Actually the bone scan means nothing. Depending on each person's body rsd will show up on a bone scan IF you have osteopenia or osteoporosis due to the rsd. I had one scan done 8 months after getting rsd. It came back normal and showed the healing fracture in my kneecap which I didn't know I had! At that point I had rsd from hips down. My 2nd bone scan was done exactly 1 yr later and it too came back normal. At the time of the 2nd one I had full body rsd.

I've talked to some people who've only had rsd for 2 months and their bone scans "lit up" showing osteo on the bone scan. Others have had rsd for years and scans are still coming back normal. There is no test to "show" you have rsd. Physical symptoms and ruling out every other possible diagnosis is how the rsd dx is usually arrived at. I bet if I got a scan now that it would still be normal.

Though we all have the same dx(diagnosis) no 2 of us will present it the same way. We share some "common" symptoms, like pain,burning,muscle spasms,etc. None of us will have them with the same intensity. Some people will experience things really bad, others not so much and others somewhere in the middle. Because we are all unique, our systems all work differently.

Take the whole sensitivity issue. Some docs(ones who,imo,don't know as much as they should except for a little they read in some book)who say you can't have rsd if you don't scream when someone touches you. WRONG! You can have touch sensitivity or air sensitivity or both. For myself, I only had air sensitivity and didn't develop touch until 2 years ago. Some people have no sensitivity at all at first but will develop it later on.

I wanted you to know the "truth" about some of these common rsd things. Sometimes it's hard to know what's right and not. I found in the beginning by talking to other rsd'ers I got the truth from them about it all and the whole thing wasn't quite as scary or overwhelming to me from then on.

Big Hugs,

Karen