Hi. This is first an aside to
michelles's last post. I too walked around for over 2 years in "ankle foot orthotics" that corrected for the bilateral injury to tendons in my feet on some gym equipment that resulted in CRPS in both legs, before a podiatrist of all people told me to get rid of them, that the immobilization of the ankles was doing me more harm than good. And he was right. Pain that had been regularly at a 9 by early afternoon was down to more managable levels.
So I worry about you wearing a fixed boot all day, especially where you report that your foot is already frozen. That said I realize that, in Idaho, you don't have the same luxury that I have in So Cal., to spend most of my days in sandles.
Now, to
SunshineGirl and everyone else, a couple of general points that should be made about CRPS in the feet. First of all it's impossible to overstate how important P.T. can be: I didn't realize how much my feet had constricted into something approaching a fist until I was being worked over (gently) by a physical therapist. Something I can't recommend enough, just avoid anything that comes under the heading of "strength training" like the plague.
Secondly, there are a couple of somewhat novel treatments that
SunshineGirl and others should be aware of. I've gotten great benefit in term of the worst of the deep "bone crushing" pain from period infusions of a drug called
Zometa, which is a new and imrpoved version of
Pamironate, in a family of drugs called bisphosphonates, originally used to prevent the uptake in the blood stream of bone tissue in patients with multiple myeloma. If anyone wants an article to show their doctor, take a look at "Efficacy of Pamidronate in Complex Regional Pain Syndrome Type I," Robinson JN, Sandorn J, Chapman PT,
Pain Med. 2004; 5: 276-280, and available for free download off the RSDSA website at
http://www.rsds.org/2/library/articl...e_Robinson.pdf. But a note of caution, it is associated with the death of jaw tissue in people who need serious dental work, like root canal, so I know that my pain doc. at least required a sign-off from my dentist, to the effect that I was in good dental health, before we could procede.
The second treatment -- one that I could never have because my RSD is bilateral -- is something called "
Mirror Therapy and Graded Motor Imagery." For a quick summary, check out this piece written for lay people in the Spring 2008 issue of the RSDSA Review:
http://www.rsds.org/1/publications/r...pring2008.html Basically, it involves putting a mirror between you and the "bad" foot, so all the brain sees are two matching "good" feet. You go through a series of exercises moving only the good foot, and people have reported remarkable improvements in only a matter of weeks. I know it sounds way too good to be true, but there's apparently a lot of deep neuroscience behind this.
Good luck!
Mike