Prior to my RSD diagnosis...I was given a cortisone shot directly into my ankle where the CRPS is...and it was BAD NEWS. It made me much worse...you want to be VERY cautious with this sort of treatment.

I don't know your physical therapist but are they very familiar with CRPS? I ask because most physical therapists I have worked with...especially in an outpatient setting...are NOT very familiar with CRPS. They offer up a lot of suggestions and expect progress like you would get with an acute injury...and you can't treat CRPS that way. I once had a therapist tell me they were going to stop treating me because I was crying while doing leg presses. I didn't ask to stop...one of the aides stopped me...and the therapist came over and started telling me that if I couldn't do the treatments then she wouldn't be able to treat me. Anyone who knows me knows how committed I am to physical therapy and how highly I recommend it...so for her to say this to me pretty much blindsided me because I was very committed to pushing through the pain. I was VERY new to CRPS at the time and have learned a lot since then. If I knew then what I know now...I would have found a different physical therapist.

Definitely discuss the treatment with your doctor...but I agree that you should also find out WHY the physical therapist is recommending that as a treatment. If it's just because it has helped some of their other patients (without CRPS) then I would really question how much they really know about CRPS and if they are prepared to treat it. You cannot expect to see progress with CRPS like you do with an acute injury...progress is much slower and just takes more time. You will reach a point where the progress seems to move very quickly because every bit of progress you makes builds upon the last thing...bust especially in the beginning it can take MONTHS to see any substantial progress.

If the outpatient physical therapy is too intense...maybe discuss in home physical therapy with your doctor. I had a great experience doing the in home therapy...the nurse was much more open to learning about CRPS and more comfortable tailoring the treatment to my physical limits as she was used to dealing with patients with more difficulties. I also thought it was great because everything I did at therapy I could work on every day even when the therapist wasn't there because they were all exercises I could do at home with no special equipment. My progress went a lot faster and smoother because of this. It still took several MONTHS before I could walk even 5 minutes on my own with a walker...but once I hit that milestone things moved along faster and faster.

Lots of things to discuss with your doctor about what is right for your son. I suggest making a list of all the things you want to talk about and making sure the doctor doesn't leave until you have discussed all of those things. I've had to have doctors called back into the room so we could finish the discussion because somehow they just seem to vanish...sometimes when I am mid sentence...so just be prepared with everything written out so that you can get answers to all your questions and concerns.