I had a similar experience with one of my docs once. He prescribed me to take Celebrex 100mg 3x a day. It wasn't helping...this was during the period where I got worse and my RSD spread. I had told him that I was still seeing no relief from the new meds he put me on during every visit but kept taking them as prescribed. One day he asks me how much I am taking (he usually started every appointment with this) and then tells me I should only take 3 if I need it but less if I don't. That should have been a red flag for me that he wasn't listening to me because if I've been telling you for the past 5 visits that I'm getting ZERO relief then who on earth would you say such a thing? Obviously Celebrex isn't a narcotic or anything so there were no accusations or anything attached to it...my point is just that I was taking the prescribed amount, no more and no less, so it was odd to me that he should say such a thing in the context of everything else. This is also the same man who have me on a VERY low dose of neurontin and when I had side effects (like it putting me to sleep) he told me to take even less. I say neurontin had zero effect for my pain relief but a part of me wonders whether that would have been true if I was on a dose that actually had a CHANCE of relieving my RSD pain (not 10% of that dose like I was).

Oh well...live and learn. Unfortunately most of us learn to see the red flags from our own bad experiences when it is too late to go back and do anything about it. But once you KNOW a doctor is not right for you then you need to get to work ASAP to get to someone who can help you. Obviously an RSD specialist would be the best but it's also important that you have a doctor who CARES about whether you get better and about what you want. I am not treating with an RSD specialist but my doctor is so compassionate and she had done a lot to LEARN about RSD and the various treatments so we have worked as partners to get me to where I am now. Every situation is different and we all have our financial limits too. Keep looking until you find the right doc for you.

I've never tried acupuncture mostly because all the research I have seen for RSD is that it has VERY short term relief...many times only until the patient leaves their office. I'm more interested in long term results even if I have to wait a long time before I see relief. It is one reason I will not consider a spinal cord stimulator...relief is too short term to be worth all the risks in my opinion and I want BETTER than that. For some people those few years of relief are worth it...but not for me. Any treatment decisions are a personal choice but for me I am mostly focused on long term solutions like physical therapy, tDCS, and non-invasive treatments with limited to no side effects. Ketamine is something I wanted to look into but the cost was out of my reach when I wanted to look into it. After my spread I don't think I would still consider it unless my situation was dire because if my RSD spread after a lumbar sympathetic block then it seems it would be very risky for me to do the ketamine. BUT...it has a good track record of long term results and even putting patients into remission...so I haven't completely ruled it out as an option for the future if my situation takes a turn for the worst.