stupid ?
 

what does causalgia mean?? i see it frequently and i know it is part of what we have but i guess i dont understand it.. i know.. i am new to this and kind of dumb about it.. sorry:confused:

Hi,
 

RSDS was called Causalgia up until 1927. It has had several names over the years. Shoulder-hand syndrome was another but there were more.

Not only can the Drs. not treat it, they don't know what to call it.

Ada

Don't Be Afraid To Ask
 

Babs,
Not too many of us were born inside a medical university with parents who have won the Nobel Prize for Medicine. We all have questions that may or may not relate to our condition. There is no wrong question to ask. I for one, wasn't born with a medical processor in my head that's for sure. Or even a spelling one to boot. I was 15 before I could spell my name right in English. And I was born here in the U.S. Point is,,everyone here has questions and this is the place to come in and ask. No matter what information your asking for...Don't Be Afraid To Ask....mellowguy

Causalgia is also known as CRPS II
RSD is CRPS I

CRPS I is generally less serious than CRPS II, where there is nerve damage or nerve entrapment. RSD and Causalgia are the old terms, but are still used all the time. If you hunt around the board you'll find that the meanings of the terms discussed often.

Hello Babs...
 

Honey..I learn more everyday here.. This forum is our little heaven right here on earth!! Funny as just when I have questions or am confused about something..someone here asks the question before I get the chance... We are family here and family takes care of family... it is just the way it has to be!!!!

Hugz, Kathy:grouphug:

According to Webster's Dictionary...
http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/causalgia
Main Entry: cau·sal·gia
Pronunciation: \kȯ-ˈzal-j(ē-)ə, -ˈsal-\
Function: noun
Etymology: New Latin, from Greek kausos fever (from kaiein to burn) + New Latin -algia
Date: 1872
: a constant usually burning pain resulting from injury to a peripheral nerve

well according to that we all have that. not just type 1.lol.. its just so confusing.. i never knew what really caused my injury to start with, or what it was or still is i guess. they just said crps.. so im a little in the dark. trying to find out as much as i can.. the drs arent much help.. hopefully i can into one soon that can help..lol:)

I agree with you!!! This is ALL confusing... I had a minor injury but that healed nicely... unfortunately my brain forgot to stop receiving and sending pain signals...from the injury area. Now I have pain coming from all parts of my body that have never been injured.

Too me.... it doesn't really matter if I have Type 1 or Type 2.... IT ALL HURTS and PAIN IS PAIN!!!!! All of the doctor's I have been to tell me they treat RSD/CRPS the same no matter....

If I had a known nerve injury... I would at least know why I am having continued pain... but since I don't, what is scary to me....... I have NO IDEA and neither do the doctors why my pain keeps getting worse.

So for the foreseeable future and beyond... I will gather all of the information I can about new and old treatments... take it with me to each doctor I see so that I can remember to discuss all options... I also have long detailed notes about my pain and how I feel to give to the doctor so that I don't forget any details about this either... we all know how fast a doctor's appointment can be... better be safe than sorry.

:hug:
Abbie

I agree. my injury never healed and thats my problem.. So what was my injury? noone can actually tell me.. So i always will wonder.. Was it actually an injury to the nerve it self or not.. I need to know these things. I am curious by nature and i want to know what the hel* is going on with me.. I dont want the run around. I need to know the truth. It made me mad that the only truth i got about my condition is from my lawyer and not from my doctor.. He answered my questions honestly not my doctor.. I was poed beyond belief.. He said "im not here to lie to ya kiddo." i said i need to know the truth, where i like it or not. so just tell me.. and he did.. so i confronted the doctor and he finally caved and told me.. and i cried.. and he didnt like it.. so now i want a doctor thats actually going to tell me what he thinks the truth is.. and im not going to stop until i find him/her. i have had enough..lmao

Some info for your doctor and you
 

To be specific
The word causalgia is a greek word meaning [ " To Burn" ] " More at Caustic " [ meaning ,The burning feeling is more like a acid burn than a burn from a flame,,,,
Now the condition of Causalgia { not the meaning of the word} is a persistant severe burning of the skin, usually following injury to a peripheral nerve

AMEN to that!!!

frustrating
 

it s pretty frustrating that only certain drs can treat us.. it makes me feel like i have the plague or something. its nerve racking.

thats funny. But true. Its just the waiting to get into those specialists thats nerve racking. Now im just waiting for my gp to call with my appt. In the meantime keep getting a tingle in my right leg and fear a jump from left arm and shoulder and right shoulder to right calf. Hoping it work like that. Praying to be exxact. On to another ? does anyone ever been doing something then forget where there are and what they where doing for a brief moment? been happening to me alot lately. So curious. or not reconize someone u should know?

Dr. Hooshmand
 

Just happen to run by this, I have heard many others speak of this site and this is what I found that best describes the term and condition at its best. Think about it, it is just common sense that when a disease such as cancer progresses to a higher stage the chance of remission goes down. I personally am fortunate to have both, CRPS 1 in left foot, and Causalgia major in right, and it has spread to my whole right leg. The right side is definately more challenging for me and the doctors to deal with. As a matter of fact, right now we are not dealing with the right at all, we are doing injections and possible surgical intervention to stop the left foot.

God Bless you all, as I have said, they can call it whatever they want, pain is pain.

H. Hooshmand, M.D.

Causalgias are divided into two forms:
1. Causalgia major involves peripheral nerve injury with electrical "crosstalk" (ephapse) that causes severe hyperactivity of sympathetic system (hyperpathia, vasoconstriction, and movement disorder). The major form is severe, usually caused by injury with high velocity sharp objects (e.g., butcher's knife), vibratory component major trauma (e.g., bullet), or high-voltage nerve lesions (electrocution).

2. Causalgia minor involves the same principle as causalgia major, but milder injury, e.g., injury to the dorsum of hand or foot, nerve root contusion, patient falling from a height on gluteal region resulting in "guillotine" effect, bruising of nerve root caught at the narrowed intervertebral foramen.
The difference between the two categories is a matter of degree and severity. To classify causalgia as an independent illness is artificial, and causalgia is nothing but a sever form of RSD.

In this severe form of RSD, the course of the disease is quite accelerated from stage 1 through 4 in a matter of weeks or months. S. Weir Mitchell230 in 1872 first reported rapid development of atrophic changes in the skin, nails, and soft tissues of the extremity in a matter of days to weeks.

Whereas in RSD of disuse the extremity is cold, in ephaptic dystrophy the thermography reveals in the distal portion of the extremely cold extremity that there is an isolated hot spot that points to the area of scar formation and ephaptic peripheral nerve dysfunction (Figures 4-6). In this area the vasoconstrictive capability of the sympathetic nerve is paralyzed, and there is a topical hot spot. This hot spot can be appreciated only by thermography.
This type of RSD is quite painful and very difficult to treat. It demands multidisciplinary therapy as well as early diagnosis. The ephaptic form is characterized by increased heat emission at the area of ephaptic lesion (electric short). As the condition becomes chronic, the distal portion of the extremity involved and the contralateral extremity becomes cold, but the ephaptic spot stays hyperalgesic and warm (Figures 4,5, and 6b).

Causalgic Pain
Sunderland363 in 1978 succinctly defined causalgic pain as follows:
1. Usually pain occurs after the injury to a nerve trunk.
2. The severity of the injury to the soft tissues other than the nerve does not play a role in the severity of the pain.
3. The pain is spontaneous, severe, and quite persistent.
4. There is a markedly lowered threshold for aggravation of pain. This is the case in all RSD patients, but it is more exaggerated in causalgics. So even a breeze over the skin or the touch of a bed sheet or a change of the environment or a family argument and aggravation can markedly aggravate the pain. This feature of emotional aggravation is common to all RSD patients, and it is nothing but the role of the frontal lobe and the limbic system in aggravation of hyperpathic pain.
5. The pain is felt distal to the proximal nerve injury, i.e., in the hand or foot. This is typical but not invariable. The pain does not necessarily have to be a burning type of pain, and can be described in many other hyperpathic forms.
6. Sunderland established the requirement that the pain should be present at least 5 weeks. However, depending on the severity of the injury, the pain can develop in a matter of days or weeks. What happens to an extremity in RSD of disuse in a matter of several months can happen in a matter of a few weeks to a causalgic patient.

In no case of RSD is the pain so severe, so intolerable from burning, seering, aching, tingling, lightening, stabbing, crushing, to a combination of the above, without burning pain in a matter of a few hours to up to 7 to 10 days in close to 90% of the cases. However, it is not unusual to see some patients who develop the pain as late as 3 to 4 weeks after the injury.

Major causalgia is due to scar formation of peripheral nerves but has a component of high-velocity or high-vibration injury in its etiology. This is usually seen after bullet injuries or high-velocity sharp objects such as a butcher knife or surgical instrument injury. This is typically seen in war injuries, but it can also be seen in civilian trauma due to amputation of an extremity or industrial injury to the extremity. It is not uncommon in electrical injuries. Drilling steel against titanium in the aerospace industry causes high-frequency vibration and makes the patient more susceptible to causalgia.
The difference between the minor and major causalgias is a matter of degree and severity. For more detail on causalgia, see Chapters 1 and 12.

Beautifull and well denoted post
Ive got the nerve entrapment in the heel from a cut,,Its ironic about the vibration,,when i first got it One thing i remember that stood out that I knew something was terrible wrong,, Not only did the pain was out of the ordinary to the size of the cut,,but The vibration when my foot was on the foot peg of my motorcycle , created severe pain,,,my foot doesnt like vibrations at all ,thats why I cant use the tens unit,and I fear the SCS would be a Vast mistake,,,bobber

I will second that with a Vicodin.....this took alot out of me today trying to find something to describe this condition and the variations of it. Have a good night all, and wishing you a pain free day.

Jeanie

tens unit
 

i had same problem with tens unit.. it made it burn even more..i couldnt handle the vibrations.. so work comp eventually paid for one that i cant use. but oh well.. thats why i said no to the scs.. doc said no as well.. thought it would do more harm that good and didnt want to do surgery anyway.. appreciate the responses..:winky: