I came down with RSD in June 1996 after surgery on my right thigh, and suffered the tortures we're all familiar with. In January 2010, I suddenly started losing my symptoms. It was rapid at first, but then slowed as the remission continued. Now I'm in about 90% remission; the only remaining symptom is that I get fatigued really easily.
My PMD was amazed! She said, smiling, "With your years of chronicity and your age, you have no right to be in remission!" She and I have been micro-analyzing what I was doing, taking, eating, etc., but still don't have a clue why this happened.
My RSD was centered in my right foot - actually in the tarsal joints - and I went through the usual series of epidural blocks, had an SCS installed (didn't help much), took lots of Neurontin, narcotics, muscle relaxants, etc. I never experienced any spreading, for which I'm way grateful. I really wish I could nail down what caused this, but no luck so far.
One factor, which my pain docs and I had a lot to do with the lack of spreading and maybe even the remission, is that I was a pretty successful runner/racer when the RSD hit. Since long distance runners developed very large veins in our legs and feet, it seems logical to infer that I didn't have as much vasoconstriction as most RSD folks do.
Since the remission, I've become a major advocate for RSD and chronic pain patients. I'm a Professor of Medicinal Chemistry, so I started researching RSD as soon as I knew I had it. *edit*
I'd be glad to answer any questions, except "How'd you do it"! I still don't know.
Howard