I am currently being treated for an ulnar nerve Injury. I am 29yrs old and this is REALLY interfering with my life now. A little over a week ago I was seen at an E.R for an unrelated problem (Dysfunctional Uterine Bleeding due to a fibroid), well I did not have such a good experience. The nurse in training who came to put in a butterfly I.V. catheter really messed up. She "fished" around in my arm for about 5mins till she got the vein THEN proceeded to try and SHOVE to catheter thru that HURT I was yelling ow! ow! The nurse did not listen just said Sorry I will be done soon, this actually went on for about another 5-10 mins.... she never got a good draw and moved to my hand, she couldn't even get the vein in my hand and called in the charge nurse (i think) for my room. She came in and got a fine draw from the other arm. I have never had this happen before. The had given me a couple shots of Dilaudid soon after so I forgot about the pain in my arm for quite a few hours. Once they got the bleeding under control I went home the next day my arm was really sore and my elbow has some pretty sharp/burning pain , by the end of the following day it had progressed yo the point of extreme pain. Numbness and tingling, loss of feeling in my 4th & 5th digits. extreme burning/stabbing/shooting pain from the bottom of my elbow down the left side of my forearm to my ring and pinkie fingers. I went to my doctor and talked to the hospital about the pain and what the nurse did. My Doctor said he thinks it is directly related and gave me a shot of Torodol for the inflammation and pain....it helped for about 3-4 hours and the pain came right back i went in the next day and saw another Doctor my my clinic as my PCP wasn't in he didn't seem to think they could have hit the Ulnar nerve In my left elbow though that it was probably related to the blood draw well long story longer I saw my doctor again this last Thursday (7 days after injury) he started me on Tramadol for pain (doesn't help) and Nuerontin for nerve pain (side effects so crazy I almost don't want to take it) . I think the Nuerontin is helping a bit it not quite so pain full but the numbness/tingling and loss of feeling are getting worse and the pain still shoots down my arm though less severe I ice it all the time but can't take much more of this...I really concerned this is permanent! And am confused from the two different doctors "diagnosis". So I guess I have a couple questions. 1. is there anything else to help the pain/numbness 2. Is it Ulnar nerve damage from the bad venipuncture, is it possible to damage it there?? btw typing this hurt like crazy when I try to use 4th and 5th digits.... and today it seems like the numbness is getting worse starting to spread to other fingers ie thumb and index. also I can not move my pinkie properly now it "jerks" and moves jerkily i guess is the bes way to describe it....Thank you for your patience in this incredibly long post