bjones

Hi, thanks for the friendly welcome!

Briefly, here is my situation. Feb. 3 I had a pysical for work.Have always been healthy and haven't had a regular Dr's care for years, but decided at 41 I should start taking care of myself, so went to my kid's Dr, he is Peds/Internal medicine, and a great guy. Anyway, could not remember last tetanus shot I had, it's been years, so he reccomended a booster. Few days later noticed rt shoulder was abt 2 inches lower than left, very noticeable! Then arm and shoulder began hurtin, tingling and numbness in arm, last 2 fingers on hand wd go icy cold, arm became very heavy and almost paralyzed at shoulder. Pn became very bad. GP sent me for MRI and referred me to neuro,
EMG showed patchy nerve damage and a lesion of the spinal accessory nerve that was pre-existing, had injured my trapezius carrying heavy bags on shoulder(I teach preschool). Anyway, dx was brachial plxus neuritis, which is known to be a rare adverse reaction to tetanus vaccine. Drs keep saying, it will go away, nerves heal slowly, and giving me more meds. Can't use most of their meds cause I have 2 young kids at home, need to be able to drive, fix meals, etc, can't lie on the couch doped up for months one end. Meds don't really take pain away, anyway, just make me really "out-of-it". Additional tests detected severe osteoporosis and thoracic curvature of the spine, am now taking Fosamax for bone loss, and am on Wellbutrin to help me quit smoking. I am 41, and pre-menopause, so the osteo was a shock, I have also lost 1 inch or more of ht.

Two months after the tetanus shot, new sx appeared in rt hand. Whole hand now goes icy cold several x a day, hand constantly aches, like coming in from the cold and the hand starts to warm up. Get shooting and stabbing type pns from forearm into hand, hand gets pale and bluish or mottled looking and am seeing some atrophy of the thumb pad and I think last 2 fingers, they have been 1/2 dead since Feb. Worst is any use of the hand increases pain, just rinsing my face or picking up a coffee cup, or carrying anything at all.
Can't open bottles or jars, can't do much of anything with rt hand.

I have been told this sounds very much like RSD and I need to get it checked out right away, so am looking for help on how to go about that. I am seeing my GP tomorrow, he did mention RSD at end of April as a possible reason for my hand sx, but I did not want to even consider it. Am also going to talk to an anesthesiologist today, he goes to our church, and his wife has been keeping him informed of my problems, she said he wd be happy to talk to me, he has done stellate ganglion blocks and has a very active pain clinic. So will see what he advises, but am thinking if GP approves, will ask for referral to see this dr and get the blocks as soon as I get back from vacation. We leave for FL on Wednesday, will be gone 2 weeks, and don't want to know before I leave, really need to relax and try to come to grips with all this and try to amke decisions abt work, filing for compensation, etc, etc, etc. And enjoy spending time with my kids. When I come back will be soon enough to find out the news.

Am also to see results of second EMG tomorrow, am anxious to know what if anything shows up, and how it compares to one done in March.

Anyway, that's my story in a nutshell - all from a tetanus booster.