Healing in conflict
 

I just bawled my self to sleep last night.

Yesterday I went to see the surgeon who had performed my cubital/carpal tunnel surgery over 4 months ago, because of the concern over the increased swelling and no sign of decrease in the shocks of my arm. Even the Dr of Therapy noticed a decreased pressure of blood flow from my hand to my arm pit.

I am quite a congenial person, but my surgeon was not. In fact this is the second visit which he has proclaimed "its not our fault!". Well I don't think I did anything wrong after surgery. 3 days after surgery I had the most intense hypersensitivity and shocking pain in the forearm and upper bicep and it hasn't let up since. He has ordered an EMG and NCS now that it has been 4 months. Have you had any luck with the test to find the cause? Before the surgery my Carpal and Cubital were so severe and the EMG was borderline.. I couldn't believe it.

I am taking Lyrica 4x75 and seeing Pain Management and going to Pain Management therapy.

I just wanted to say I am exasperated and somewhat dumbfounded by the statement my surgeon made. I feel lower than ever - because I don't believe it was my fault either. I followed the therapy diligently and never went out to abuse the arm.

The "trauma" of surgery in and of itself is enough to cause RSD, so the unfortunate results of your surgery are not necessarily anyone's "fault" and worrying about the "why" is probably less productive then the "what now?" It is likely time to find an experienced RSD doc and move on from that surgeon though... ;)

I want to welcome you to Neurotalk. I hope you find your answers on this website. In the meantime, feel free to also post your question under GENERAl health.

Unfortunately, surgery can either go wrong or we are left with other sometimes worse symptoms then when you started. If this is RSD, there is nothing more the surgeon can really do for you and it is time to move on. An emg will usually show that for the most part things are normal and will not account for swelling, tingling, burning, etc.

Sorry could not be of more help.

What you have to accept and it's very hard to do is that in most cases RSD is nobodys fault. For some reason our brain decides that the pain we feel is beyond what it can accept and it goes into I suppose overdrive burning it so deep it cannot recover and doesn't realise the cause of the pain has stopped. The level of acceptaable pain is different for each person, that is why in some cases the cause is something as minor as a sprained wrist or twisted ankle.

No Burning no hyper sensitivity no electrical shocks down my arm prior to shoulder surgery. within 2 weeks it all stated 6 months later both arms face and both legs below the knee. Pain Management doc the surgeon sent me too told me 2nd visit after emg that the emg proved they did nothing wrong in surgery and or during pre op nerve block and that I should wean off the gabapintin if my symptoms get worse follow up with primary care Doc as he couldn't:mad: do anything else for me since I was only sent to him to rule at they had done anything wrong. :mad:

http://www.vahealth.org/cdpc/RSD-CRPS/

See "causes"

(Not sure in how to do this reply)
Thanks to all of you! I am set for the EMG/NCS soon. I know the surgeon is frustrated, but I don't think it was appropriate to belittle the situation either. Since this is a workers comp deal - I'm not sure what the outcome will be...
I wish all you well!

I know your feelings well. It can be hard to accept the idea that it really is no one's "fault" that you got RSD in the sense that they didn't necessarily do anything "wrong" to cause RSD...but that is the truth of it.

Never the less...I agree 100% that the doctor should not speak to you that way. I had a similar situation after I got a lumbar sympathetic block that ended up causing my RSD to spread instead of making it better. These things happen and I did not blame the doctor for it happening, only wanted treatment for the resulting spread. Immediately when my condition got worse the doctor basically threw his hands up and said he couldn't do anything for me and that he hadn't done anything wrong. It was so frustrating because I knew there were risks with any procedure when you have RSD.

So while the doctor didn't do anything wrong to cause the spread, he most certainly caused my more pain and my situation to get worse by refusing to treat me afterwards and trying to just pawn me off on another doctor. This started a journey of being bounced around from one doctor to the next that lasted for months and months before I found a doctor who cared more about treating me than assigning blame for the situation.

Dealing with work comp can be difficult...I hope you have a good lawyer to help you through it. If you see this same doctor again, I would try to be straight forward with him and say first that you know they didn't do anything WRONG to cause the RSD...but that the surgery caused the RSD and now you need treatment for it. Work comp will require that connection to pay for treatment. If this doctor cannot be subjective and help you move forward with treatment then it is absolutely essential that you find a doctor who can give you the treatments you need to deal with your RSD as soon as possible.

Make sure to discuss with a lawyer the process you need to follow for seeing a new doctor to ensure you will still be covered by work comp. Laws vary from state to state and it would be terrible if you were denied treatment simply because you are ignorant of the laws. And don't count on a work comp adjuster to tell you the truth...they often lie.

My RSD CRPS developed after shoulder surgery - and it has been two years. I would recommend that you find a good doctor who has experience with our situations and can give you a good course of action. The sooner you start in a medical direction to treat CRPS the greater opportunity to find improvement. I wish you the best.