I feel so bad...there's nothing worse than being in pain and having nothing help. My pain at its best is at a level 7 these days out of 10...but after months and months of zero relief I will take any small help there is. I know it's hard when you are constantly in pain...but maybe try to write down exactly what you are doing, where you are at, etc when the pain starts to get elevated. You may be surprised by what you find (or it may just be jibberish...but anything's worth a shot right).

The TENS machine is sort of odd and I don't know exactly why it helps. But you put the electrodes around the area (surrounding it) then the pads themselves shouldn't hurt you. They bother me much less than the Lidoderm patches at any rate. The sensation is...odd...but after 15-30 minutes of the odd sensation it does drop the pain level down. For me at least...not everyone. It can sometimes take some tries to get the placement of the pads right and the right settings...but like everything else when you are in constant pain...it's worth a shot.

Have you tried doing these different things at different pain levels? Like if you put on the Lidoderm patches when the pain is at a level 1 on the pain scale would that maybe prevent it from escalating even if the pain doesn't go away completely? If you can't make the pain go away then at least keeping it at a low level would be a better situation that you have now.

I do hope that you find some answers soon. It's probably not RSD but no matter what it is I hate to hear that someone is suffering from chronic pain and can't get any relief. Good luck.