I'm accepting the reality that there is no magic bullet, my goal right now is just to have more tolerable days. My best days in the past 7 months have been a 6/10, and that was with hydrocodone, lidoderm patches, diclofenac, amitriptyline, and rest. It's usually much worse, and I can't seem to find a med combo that works for me yet. I have had a really hard week with pain, deep aching, burning, squeezing, even when nothing is touching it. Color keeps changing from pale to blotchy red to deep purple. My last appointment at PT, I was sitting, squeezing a ball between my feet, and I got this horrible shooting electric pain that went up the back AND the front of my leg, I almost fell out of the chair. He focused the rest of my appointment on massaging and heating my calf because he said it's really tight and that there might be a nerve entrapped in there. I am so worried that this is spreading because I can feel the deep aching and some hypersensitivity along that purple line going up my leg, the hair is going away there too. I feel like I'm going to go crazy sometimes from the constant burning. Also, my ketamine cream seems to be losing effectiveness, I have been using extra and going back to lidoderm patches a few times the past week. Walking my dogs up and down the short road by my apartment is getting to be excruciating, even with crocs, just the breeze feels like stabbing hot needles. Trying my best to stay mobile and work normally but it's a real challenge, I have to use a cane and my brace most of the time.

I called my psychiatrist about Effexor because I am not tolerating it well, but he still hasn't returned my call. I also called a lawyer I was recommended to contact, they will call me back soon.

My aunt lives in the Baltimore area and works at a Pain Clinic, so she has been contacting me and talking to her doctors and trying to help. Their consensus, as well as my own doctor, for the next treatment attempt is sympathetic lumbar blocks. Have any of you had relief from these? Do the benefits outweigh the risks? My research so far has been inconclusive; I have seen it said several places that there is no solid evidence of long-term relief. I am worried about more injections like this, because the last nerve block I got back in February around my ankle and foot really backfired on me, was a bad experience, and the pain got so much worse after it wore off. Any experience with this treatment?