R.S.D. Dr.cant make up mine or ther minds

[oouch]

In nov.08 i had a discetomy on l5 s1.Ive reherniated the same disc I had surgery on in 1990.After discectomy my left foot and toes were nurab. slowly one by one all toes but big one came back.Then my foot began to swell,turn colors ,ache,get real hot red and feel dull when touching serten parts.The surgon SAID ihave rsd.... Then sent me to a pain managment DR..First he was gonna do injections and nerve blocks on my back. cus that was my worse pain after 5 or 6 trys he decided to do the nerve to my foot.IVEhad 3injections Ifinaly felt something was doing some good in my foot ..I had abone scan done last week it is normal.The p,m dr three differt times has said I do then I dont have R.S.D... If i dont then whats wrong with my foot....IT took me a lot to let them do any injections on me. IN thepast 18 yrs. ive said no at least 30 times.NOW with my back they wont touch me with surgery. there talking about a spinal stimulator..Im so confused.today i called surgeon, there thinging about sending me to annarbor michigan universiy of mich...I NEED HELP THIS IS GETTING TO BE TO MUCH..im also rasing a22 month granRABon who i cant even pick up with out hurting my self

 

[ms_west]

(((((((hugs)))))))) Having a spinal stimulator inplanted may be a good thing. They sometimes give people back a portion of their life. To have your pain reduced 30% or more in my book is well worth it and is something I would take now myself.

I am sure not having a diagnosis of RSD confirmed is very frustrating. I pray that this new referral will give you the answers you need to cope and deal with this wrath of pain you are suffering.

Take care and keep us posted.

 

[feelbad]

there is one pretty definitive type of Dx test that i am kind of suprised an actual PM has not yet done on you to really determine whether or not the pain process is actually stemming from a sympatheic source(RSD) or not. its just a sympathetic nerve block. when they do this particular type of block on you,it just stops all signals stemming from the SNS(sympathetic nervous system?) its pretty straight forward,if you actually feel ANY change in your pain or out and out relief,then it IS being generated from the sympathetic source,if no changes occur,it most likely is not. pretty simple actually. the anesthesiologist just has to make darn certain that he actually hits the sympathetic chain. if it is hit,there are signs they can see that it did hit. they also use flouroscopy for this too.this is just one tool they can use to really determine SNS genrated symptoms vs non sympathetic.

i have RSD in my right knee on down thru my foot. i also have another pain syndrome that is very similar in symptomology but without the swelling or color changes,just hellish burning in my mid upper left arm? when i first started at my PM he still,despite the upper pain already being Dxed as central pain syndrome by my NS,he still wanted to make certain i was not in the early stages of RSD,so he did that stellate(sympathetic. its a bit different when done up top then for the legs) nerve block,and sure enough,no changes. BUT when he did the same block at the next visit on my low back and hit the SNS chain. boom, my leg pain subsided. that was the determining factor,along with the very same type of symptoms you actually have right now in your leg.

i don;t know whether or not your PM actually already did this type of block and you just didn;t mention it,but if he has not yet done the sympathetic nerve block on you,it REALLY neeRAB to be done. this really does help determine whether or not any pain process is stemming from a sympathetic source. there is no real actual "test" that would tell with 100% certainty that you do or don;t actually have RSD. but this type of block would tell what/where the generator actually is,sympathetic or other. actual Dx comes from block results and the actual symptomology you are displaying. i hope this helps. marcia