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Member
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Join Date: Sep 2006
Location: near Allentown, PA
Posts: 209
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Member
Join Date: Sep 2006
Location: near Allentown, PA
Posts: 209
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hi mike,
good to have u here with us!
as far as the causes of rsd?....take your pick: blunt force trauma, nerve injury, chronic severe stress, auto-immune disorder, oxygen deprivation, all of the above, none of the above?......the most common trigger seems to be nerve injury, but nobody is too sure of the cause.....if it's any comfort, my daughter's in medical school, and at a recent neurology lecture, the prof siad that rsd remains a mystery.
symptoms r easier to discuss....there r LOADS of those.....the most common r intractable pain, swelling, discoloration (ranging from pale thru mottled red to dark purple)......also, any body function controlled by the sympathetic nervous system is likely to display symptoms, e/g, sweating (either lack of, or uncontrolled), temperature control in whole or in part...when i get hot or cold, it can take hours to restore my body temp to a comfy level....also, at times, my hands will be burning hot, and my elbows, icy cold.......sensitivity to noise and/or vibrations -- this is the one that drives me insane; i haven't been to a movie in years because the sound levels r unbearable and painful....many of us have skin problems (the rsd 'rash')....insomnia is also common.
meds?...aside from pain meds, anti-seizure meds top the list, in conjunction with anti-depressants, a combo that can leave people feeling very slow mentally, and also tends to lead to weight gain....also common r drugs for muscle spasms.....NOTHING on this list is universally effective and some of our most heated discussions have centered on which drugs r useful and which r not.....same thing with treatments -- some of us swear by nerve blocks, others swear AT them.
if this is confusing, i'm sorry.....rsd is a confusing malady....once, in the chatroom i told soemone who asked what the letters stood for that it meant "really spooky disease" and i was told that it really wasn't fair -- many neuro things deserve that designation.....that's probably true, but we happen to be the ones with the right initials!
hope this helps.
best to all,
liz
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