I have recently had surgery that spread my RSD from my just my left shoulder, now it goes all the way to my hand down my back, and left leg. These new areas where the RSD has spread are so very painful that I have not been out of bed much in the past few months. I'm waiting on my ketamine outpatient. I just saw my pain doc last week though on how to get this crazy pain under control, and two keep it from progressing further while we wait for my appointment in September.
I was lucky (ha!) that my RSD was diagnosed correctly fairly quickly, less than six months after the original injury. So we were able to get series of blocks and things done very early on. None of them were effective for me. My pain doc does not see any reason for me in particular to get more blocks since they had never proven effective. If however they had been, she would have done a series of blocks on my arm and back immidiatly. So if you have had any previous success with blocks I would suggest trying that route first.
She also talked about being able to take a low dose of oral ketamine at home to help get the flare up under control. We decided on a compound cream that will contain ketamine and Norotin. It still hasn't arrived, but I am excited to see if it works.
Right now I also use a gel called Volataren. It is an anti-inflammatory gel, and also forcing myself to rub the upset areas keeps them from getting too hyper sensitive.
Also, when my flare up first started in my arm I would get intense muscle spasms that would force my hand closed. My doc's massaged my forearm as much as possible and then put me in a hard wrist brace for six weeks, just to give the nerves a break. May help?
Wish you the best.