your MIL's insensitivity to pain a disorder? Or did she just have
an unusually high tolerance?

(Actually, now that I've said "tolerance", I'm wondering if being
insensitive to pain is the same thing as a high pain tolerance. I would
think it's not. How can you be tolerating pain if you can't feel any?
But if you can feel pain, then what does it mean to be able to tolerate
it? If two people feel the same amount of pain, but one can tolerate it
better than the other, what is different about them? The fact that one
complains more? That seems a tad inexact.)

Joyce

--
Beauty and music seduce us first; later, ashamed of our own
sensuality, we insist on meaning. -- Clive Barker

"Joy" wrote in message
. ..
"Christina Websell" wrote in message
...
The leaflet that came with my appointment letter said "you might
experience some discomfort" so I was confident-ish when I got to the
hospital that it would not be too bad.

It wasn't. At first. The doc attached electrical thingies to my good
arm and then to my bad one and put rubber rings on my fingers. I could
feel the electric current but it was OK... I said this is not too bad,
better than I thought.
Until he moved up my arm gradually. OMG. It got worse and worse until
he got up to the swollen part on my shoulder and when the current went
through that it brought tears to my eyes it was such agony.
After that I had to have needles put into every muscle to get a reading
from a machine, even in my hand. They say it will not hurt you once the
needle is put in. I can assure you it does. Mega.
Unfortunately the doctor that did this had a severe speech impediment so
I only got the drift of what he was telling me, which was my nerves are
not severed, damaged quite badly but they are showing slight signs of
regeneration.
This is good, and he says 2 and half years will tell me how it will be.
Nerves can recover but there is a limited time for that, apparently, my
consultant says 18 months and you're shot.
It's the damaged nerves that make me unable to use my arm in a useful
way.
I want to believe the 2-1/2 years is true and it can take that long and I
will be able to use my arm again within that time.
18 months does not seem realistic atm
Tweed

I'm glad they're giving you some hope. It's too bad the doctor was so
hard to understand. Purrs that the improvement continues and that you
regain the use of your arm.

Thanks, Joy. I have to do lots of physiotherapy still, because as my
physiotherapist says "It's no good if your nerve eventually kicks in to move
the muscle and you can't raise your arm because it's become really stiff."
I have to have the p/killers to be able to do the physio.
It does concern me that I have to take so many, so I tried to leave them off
last weekend. By 4 pm I had to take them as it was too painful to use my
arm. I'm probably a bit too impatient for recovery without taking into
consideration how bad the injury actually was.
It could have been worse, I suppose. If I'd injured more nerves than I did,
I wouldn't be able to use my arm at all.
All because of falling over a cat!
Tweed