Hi Tayla
No - she only had the one block - a guanethidine block
I've read somewhere that these types of blocks (with the tourniquet) are not used widely in the States as it has been shown that to inject directly into an already sesnitive nerve can cause real problems
I can't help but wonder if people here are not being straight with us - as the block was ineffective we were told there was no point in doing another block but the balance and coordination problems were never widely discussed - to be told this is a confidence problem is really annoying as none of us can think of a trigger to the start of these problems other than the block !!!! Alison walked to theatre on her crutches but has not walked since - just a coincidence - I seem to think not !!!!
Similarly this persistant claim by her physios that the arm is a tension response to a sprained wrist and not RSD - even though Alison has the same burning pain / spasms and I have written notification form her PM Consultant that the RSD affects the arm (but not hypersensitivity as we keep up with regular desensitisation) - is to distract us from the real facts - that the dosage of amitrypteline was increased very quickly and the severe side effects caused the fall that lead to the spread to the arm
I almost feel like the staff at the hospital are so guilty about the spread to the arm that they are purely concentrating on this at the expense of the leg at the moment
I have tried to gain a referral to another large hospital with a specialist Pain Management Unit but they have written back to say that as Alison is under 16 she would have to be referred on to the unit we are at in any case
Alison is back in hospital for three days next week so I hope that finally they will take on-board our concerns and begin to concentrate on getting Alison mobile again. Even though they have not been able to find a drug to effectively control the pain, to have Alison mobile and independant to some degree would be wonderful at the moment !!!
I'll keep you posted on how things go
Love, Andrea