Hello Sue and Welcome to NeuroTalk - you will meet many great people here who will be more than happy to help you in any way they possibly can!!

I'm so sorry to hear about everything that you have been through and really hope you get some much-needed pain relief real soon!! Please don't EVER give up hope - there is always hope and it seems as though you are still at the begginning of dealing with this awful disease? Doctors usually say that RSD is best caught and diagnosed within 3 months as that is the best chance of getting your RSD into remission! Unfortunately, there isn't any cure for RSD at the moment however there IS medications to try and help reduce the pain and other symptoms!!

I have RSD in my left leg and right arm - I developed it when I was 12 years old and am now 14. It took me 4 and a half months to get diagnosed and treated which was pretty "good" compared to some as some people are left to suffer in awful pain for years on end! Before I was diagnosed, I was having Physical Therapy although it wasn't helping at all as the PT's didn't know anything about RSD and thought that I was just faking the problems for attention - why would I do that?!?!?!

When I was diagnosed with RSD, my Pain Management Doctor immediately did a Guanethidine Nerve Block and it didn't help me at all and I was left wheelchair bound for over a year! Unfortunately, when my Doctor did the nerve block, he didn't realise that you should NEVER inject directly into an RSD limb unless you absolutely have to and it was only when the complications started happening that my mum found an article on the internet about it so by that time, it was too late unfortunately!

MANY people have had relief from the nerve blocks though and it is different for everyone - no two people are the same when dealing with this illness unfortunately so it really is a matter of trial and error! I would suggest that you do a lot of research before going ahead with anything though and to weigh up the benefits and side effects and speak to people that have had that paticular procedure done before!

If you need anything, please know that I am here for you because I DO understand what you're going through and how painful and frustrating it is!! I hope you get some much-needed pain relief real soon and am keeping you in my thoughts and prayers!!

Alison.