Originally Posted by Littlepaw

Dacello,

I can't answer why you might have the swelling. There are so many possible contributors, lymph, blocked circulation, there is even such a thing as neurogenic edema...I know it can make things so uncomfortable.

Some people find relief from swelling with epsom salt soaks or epsom salt lotion. I understand not wanting to use ice, it can aggravate nerves and cause muscles to contract but you might do okay with cool packs. I put gel packs in the fridge (not freezer) and use those when I have swelling. I have also had good response from getting in a pool and just swishing around. Foot surgery and CRPS both cause swelling so this has been an ongoing thing for me and the pool has been an absolute godsend. You may also be able to do more in there comfortably. If you can get into a salt water pool you might get added benefit from that too.

Vit C 500mg daily might not be a bad idea right now to help reduce inflammation from free radicals. Those can get out of hand in inflamed soft tissue.

As much pain and motor difficulty as you are having I would lean towards getting a second opinion as soon as you can while still seeing a doctor you are interested in. Let the office staff know exactly how much trouble you're having. When I had my nerve injury I developed a lot of atrophy and once I let staff know about it I was worked in pretty quickly (less than 2 weeks) to two different super-specialists for peripheral nerve that were hard to book with. Sometimes it takes a treatment coordinator to do this instead of the regular scheduler - just ask about urgent work-in.