I am very sorry to hear what you have been going through. I agree that Dr. Lubenow would be the one in IL that you would want to see (though I personally have not...but that is a long story). I have heard good things and a lot of people have had success treating with him.

Can I ask what else you have tried? Any way you go...you will likely have a wait on your hands. Have you been able to work with or find a good physical therapist? I did not have a lot of success with the various medications but physical therapy has really given me my life back. It's slow of course and you don't get any real immediate results with it but it does work if you are able to do it.

Another thing to maybe look into (in the mean time) would be tDCS treatments. There is a thread on here about it that I highly recommend reading. It is not invasive and is fairly inexpensive ($300 for all the equipment)...and the success some of us have seen with it is nothing short of miraculous. Ballerina and CRPSjames have made just amazing progress with this and even though I only started it a month ago I have also seen some wonderful results. Please read through the thread. It is long...but it filled me with such hope when I read through it. It sounds too good to be true...but it DOES work...at least for some people.

Good luck! I hope you are able to find some relief. Take care.