Endogenous electric shocks

[Torsten]

About 2 weeks ago my index finger got cut half way through courtesy of a jealous Jack Russell. The cut is just below the top joint and cut through muscle at an angle. Because of the ripping motion of the teeth the actual severed area was much larger than a straihgt cut would have been. At the time it happened I had the weird experience that I got no endorphin rush and hence the pain did not subside at all. I thought that was weird. After 5 minutes of agony I chewed a nurofen and after a total of 10 minutes the pain subsided enough to go to hospital. I have a low pain threshold, but usually get endorphin relief pretty quickly. The lack of endorphins throughout this puzzled me.

Once the pain subsided a few days later the top part of my finger was without any feeling. I could stick a pin in it without effect. Then about 2 days ago the tip started feeling like that numb feeling you have after the dentist. Not enough for any differentiating tactile sensations, but I can feel whether there is contact or not.

The freaky thign is that when I accidentally have a mild impact onto the cut itself, I get an electrick shock up my arm. The sensation is not like a pin prick, not like touching a hotplate, and not a shiver, but like EXACTLY like I've touched an electric farm fence. In fact, the first time it happened I was closing a farm gate and I had to double check whether I had touched an electric wire somewhere - but hadn't. Since then I've had about 50 of these shocks. About 5 of them were so powerful that they confused me mentally. Just like when I touch one of our more powerful electric fences. The bang goes right into the upper body and can really mess with my head for a few second.

I presume that a nerve got severed in the trauma and it is now regrowing. I am glad it is and I don't think this shock effect will hang around for long, but I thought it was a very interesting experience to have. I was just curious if anyone else has had anything like it.

[nabraxas]

when i was about 14 i cut the side ov my index finger down to the bone. It required 2 internal & 3 external stitches.

now i have about a 0.5mm lump where the cut was, so it healed pretty well, but i still have similar symptoms to those you describe.

If i bang it the pain is intense & goes right up my arm. It's like an electric shock or a bang on the funny bone...an intense 'pins & needles' feeling shooting from the site.

Luckily the cut was on the inside edge ov the finger so it's fairly well protected from bumps.

Edited June 29, 2008 by nabraxas

[Torsten]

ewww, mine is on the outside [thumb] edge, so gets banged all the time. Geez, I hope this isn't permanent. You've got me worried now.

[mark80]

My dad told me baout something similiar,when he had shine reconstructed, for about 7 years there was the one spot when he touched it gently it sent shocks right through his body. Often waking up when my mum rolled into him at night.

good news is you can , if it persist for than a month, get the nerve frozern off. Which should cease it.

[Conan Troutman]

ewwwwwwww nerve damage

[Yawning Man]

hopefully it wont impact to heavily on your daily life. Working with plants can be pretty full on work sometimes. What was the jack russel so jealous about that he ripped your finger open?

Hope it heals dude.

cheers

[Torsten]

hopefully it wont impact to heavily on your daily life.

well, it ruined my holiday and has made the last 2 weeks a misery. I re-tore it several times as the top of the finger just flips off whenever I strain my lower arm muscle.

Working with plants can be pretty full on work sometimes.

Our nursery manager does most of that these days, but I do hav to work with animals a lot so this means lots of sterilising and fresh bandages. pain in the ass.

What was the jack russel so jealous about that he ripped your finger open?

Well, I have two bitches that are somewhat obsessed with each other. The problem is that as soon as one is higher than the other, the lower one will attack it - until they are on even ground. Some bizarre dominance thing we tried to fix by getting the aggressive one neutered. Didn't work.

So, when I lifted one of them up, the other one did what it usually does and attacks. The thing was that I didn't know how close the other dog was. I thought she was behind the car, but instead she was under it and bolted out. I had no time to get out of the way. What pissed me off most was that she didnt' let go. The damage would have been less than half what it was if she would have let go when I booted her. But she actually tightened her grip at that point. I ended up having to punch her in the head so she would let go. All that shaking and gravity had caused the flesh to rip along the bone.

We've had little situations like that before, but the other dogs usually don't bite as hard and let go immediately, and then there is hardly any damage. Nothing a bandaid can't fix. So, I am still considering what to do with this dog as we can't risk this happening to staff or customers. At the moment she is confined in a large run. All our other dogs are placid and friendly - which is a good thing cos we have some really big ones too.

Mark80 - thanks for letting me know about the freezing. will keep it in mind if it doesn't subside.

[simon_marklar]

i once dropped a ton of bricks on my middle finger and from what i was told it split, and skin was totally and flattened (i was 3, so i dont remember). not sure about nerve damage but i assume it happened (from what i was told, you could see my bone and the skin going around it, skin was flat ) I have full feeling in the finger and do not experience electric shocks. I do have a cool scar that i show people when they piss me off. (where'd the up yours emoticon go? )

sorry i cant offer more info but being all of 3 yrs old when it happened its a bit hazy

my sister cut her hand from the tip of the index finger down to the base of her hand and it took years to fix itself. I;'m not sure if she got the electic shocks but i know she had nerve damage. i'll ask her if she gets those symptoms....

[mark80]

from what i gather, these lectrical sensations are form the incmplete damage to a nerve, whcih it is dmaged enough to allow full repolirsation with mechancial stimulation, if you comkplelty severe the nerve you don't have a porbelm.

[Torsten]

if you comkplelty severe the nerve you don't have a porbelm.

Except that I probably would have no feeling in my finger tip, right?

[ajna]

early last year (just before the camp) i put a steak knife right through my index finger while foolishly stabbing at a coconut. luckily i'd pulled it back out before realising what had happened though.

it was late so i decided to go to bed rather than to the hospital, then i drove down in the morning when it was a lot more painful. at the hospital they stitched up the wounds and told me how lucky i was to have missed the major tendons and nerves.

in the weeks that followed i realised that i had patches of no feeling in the tip of the finger and if stroked the entry wound or bent my finger i would get electric shocks up my arm, no further than the elbow. the shocks were more of a concern than the lack of feeling because of the pain, but they progressively became less intense over a few months and are now pretty rare, only when i really whack the scar. but unfortunately i haven't got all the feeling back in my tip, the finger is about 4mm shorter than it should be, can't fully extend and is quite sensitive to hot and cold.

so the point is, the shocks did go away after a while but were pretty inconvenient for a good 2 months. had i got to the hospital quicker i might have had a better recovery though.

good luck with the healing! i did splint my finger on a slight, comfortable curve for a while to prevent moving it and hence inducing shocks, helped to still do things with the other fingers without the index automatically joining in, so that might help a bit.

Edited July 2, 2008 by ajna

[Torsten]

I had to bandage my whole finger real tight for 10 days. Everytime I extended my arm fully [not to mention my finger] the cut would pop open. The top of the finger has a bit of a wrong anlgle too, so I am still bandaging it to hold it back into place. The shocks can be eliminated by putting a bit more padding on the join, so as long as I need it bandaged anyway I will just do that. I'd hate to get one of those disorienting shocks while driving or somethign similarly demanding, so keeping it safe.

Thanks for responding folks. I'd never heard of such shocks before, but now it seems that this is quite normal for at least a phase.

[devance]

Try looking the body in a foot to head way.

Like a magnet.

Not panic situatuation and reduces pain.

[mark80]

Except that I probably would have no feeling in my finger tip, right?

maybe

When/if i remember when i get home I will look it up, because senstaion could be either dermatomic or myotomic so you could loose senstaion or movement or even both (but i doubt it) Or neither.

wher eyou described it appears in an iffy spot as to whet nerve innervates.

Is it on the top or the bottom of the hand? it could be inervated by the superficil branch of the radial nerve or the palamr cutaneous branch of the median nerve.

looking at the cutaneous neveres it seems if you do get it servered you seem to loose very little cutanous sentasion as the nerve on the top part of the hand wraps around so it seems it suplies senatsion from the tip to the bottom but is only tll about half way between distal and the medial interphalengeal joints. as iamagine it is

Although what really looks to be the case and most porbably is, damage to palamer digitail nerve,

which means as there are no major muscles in the distal part of the finger and tehre is anotehr nerve that runs on the otherside that innverates the smae shit. complete serveances levaes you with complete movement and sensation. as the fingers are moved by muscles in your arm not in your hand.

Edited July 8, 2008 by mark80

[chilli]

Wife reckons you need to completely immobilize it for a while, have you got it in a splint? Once the wound has healed over, some very gentle stimulation such as slight rubbing or dipping it in warm water may help to re-educate the nerve to respond appropriately.

Edited July 8, 2008 by Sublime Crime

[Torsten]

The cut is on the palm side, index finger, starting on the last joint and going towards the finger tip in a broad triangular rip. The edges of this triangle have healed really quickly, but the centre is still a bit loose.

The shocks have about halved in intensity and frequency, so I think this is only temporary and at this point I am not worried about it. Sensation is coming back real slow and I am too scared to try and test the muscle.

[WoodDragon]

Hey Torsten.

I have cut my index fingers a few times myself, and had the sympton you describe.

The second time that I did it I started to regularly rub my fingertip with my thumb (either will do!) as soon as the cut had healed sufficiently that it wouldn't split. I used either my thumb tip or the nail, depending on what I could handle. If rubbing hurts too much, pressing and releasing repeatedly all around the scar, for about 30 seconds a dozen times or so per day, seems to work too.

The constant stimulation seems to have helped reduce the amount of numbness and the stabbing tingles - I'm not sure if it's because the rubbing/pressing induces nerve regrowth, or if it is simply habituation to the sensations (or both), but I can certainly live with the sensations these days.

Good luck with it mate, and don't worry, it does seem to improve with time.

[chilli]

Not testing it yet is a good idea, according to the venerable doctor. And again if you can, put it in a splint.

[Legba]

Torsten, you need to become the alpha bitch.

Good luck with the finger.

[Torsten]

Torsten, you need to become the alpha bitch.

Hmm, I thought I was.

The wound is healing so well I don't need a splint anymore. I am pretty careful with it. I should have probably had one for the first 2 weeks, but too late now. I am concerned I'll lose mobility if I put it in a splint for too long.

[chilli]

Sorry Torsten, I didn't realize it had happened so long ago... good luck.

[devance]

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