Neuropathy

[eliteheat]

Hi

6 weeks ago I was knocked off my bicycle in central London and dislocated my LH shoulder.

After it was relocated in A&E I found that I was unable to move my fingers, raise my wrist or extend my forearm. In short, why left arm was completely useless.

After a week or so when the swelling had gone down I had some limited movement of my fingers although my forearm and hand was numb. I was told by my doctor that I had crushed my ulna, radial and median nerves and no one could really tell me if I would recover or how long it might take. I was referred to the main centre for neurology in the UK but was told not to expect an appointment anytime soon for two reasons; a wait-and-see policy is adopted for unjuries such as these and there only appears to be a few nerve specialists in the UK for some reason.

Anyway, I am a self employed heating engineer and am unable to work in any capacity at all. My income is now zero and I have no access to any benefits or help whatsoever.

As you can imagine I am very, very low with this and feel my future is very uncertain.

I have constant pain and am unable to sleep for more than an hour or so without the pain waking me. Over the counter drugs seem to have little or no effect. I am desperately trying to stop my muscles from atrophying by excercising and manipulating my arm as much as possible.

Can anyone give me any hope for the future? I have no experience of this at all and there seems to be little or no sources of help or information. I also feel like I have been left to fend for myself with no recourse to medical expertise.

I anyone has experienced a similar injury or has any knowledge in this area I would be very grateful for any advice you can give.

Many thanks.
Mike

[eliteheat]

P.S. I should add that much of the numbness has gone, with my little finger now mainly numb. The daytime pain, less than that at night, feels like very tight bands across my hand and knuckles and just below my elbow.