Quote:
Originally Posted by cfthb
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
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There's an old joke; doctor, doctor, it hurts when I do this. Doctor: Don't do that. This has been my approach from the beginning. I'm trying to discover all the things that hurt and not do them. I had about a 40% remission at one point but was reinjured on the job and it was twice as bad as where I started.
I was always quite athletic. One doctor was surprised at the size of the veins that feed the heart and an anesthesiologist almost jumped out of her shoes when my pulse got down in the 25 range and B/P not much higher. The doc asked me if I was an athlete and it was very difficult to answer; "used to be".
Did you pay attention to things like diet and exercise? Did you go through a lot of depression coming to accept the condition? Did you ever obsess on the condition or getting better?