Hi stllaborette and Welcome back,
Iniatiallly, my RSD came from breast surgery left arm, frozen shoulder. The pt. told me not to be surprised if it spread to right shoulder. It did about a year after I had 100 pt to get my left shoulder back in use. I didn't do anything- it just spread. My next spread was injury to left hand. Then the next spread was to my right hand with no injury. I have full body now and had no injuries.
To help me adjust, I found a psychiatrist 5 years ago. He is my pain management Dr, He is a neurologist and and pharmacologist. I went thru the deep depression and crying. He really helped me thru talking and getting all my meds in the right amounts. One thing that really helped me was an anti-anxiety med, Lorazepam.I found when my anxiety level was down, so was my pain level.
I use meditation, visualization, prayer, music, essential oils under heat.epsom salt baths & lavender oil, massage therapy is wonderful, swimming-water needs to be 86 degrees. -that has really helped me keep mobile. Have you done desensitization????? Bio-feedback helps control pain. Let me know, and I'll tell you what my orthopedic therapist had me do. Journaling is a wonderful way to release of emotions.
I went through a real rough time recently. My sleeping pill Ambien CR. stopped working and for weeks I wouldn't get to sleep puntil 5-6 a.m. My pain level sky rocketed. I knew my Dr. was involved in a study of seroquel. Seroquel is a med used for bi-polar and schezoophrenia, which I have neither. But the study was a low dose for fibromyalgia. They found it helped with sleep. He had 200 in the study and is ready to write the report. The results were amazing. I've been on it 5-6 weeks now and get restorative sleep every night. That in turn has caused my pain level to go down. I cut my pain med, vicodin in half, and anti-anxiety med in half. It's amazing. I had been pretty bed ridden, but now I can run errands etc for 4-5 hours. I'm so grateful. Everyone is different, but it works for me. I had been on 3200 mg of neurotin for years, and then switched to lyrica and wanted to go off. I was on such a large amount because I had dailey and nightly electric jolts, jerks, spasms. The meds kept that under control, but weight gain I wasn't happy with. We went off slowly, and I've only had a couple of spells in the last 6 months.
Cymbalta is a anti-depressant I take 120 mg. It is also good for fibromyalgia. I went off two other double dosed anti-depressants-wellbutrin xl and paxil cr.
I only have one crippled limb, my left hand, and was misdiagnosed. I wasn't diagnosed for 4 years. I flew back to Oregon to a sports injury group and the hand Dr. diagnosed me in 1 minute, went over to hospital and had nuclear med test, confirmed it. He ordered a tens unit right away and physical therapy. But was a little late on the hand therapy.
We all share here and care about each other. I have learned so much from others. The emotional support is priceless!!!!! Glad you are back. Take care, loretta