Sympathetic Nerve Block Fail
 

Has anyone else gotten an injection in their back for the limb pain and ended up feeling worse? My CRPS started in my shin and has extended down into my foot. It's been going on for 2 1/2years now. I just finally decided to try the nerve block a few weeks ago because it seemed that many people found relief from it. Two days after I thought it worked. My pain level was down quite a bit. However, the next day and most days after have been excruciating. My walking and pretty much everything else are extremely limited, I can't sleep well. This is miserable. :(

My CRPS is in my right arm. I had a stellate ganglion block (in my neck). I did not get any pain relief from it and actually had my worse flare-up following the block. The flare started a few days after the block. The first day of the flare was not good but then the next day was just horrible. If I remember correctly my flare up only lasted a few days, but man what a few days it was.

I hope that you are feeling a bit better soon.

:hug:

Someone just asked me how I got into remission and your posts are like the ones I read way back then on BrainTalk. They scared me out of letting the docs do those invasive "treatments".

When you're in horrible non-stop pain, it's easy to believe your doc has the answer and a quick little procedure will fix you all up and make the pain go away. Only the doc isn't going to feel a thing if it doesn't work. :mad:

I hope you both find relief quickly from these procedures. :hug:

Thanks Sage but I didn't go into it believing that my doctor had a quick little procedure that would fix my all up and make my pain go away; nor did my doctor present it to me as such. I took a calculated risk and I'm glad I tried it. As I said, my flare only lasted a few days.

This procedure didn't work for me but it does help others.

That's terrible. Something that should help shouldn't make your pain worse. I had 2 blocks...3rd was cancelled when the others didn't work. It didn't make it worse though. I hope you feel relief soon!!!
Heather

Hi,
Sorry that did not get you relief.
The 1st nerve (stellate ganglion) block I got was a disaster!
But I did research & got lucky to find P.M. Dr. I have now.
I've had 21 of them now over 11 mo. time. Next one is tomorrow.
The 1st 3-4 made a dramitic difference in apearance & allowed me to gain some
motion with P.T. Now, they have become maintenance to help keep
pain levels somewhat managed & just keep the little movement I gained.

She uses x-ray + ultrasound for guidance so maybe exact placement makes
a difference.
Every time though, I go I'm still very apprehensive because of all the research
I've done.

Glad to hear it's working for you, Di.

Sorry you got worse after your nerve block, how frustrating. When I was diagnosed 23 years ago, I had a lot of stellate ganglion blocks (1-2 per week for many weeks) and they put me in remission for many years. So when I was out of remission and had a new injury and RSD/CRPS was confirmed, I wanted to have the blocks again. It took too long for the diagnosis (1 year) so the blocks did not help this go around :( I have had many SGB's, cervical and lumbar blocks and thankfully they did not make me worse. I started having bad reactions to the steroids and meds used so I cannot get any more blocks. It is kinda split on here, I have read that many have benefited greatly from them and many have had problems with them. I think a lot depends on the doctor doing them. I had one PM dr give me a series of 6 SGB's on the right side. I never really felt any great relief from them. He used concious sedation. The next PM doctor I went to, did not use sedation and his way of doing them was soooo different and more effective.

Anyway, I sure hope you can get some relief soon!
Nanc
:hug: