Angela -

A few years before I had RSD, I had pinched nerves in my neck, due to spinal stenosis and exacerbated by exercise, whether swimming laps at night at the gym (then the great joy of my life) or even running on a treadmill.

After years of CRPS, I can say that, bar none, the radiating pain down my arm was the sharpest pain I have ever experienced.

There is a cure, but it involves finding either an expert "interventional radiologist" or an equally qualified ABPM certified pain medicine specialist: and given the choice, I would go with the interventional radiologist.

Under flouroscopy, and with a local anesthetic, you get an epidural steriod injection, delivered through a four inch needle at the front of your neck. (I know, real pretty, but just like dinosaurs, we have too much armor plating on the back.) For me, it took two applications, a week or two apart, to cure it, but then it was gone! That is until a year later when I did some imprudant excercise again, but then it only took a single shot to knock it out and that was 11 years ago.

But again, this is an extremely delicate procedure, which should probably be attempted only at a university hospital or a private clinic of equal or higher standing. E.g., the guy who gave it to me at UCLA said he would never train his residents in the procedure. ("I would be wrapping my hands around theirs the entire time.") Board certified clinical fellows only need apply.

Mike