Originally Posted by catra121

When my RSD spread and got much worse a few years ago I went to group E...got almost no sleep...never more than 15-30 minutes at a stretch and basically fell asleep due to pure exhaustion after several days of no sleep. Then the dr put me on amitriptyline and I went to group D...getting a solid stretch of 3 hours each night which isn't much but compared to the hellish several months prior I felt a lot better. Then I did tDCS treatments and I was able to get off the amitriptyline and was getting 6 hours a night consistently...occasionally more with just occasional bad nights during flare ups.

In October I fell off the top of a 10ft ladder at work and tore my rotator cuff...Right before thanksgiving I started physical therapy which made the shoulder much worse. Now...for the past month...I've been back to group E and it SUCKS. Can't sleep at all with this new pain even with the pain meds. They gave me flexoril for a couple weeks in the beginning to help me sleep but once I ran out of that I've been in hell with my sleep patterns. Insomnia is now my constant companion again and it's taking a hell of a toll on me where my pain levels are concerned. My RSD has been flaring more often and I've been house bound for a month now. Using the Quell device helps a little but I can't do many of my other pain management things at home due to those same things hurting the shoulder. We all deal with so much pain and I am used to that...but this shoulder pain on TOP of everything else has thrown me into a tail spin. Hoping it gets better soon because I will tell you that sleep makes a HUGE difference in my ability to cope with the RSD day in and day out...it's essential and not getting it right now is a killer...