Quote:
Originally Posted by J Shelton
I am a nurse who developed CRPS in my left arm and hand in 2008. I slamed my hand in the door at work. Since my injury I have been in constant severe pain with no relief. I have endured painful nerve blocks and surgury that made the pain worse, I have taken cymbalta, gabapentin, lyrica, and use every pain patch there is with no success. I have tried narcotics and found out that Im allergic to all that Ive tried which include hydrocodone, methadone and percocet. I was once a happy outgoing person who enjoyed traveling with my family and enjoyed life and always lived it to the fullest, until I developed depression. My depression has gotten so bad that I tried ECT because no med would help me and the doctors and phychiatrist guaranteed this would help. Well, it was horrible after just one treatment I started having having the worst headache imagined and decided not to continue with the treatments. So now my depression is so bad that Im pettrified to leave my house and when I do I have panic attacks so severe that I feel like Im dying, with the constant pain and depression I had contimplated suicide as my only relief. Now my doctor has told me that my best option is to have a SCS implanted, well after the ECT fiasco I am alittle scared, I dont know what I should do. I would your opinion withis matter if possible, all I want is my life back.!
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Hi J! I am so sorry for what you are dealing with. Everyone is different in their symptoms and treatments. I have had RSD for 21 years, which started in the right side of my face. I was in remission for quite a while. In 2009, I hurt my hand and now, in addition to my face, I have it in both hands, left arm, left leg and right foot. I am allergic to pretty much everything! I had successful stellate ganglion blocks when first diagnosed, which put me in remission, so I wanted to try them again. They were unsuccessful because I was too far gone. My dr also tried many other types of blocks with no success. He was the second dr to suggest the SCS. I was terrified! The good thing is that you can try it out to see if it will help before having the permanent placed. I had two implanted in June 2011 - one cervical and one thoracic. I am so happy that I did this. I had to have the leads changed out in the thoracic one in November 2011, so it is much better with coverage. Now, I am not out of pain because it does not reach my foot completely and it doesn't help my face at all (would need leads there to help), but my pain is greatly reduced. This gave me the use of my hands back! This helped me continue to work! Some days it feels like I am only getting 50% relief...to me 50% is huge with the level of pain I have without it.
You have to decide what is best for you and do your research. Also, if you decide to move forward with this, you need to be 100% comfortable with your dr. Many will chime in telling you to avoid it, it causes spread, it is not proven to help RSD/CRPS, etc. But there are also many success stories on here too. Mine didn't cause spread, mine helped me greatly.
You came to the right place! Also check out the SCS & Pain Pumps board (if you haven't already).
Wishing you the best,
Nanc
