Hiya, boys 'n girls!

Well, I am RDWilliams, 70 yr-old, ret trucker, with youngish wife and 2 kids, 19 & 21. 19's a former County Fair & Rodeo Queen, now a rising star cashier at the local Home Depot. The big guy at 21 is slowwwly over coming Asperger's. Both kids living at home and attending community college. Those 3 ARE the lights in my windows.

So-----hereabouts, late winter 2007 was early spring, wet and windy. And I'm staying indoors, playing (computer) point-n-click games. Lousy posture at the desk gave rise to major cramping of right-side upper back and neck muscles. Chiropractic didn't help, and soon I started to lose grip. Within a few weeks, I could no longer hold a pen or pencil (of course that's my dominant hand/arm).

My primary, who's a DO, sent me to a local neuro for testing. Meanwhile, the undiagnosed TOS proved to be temporary, though it did partially compress the C5 root long enough to starve several axons to death. Most of the affected axons wind up in the radial nerve as it exits the brachial plexus. So, I lost innervation to the wrist and finger extensors in my forearm, but didn't lose bicep or tricep. Also, my upper arm and shoulder are still functional, without the inward rotation typical of Erb's.

Over all, my Brachial Plexus Injury has been pretty minor, compared to what so many of you have been going through.

Early on, the docs at our local hospital ER put me on some strangely psycho-active drugs, percocet, oxycodone, soma, et al. This over the course of several visits about intense neuropathic pain. Eventually, I got prescripted for Neurontin and Cymbalta, which were pretty effective for pain reduction, although the Neurontin fogged me in too much. I was on 3600mg daily, usually dosing at 1200mg, 3x, or 900mg, 4x, trying to find what would maintain a proper blood-saturation level. Reading UBPN Boards brought me awareness of Lyrica, with a molecular structure that is more easily assimilated, therefore effective at lower doses. After two months of Neurontin, I pushed my neuro and BCBS for a switch to Lyrica. We kept the Cymbalta(60mg daily), and titrited a transition to Lyrica. My Lyrica dosage was at 150mg, 3x daily, after we got off the Neurontin. That was last summer/fall(2007). Since then I've been able to reduce my usage of Lyrica to 200 to 300mg daily, two or three doses, and am still finding less need for it. I'm hoping to be done with pain meds soon.

With high-dose sub-lingual Methylcobalamin(B12), and electro-stim at home, I have re-grown most of the damaged axons, re-innervating the afore-mentioned extensor muscles. I am currently able to pull my hand upwards at the wrist, through about ten degrees of arc, from a hanging-at-the-side position. I can also see other small forearm muscles beginning to twitch. This aspect of the future looks like a smile, f'sure.

Seeing my OT this afternoon, so will cut this off and go to lunch.

Wishing everyone the best.

Bob