Dear Jonee -

While not directly responsive to your question re abdominal RSD, I am concerned that you understand there is only a very narrow window in which the most effective treatment for acute (fresh) cases of RSD/CRPS may be effective in all together knocking the disease into permanent remission. That said, in at least partial response to your question, please be aware that organ may be significantly affected by changes in sympathetic nerve activation to the area in question, without there being any direct involvement of RSD/CRPS in the organ system itself.*

Among all of the treatments widely available in the United States today, by far and away the best odds for knocking out a fresh case of RSD/CRPS in the arm or hand lies in a Stellate Ganglion Block, a procedure in which under fluoroscopy a large amount of a local anesthetic (with or without a supplemental steroid) is injected by a pain specialist or an interventional radiologist at the top of the back, approximately where the cervical and thoracic spines transition; and for children the procedure would almost certainly be done under mild sedation. But there, time is absolutely of the essence. See, Efficacy of Stellate Ganglion Blockade for the Management of Type 1 Complex Regional Pain Syndrome, Ackerman WE, Zhang JM, South Med J. 2006; 99:1084-1088, FULL TEXT @ http://www.rsds.org/2/library/articl...lion_block.pdf:

Abstract
INTRODUCTION: The purpose of this study was to examine the efficacy of stellate ganglion blockade (SGB) in patients with complex regional pain syndromes (CRPS I) of their hands.

METHODS: After IRB approval and patient informed consent, 25 subjects, with a clinical diagnosis of CRPS I of one hand as defined by the International Association for the Study of Pain (IASP) criteria, had three SGB's performed at weekly intervals. Laser Doppler fluxmetric hand perfusion studies were performed on the normal and CRPS I hands pre- and post-SGB therapy. No patient was included in this study if they used tobacco products or any medication or substance that could affect sympathetic function. The appropriate parametric and nonparametric data analyses were performed and a p value <0.05 was used to reject the null hypothesis.

RESULTS: Symptom onset of CRPS I until the initiation of SGB therapy ranged between 3 to 34 weeks. Following the SGB series, patient pain relief was as follows: group I, 10/25 (40%) had complete symptom relief; group II, 9/25 (36%) had partial relief and group III, 6/25 (24%) had no relief. The duration of symptoms until SGB therapy was: group I, 4.6 +/- 1.8 weeks, group II, 11.9 +/- 1.6 weeks and group III, 35.8 +/- 27 weeks. Compared with the normal control hand, the skin perfusion in the CRPS I affected hand was greater in group I and decreased in groups II and III.

DISCUSSION: The results of our study demonstrate that an inverse relationship exists between hand perfusion and the duration of symptoms of CRPS I. On the other hand, a positive correlation exists between SGB efficacy and how soon SGB therapy is initiated. A duration of symptoms greater than 16 weeks before the initial SGB and/or a decrease in skin perfusion of 22% between the normal and affected hands adversely affects the efficacy of SGB therapy. [Emphasis added.]

PMID: 17100029 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/17100029

See, also, Complex regional pain syndrome type I: efficacy of stellate ganglion blockade, Istemi Yucel, Yavuz Demiraran, Kutay Ozturan, Erdem Degirmenci, J Orthopaed Traumatol (2009) 10:179–183, FULL TEXT @ http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/arti...Article_71.pdf

Hopefully, all of this will come as old news to you, but if not, your daughter could use a new pain specialist ASAP. Let us know if that's the case, there are lots of resources that can be sent your way.

take care,
Mike


* By example, you could take a look at the authorities cited in my posts nos. 4 & 6 in the Heart Problems thread http://neurotalk.psychcentral.com/thread132789.html, where I restated and expanded on a something I was reminded of by SandyS last month in Vasovagal (Reflex) Syncope and RSD http://neurotalk.psychcentral.com/thread129261.html.