Hi numb,

I had a continuous peridural block after I had surgery in Germany on my RSD foot that was mean to remove offending screws from a badly botched bunion surgery.

I'm a lay person so I hope this makes sense but in essence the concept is that they accessed my sympathetic nerves from the peridural colum in my spine with a catheter, and injected and numbed my leg from my hip down for 7 days after I had some metal screws removed from my rsd foot. The catheter was filled with 25 ml Carbostesin and 1 ampoule of Sufatanyl epidurally as well as sodium chloride 0.9% with a maximum flow of 6 ml/hour. If I recall correctly they did not go above 5ml/hr in my case as they had accomplished the level of pain relief required. Because I had the rsd already for 6 years at that point they were doubtful I would find any any long term relief. The good news was that they did however think it would help to prevent the RSD from spreading or getting worse from the surgery which is a huge risk. They kept the medication modified so I would could still manage to walk (only with assistance) and not loose my bowel functions. Both doctors and nurses were surprised I had not been offered this treatment here in Canada when I was first diagnosed. Apparently it's a gold standard treatment for newly diagnosed RSD patients in Germany. That knowledge after the fact sent me into depression for some time.

I was taken to a small a regional hospital in a small town in the north of Germany called Schleswig, close to Keil where one of the top world renowned RSD researcher works. My husband has met with him and they keep in regular contact now. All the medical staff at this small regional hospital were very well versed in RSD as a result of this affiliation with the Kiel University. We paid privately or I should say my husband paid because I'm not working currently. It was his connections that got me there and he took me to the best. The local paper came to interview me because they were so impressed that I would come all the way from Canada for treatment but as always they over blew the realities of the treatment. It was more about publicity and promotion for the hospital and the headlines were over-hyped about my "cure".

The good news was that I did not have any nasty RSD spread so I think in essence the results were a success. Surgery on an RSD limb is possible despite what my Canadian doctors dreaded, and their fear of the unknown that denied me the possibilities of a quick recovery from a bad surgery gone wrong.

I know this doesn't answer your question and I don't know all of your particulars but it's sound to me like you may have centralized RSD. Try to find someone who fully understands how to treat you from that perspective.

Hoosman stuff was ahead of his time and he was great but it is dated now. He is formally retired so look for doctors who are currently in practice and up to date on the latest research. A good starting point being in the USA is RSDSA.org, contact Jim Broach if you get stuck.


I wish you well

MsL