Quote:
Originally Posted by GalenaFaolan
I'm kind of weird anyway so take it when I tell you what happened. It was bad for the first 5 months. I learned to walk on my own again and one day......gone!! :O Just gone. I don't know why or how, it just did. Lots of rsd'ers have swelling and it stays with them, unfortunately.
As for the color change only being there when your foot is down is due to blood flow. When it's down the blood rushes down as well and because we have a lack of proper circulation that's when it shows. When you lay down your legs and feet are now elevated and thus look "normal" again. The first doc I saw hiked my leg and foot in the air and says "See, it's looking better already!" Well DUH!! You just elevated my leg and foot dumb butt!!!!! *rolls eyes* Geez..... So that's they "why" of why it only turns colors when the leg and foot are down.
My rsd started after I broke my kneecap on a broken handle at work. Unfortunately the ER had said my knee was only "badly bruised". Pffttt. I found out 8 months later after my first bone scan that it had been broken. It showed up on it plain as day! There shines like a beacon a healing fracture in the knee. *sigh* If I'd known that I sure as heck wouldn't have been walking on it a week and a half after I got hurt!!
I think most of us take a muscle relaxer. I've been on baclofen for about 3 years now. I think it has probably helped you. I started taking it because my jerking arms and legs got to the point I couldn't stand it anymore. You know how when you jerk a puppet's string it's arm or leg does that movement? That's why mine would do anytime, except it wouldn't stop for sometimes an hour or more. That was so aggravating! It rarely does it now but if I'm in a lot of pain or try to stand or walk too long, my left leg especially will start jerking and won't stop.
Hugs,
Karen
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Don't ya just love the good ole docs??? I went to Urgent care 3 days after the excruciating pain/color changes started (thinking I had a blood clot) because the darn surgeon who operated on me refused to see me. Even the Urgent Care doc (though he could see from my shaking and profuse sweating that I was in severe pain) said the color change was "normal". I wonder.....should I take some info on RSD by there for him to read??? Or perhaps to the doc that operated and diagnosed me (telling me at the same time that people that had this 50 years ago ended up in a "nut house") and then rushed out of the room in a hurry to see his next victim??? Ohhh, Momma's a bit bitter after all, eh???
Ok......so no "mild case" denial for me......the color change when standing is par for the course. The severe burning pain isn't with me like it was in the beginning (THAT was bad......as severe as labor). Now it is more of a throbbing feeling of increasing pressure (and I can tell without even looking when it is turning bright purple). My theory is that the postural change was more pronounced in the beginning because I was elevating my leg (as they instructed.....six inches above my heart or greater) after the surgery and so the gradient was more. That could be why the severe burning pain isn't present anymore (that and I've quit icing it).
The twitching has actually been with me for years even before RSD (have mentioned it to many docs.....no one cared)....has gotten worse (more of an occasional tremor or rapid twitch) since my diagnosis....especially in my left thigh. I accidentally bumped my hurt foot a few weeks ago and it twitched and flopped around for several minutes like a fish out of water. They switched me from Zanaflex to Flexeril about the same time. I only take it in the evening.....it makes me really sleepy.
Ok.....so the swelling may go away or not......I'll see when I get there. I do think I have some nerve damage from the surgery.....I have areas of my left foot where I have decreased sensation (especially on top of my ankle). I have to be really careful when I shave my legs to not cut myself there (and the allodynia is bad there too). Being in the shower always hurts and makes it swell.
Ok......I'm just rambling now.....everyone take care and have a pain-managed evening!!