My personal experience is their are some doctors who could really care less and do not want to be bothered. (i.e. my ortho) while I get many doctors say that they are very curious to certain aspects of RSD. (i.e. the spread)
Recently I had to add abilify to my list of meds and my pcp is following that in case something goes wrong, he is close by. We were talking about my toes and feet. While one foot is cold and tawny the other is red and hot. My toes are now tan and he said he never had heard about it spreading, but was not real knowledgeable about RSD. I was so glad to hear his admittance. He further asked if I had any information, he would love to read it. WOW! I thought, its not everyday you get this response from a doctor.
Ethically, I think my pcp gave me the best response, while my ortho ignored my complaints and tried to pacifiy me by saying well your xrays look ok. Medication ethics for me falls into the same ball park, you have those who don't want to see people suffer, while others dont care. I would hope when all the options are done with my PM he will refer me for outside help that he is not familiar with.
I am not giving up. Not yet.