Armed with this information, I went to see an excellent hand PT as my original injury was to my left index finger but I had full body RSD. She was very informative and knowledgeable.

She told me that:

When the nerves get irritated it causes the muscles to tighten up and we get swelling and all the other things that go along with this.

Nerves normally glide in the body (like when you floss your teeth) and when the nerves get irritated, our muscles tighten which don't allow the nerves to glide, then the nerve gets irritated and we end up in this cycle that we are trying to get out of.

Something has to effect change. This is where nerve blocks and medications comes in. They are trying to get the nerves to stop being irritated and get gliding. We are then to move and to hopefully keep the momentum going.

The SG blocks had cause my left arm from my face down (shoulder, elbow & wrist) to swell and tighten up.

I tried PT for about 3 months and it was so painful I stopped. She had massaged the scar on the finger and it had taken the pain to a new higher burning level. I figured the original injury was causing me problems and I probably damaged it when I cut my finger.

The PT encouraged me to keep walking - I was walking about 3 hours per day trying to deal with the pain and anxiety but the pain remained high. By July of that year, I could finally feel some hunger pains.

So then I decided I needed to get the nerve looked at.