My husband cut his ulnar and median nerves with his table saw in Aug. '08. Had to have nerves grafted out of his leg to repair the damage. He developed RSD in his hand, had the burning pain, swollen fingers, discoloration and temperature changes (usually varying degrees of cold) in his fingers...

He was prescribed gabapentin for the pain going from 3 x 300 mg/day to 3 x 1200 mg/day plus physical therapy 3 days a week. He also had three nerve blocks, one BPB and two stellate ganglions. He didn't get much pain relief but the circulation in his fingers was normal (i.e. warm fingers) for 18-24 hours after each.

At the time, he insisted that the blocks didn't help and refused to have more but the fact is, we really don't know what those blocks might have "reset" somewhere. He is currently in complete remission but no one can say if it was the blocks, the PT, the drugs, a combination of all, or even none that got him to that point.

From his point of view, he would probably say it's worth a shot to have a block. His doctor said that some patients have many before they see any real relief. Some on this forum say the blocks are painful and caused their RSD to spread. I don't doubt them for a second, but it wasn't the case with my husband. For him there was no downside to the blocks. Just not enough upside either to make him willing to continue them.

I will say that he worked like a dog on his PT. He did his exercises every single evening without fail, even though it was extremely painful, and did not take a single day off -- even Christmas. He does them to this day. My own feeling is that this is what helped more than anything else. Plus the fact that his doctors were on top of it and diagnosed him the second his splint came off.

I wish you the very best of luck and hope you'll keep us posted.