This is the 7th step I am trying to get the UK Government to undertake
I have done over 3000hrs internet research, with no medical training I had to approach it the only way I knew how, as a Police Officer with 8 ½ years experience who was lucky enough to only lose one case in court. Search everywhere I could, looking for clues and evidence follow every trail no matter where it lead and when it ended go back and follow another, piecing everything together into a case that would convince any judge and jury in the land. I have to ask you to trust me on this, because of the way my brain works now I didn’t realise the significance of some papers until months later or because of the mental and motor control problems I hadn’t saved them when I thought I had.
In the space of 7 days in Oct 2010 I came across papers by 3 US doctors working in separate Hospitals, unless as I suspect the 1st and 3rd are ex-US army there was no apparent connection between them. The first was a surgeon who stated that since he had started using a full sympathetic nerve block from 48hrs pre-op to 48hrs post-op not one of his amputees had suffered from Phantom Limb Pain. The second doctor described CRPS pain as Phantom Limb Pain with the limb still attached. The third stated that since he had started using continuous full sympathetic nerve blocks not one operation on a CRPS sufferer had caused a spread or flare.
In late 2011 I came across a paper detailing US army surgeons research into Phantom Limb Pain which was started in the early 2000’s. It stated that they had found a direct link between the incidence and severity of pre-op pain and the incidence and severity of Phantom Limb pain. They came to the conclusion that the initial pain was so bad that it burnt itself so deeply into the brain that the brain could not forget it, (exactly the same as CRPS does) if they could eliminate the pain prior to amputation there would be no phantom limb pain afterwards. How they got from there to the successful use of full sympathetic nerve blocks I have no idea.
I later came across posts by 6 CRPS sufferers who had amputations using this method while awake, It is suspected that general anaesthetics themselves can cause spreads, everyone stated that they had no phantom limb pain and no more CRPS symptoms, 2 had already had artificial limbs fitted and returned to work. Now no amputation should cure mental problems a fact confirmed by Professor Briggs at the RNOH. This has led me to the belief that the Americans have discovered a cure for CRPS but because of a lack of communication they have failed to recognise it yet.
I asked Professor Briggs to bring me in and give me a continuous Full Sympathetic Nerve Block for a period of 5 days, if at the end of that period the symptoms have completely disappeared then its likely we have a cure, obviously further trials would need to be undertaken. If the symptoms do not dissipate on the 6th day my arm would be amputated below the elbow while I am awake. Although this would not help me as it is in both legs as well I feel it is the only way to prove to our doctors that there is a safe way for them to operate on CRPS sufferers and a way to prevent anymore amputees developing phantom limb pain. I have given Professor Briggs a disclaimer absolving him of any blame should anything go wrong but cannot get him to make a decision, despite saying that I wanted no more appointments either a yes or no on the procedure I have been sent another appointment for 24th Jan next year, by that time I could well be one of the full body sufferers, this has now been put back to February.

I believe that the chance to find a cure or at the very least prevent any one in the future suffering from Phantom Limb Pain or an unnecessary spread of CRPS/RSD in this country is worth any risk to myself so I ask the DoH to arrange and fund this procedure as the UK’s first clinical trial into finding a cure and I am willing to sign any form of disclaimer your dept requires. The savings in the costs of appointments and medication for Phantom Limb Pain sufferers alone would eventually more than cover the cost of the procedure and if it is a cure the savings could be in the billions