Pain 5 months after Ulnar Nerve Decompression

I fell at work in February of 2014, landed on my side with my arm tucked under me. After months of continuing on "light-duty", therapy for my shoulder, meds, etc...someone finally determined it was ulnar nerve entrapment, and was put back into therapy for my shoulder. All of the therapy made everything feel worse, including a stabbing pain in my spine and under my shoulder blade. I went through 4 different meds, all of which may cause drowsiness, which means I will be drooling on myself for at least 12 hours. I was taken off of work in April 2014 due to my work not seeming to understand what no use of left arm meant.

Forward to January 2015...Finally had surgery. Almost everything has been worse since having surgery. The back pain stopped. The numbness is still there, I have 0 grip in my hand now and if I use my arm at all, the pain puts me down, and now I have clawing. My surgeon pulled me out of hand therapy at about 6 weeks post op to put me in work conditioning, I have a very physical job. The therapist called it an absolute disaster, it set my pain level back to about 6 months pre-op, a 50 on a scale of 0-10. I am on a 5# restriction but cannot even lift a full coffee cup without dropping it, any use of my arm, washing dishes, therapy, etc, hurts so bad that it makes me physically ill. The therapist and my comp nurse rode the surgeon until he gave me more hand therapy since the therapist pretty much kicked my out of work conditioning.

16 weeks post op, another follow up with the surgeon last week. Still no feeling in ring finger or pinkie, if I lift my hand over my head in therapy, the rest of my hand goes numb, shooting pain in my elbow that goes both up to my shoulder and down to my hand, and very sharp pain in my wrist. I am being sent for another EMG in 2 months, but was told that if everything came back normal with my nerves, I was just going to have to go back to work and deal with the pain because there is no reason why I shouldn't be able to lift 5# and if the nerve isn't still compressed there's no reason I should be having this much pain. And after only 4 more visits with the hand therapist, he put me back in work conditioning. So according to the surgeon, in the next 2 months I am expected to go from lifting 2# to 60# and just deal with the pain. On the squeeze test thingy for strength my numbers were 0,1,0,0,0, and on my good hand they are all over 70, and no feeling on the filament test on the entire pinkie side of my hand. I'm pretty scared that I am going to be sent back to work with this the way that it is and then either lose my job, or get in trouble for missing days due to the pain, and possibly only making it worse. I am even typing this one handed because After a couple minutes of typing, the pain in my wrist up my forearm is unbearable.

Any thoughts, experiences, or ideas welcomed.

Unfortunately, work comp is involved. Yes I know I have a right to go to my own doctors, but they also don't have to agree to pay. But, I am working with my comp nurse to see see about getting in somewhere else. I did expect pain with the therapies, just not as bad as it is.

Angie, do you have a lawyer? You should! If it wasn't for my lawyer, I wouldn't have had my second opinions!

I also had a shoulder/elbow injury. They focused on the shoulder first. PT, surgery, more PT, all the while doing more damage to the ulnar nerve. Finally had it examined and operated on.

Fast forward 19 years, I still have numbness/burning/tingling, but it is manageable. The more I use the forearm, the more it hurts, as that is where the nerve is now buried. I have permanent damage, a loss of about 70% of the function of the nerve. I had been working in an industrial laundry service at the time. I changed jobs to 'lighter' work...envelope stuffing. I then developed a ganglion cyst on my wrist! Two surgeries later, I changed to cashiering. Then I developed carpal tunnel syndrome in BOTH wrists! Seems no one understands how painful something like typing can be! I was repeatedly told to get an office job! HA!

After reinjuring the shoulders, I applied for disability. After a 3 year battle with the government, I was awarded total disability and lifetime workers comp payments for my arms.

That second opinion is crucial! Workers comp just wants you back to work so they can stop paying. You have to think about your health for the rest of your life! Don't let them bully you into returning to work! Between the pain meds not allowing you to drive safely or operate any machinery (including a box knife or cash register for example) and the pain you are taking them for, you should NOT be returning! You would put others at risk too, not just yourself!

Hi Angie & welcome to the chronic pain forum. So sorry to read what you are dealing with & the frustration of feeling like you cannot get help from your dr.. Some surgeons have that mentality I did surgery & you should be fine.

I too have ulnar nerve entrapment from am accident but I refused surgery. My reason for refusing was I had seen this surgery done many times before with not so great outcomes or the person ended up with problems they did not have to begin with. This was quite a few years ago, but we still see a lot people struggle after surgery. So, I have to wonder just how much they have improved this surgery.

We have had a few people come through this forum that has had surgery. If you would like to read their post just type in ulnar nerve entrapment surgery in the search box above to pull those old threads. We do ask that you not post on those older threads as we like to keep them off of the main page & there is a real good chance the original poster is no longer active here. You will get a better response by asking questions here.

My state revamped its worker's compensation laws several years ago. It was one of the last states to do so. Like what you were told by the attys you contacted, unless the insurance company is not doing what they are suppose to an atty will not take your claim.

I do hope you can get seen by another dr & soon. Take care.

Pitmom has some great tips listed above. The only problem with paying for a second opinion is, if the dr says something opposite of the treating surgeon, she is still left with the potential of no one willing to pay for medical expenses. Private insurance would refuse to pay because its a work related injury, it puts a person in a real catch 22.

Most states revamped their worker's compensation laws. The insurance industry swore this would fix the problem of faked injuries & it would reduce the premiums employers were paying for said insurance. That was proven incorrect in my state after a 5 yr study. What is boiled down to was the insurance companies wanted to put lawyers out of business that handled nothing but worker's compensation claims. They took away lump sum settlements & a jury trial. This was how lawyers got paid was out of any settlement.

In a majority of the states now you cannot get an atty to help the injured worker unless the insurance company is denying some part of the claim. Once again the worker gets the short end of the stick. I will stop here because I could get very political on this subject & thats against the forum rules, lol.