[coachV]

hi all,

i'm moving up in the world here....one step up!......i'm usually on the rsd board (bad hands, so excuse my rotten typing)....however, the new neuro thinks that the problem with my feet might be PN rather than RSD, tho he's not ready to rule out erythromelalgia.

i've been reading a bunch of posts here and it sounds like PN and RSD use many of the same meds, tho i haven't heard anyone mention topomax, which did me more good than anything till i had to stop it......i'm currently on no meds at all since i've had so many adverse reactions in the last year.....i do use a lidocaine cream and anti-inflammatories.

i had a lumbar block a few months ago that helped a bit with the pain in my feet, but has long since worn off....and that's one of the things i was hoping all of u could tell me.....do procedures like that generally help with PN?...i've never been sure if the block helped or if it was just a question of timing, and the flare-up was dying down anyway.

which leads to my next quesiton....does PN tend to be an up-and-down sort of thing, or is it more stable?....does physical therapy help?....does PN respond to hot or cold?

i have a feeling that RSD and PN are not all that different, but if i am dealing with 2 separate ailments here, i'd like to know a bit more about it....the neuro mentioned doing an EMG, but i told him that unless he planned on general anesthesia, the answer was NO......he says that since it wouldn't change his treatment plan, it didn't matter much, tho he "would like to see what's going on".......it will take more than that to get me to agree to another emg.

thx for any info u can give me.

best to all,
liz