Originally Posted by catra121

I have always had hypersensitivity with my RSD...and no sort of touching ever feels good on my RSD areas.

BUT...I can say from my own experience that my areas of spread are not exactly the same as my initial RSD site. They flare at the same sorts of things but where as my ankle gets dark purple and red and swollen...my spread areas get color change in the form of a light red/pink (sometimes a dark red with a VERY bad flare) that almost looks like I have a sunburn all over. My initial site...the pain feels a little different but I think that's mostly because it's still focused on my ankle (a fairly small area) and my spread areas in my upper body the pain is more spread out. I also have swelling in my spread areas all the time (though it gets worse with a flare) and at the initial site only when I have a bad flare.

I've also heard that for some people, firm touching or pressure is not an issue with their RSD but it's more the light touches that cause pain. They can even get some relief from compression wear. Not my personal experience...but there are people out there with RSD who say it.

Remember that everyone is affected differently with RSD. You do not need to have ALL the symtoms to HAVE RSD. So it COULD be RSD...or it COULD be something else.

BTW...I do not guard my RSD areas in any way but that's because I know guarding is bad. So while it is understandable when you are looking for an initial diagnosis to guard...once you know the RSD diagnosis you may be less inclined to guard (even if you don't really think about it). Or do you think you are not guarding because you don't have the hypersensitivity? Either way...it's not a sure indication one way or the other.