Hi.

How far into Iowa do you live? I live in Minnesota and have had RSD for 4 years first in my left arm and now also in my right. I had a stimulator implanted a year and a half ago.

I can certainly tell you where I go which are both located in Eagan, MN. I don't know how far away you are from there. One is a pain specialist/spine surgeon (who also implanted my stimulator) and the other is an internal medicine doctor who originally diagnosed me when I was in the hospital for a blood clot in my RSD arm.

If you are interested, I would recommend going to the pain specialist first. Please send me an e-mail if you are interested.

Even with the stimulator, I have needed narcotics on my very bad days. What you need is a doctor that understands the condition and who can give you some options. But, also someone who can get the right "cocktail" of meds that will help with your pain - so you only need narcotics for your breakthrough pain - not every day. It took me about a year to find the right medications that help. Even then, I just changed muscle relaxers because I had such bone pressure.

The key is to find the right doctor and the right combination of meds to help.

I am so sorry that you are suffering.