what treatments works and what does not
 

i am going to my pm doctor today i have been in so much pain i can hardly walk been laying on the couch alot and staying in bed, not to mention not to nice to be around either!! she wants to talk about me going into the hospital for a week to put a catherdaer (spelling?) in the epi space or she also said she has a new treatment for pain with iv and i dont need sedation i will have the iv for 2 weeks. i was wondering what your pm doctors have done that have helped long term for pain relief or even remission that i could bring up to her today. i have done 3 lumbar blocks and 2 beir blocks, there has to be something that will get me walking normal again with out this brace i want so bad to wear pretty sandals for summer :) thank you so much for your time and hope you are all well and with out pain today, michelle

Hey Michelle,

I hope had a good visit with your doctor. I have ful body RSD and I have done injections one after another and they didn't help.I had a SCS for 2 1/2 years and I had it removed it wasn't helping. After several years of working with my PM doctor we got the right combination of meds. I see a chiropractor 3 times and week and he is a life saver.
Hang in there and take it one day at a time. Be active in your care and ask questions. Don't allow RSD to define who you are as a person.
Take care,
Sherrie

Hi Michelle,

Sounds like your doctor wants to do a continuous peridural anethstetic? This is a very good thing!!! How long have you had rsd and where is your rsd?

I had one in post-surgery in Germany this past summer/fall for 7 days after I had some metal screws removed from my rsd foot. The catheter was filled with 25 ml Carbostesin and 1 ampoule of Sufatanyl epidurally as well as sodium chloride 0.9% with a maximum flow of 6 ml/hour. If I recall correctly they did not go above 5ml/hr in my case as they had accomplished the level of pain relief required.

Good luck with this.

MsL

The only thing I've had done that has brought me any kind of remission was ketamine infusion. I had one in December and was in full remission and off all drugs for 2 months. I did have a tolerance built up before the infusion because i had been on ketamine for 2 years, and the doctor had never had a patient that had previously been on it, so the tolerance was a slight obstacle and i never reached the ideal state during the infusion, which may or may not be why the remission only lasted 2 months. But he has patients that are 9 months and still going in remission.

I also have a friend who went to an alternative medicine doc, who, as my friend describes it, "talked to his body". and he had rsd in both legs and was wheelchair bound... and he has been in full remission for years and can walk, and is now being asked to tryout for the NHL by several teams....

i went in and talked to the pm and we are going to do the ketmine that is what the iv is, but i was misunderstood about it, she said i will go into the hospital once again they will put in the iv and for 1/2 hour use ketmine if i have no problems then i can do the iv in her office after that and if it works hopefully it will, something has to i cant do this much longer, can i ask ... is this the ketmine infusion? thank you and take care michelle

ketamine
 

None of my doctors have said anything about ketamine.... should I ask? I have had RSD for 9 months and haven't found a good drug combo yet... anyone have any idea if that is what I should be asking about? My RSD is spreading to my right arm now too (it was just the left) and he said he didn't think it could do that without an injury to the arm.... from what I have been reading here that is bull... you all agree?
Jennelle

QUOTE]is this the ketmine infusion?[[/QUOTE]

Hi Michelle...It's hard to say exactly what ketamine protocol your doctor is offering you based on the details given here.

Here is a link to a search on the RSDSA web site about Ketamine treatments, you should be able to find some answers among some of these documents.

http://www.google.com/custom?q=Ketam...s=www.rsds.org


MsL

There are so many different treatments for RSD, ranging from medication (anti convulsants, pain medication, calcitonin, pamidronate, ...) to all kinds of nerve blocks and infusions.

All they can do is try and find something that works for you. There is no cure for RSD, so there is no way to predict what the outcome will be. This is the most scary thing about the condition. It's what makes it so difficult for us patients!!!

Wishing you lots of strength. Hang in there!

i read there is no cure and i just started crying i cant do this anymore i am tired how can someone hurt like this all the time and live.. this is so hard for me i am just tired of the pain and feel hopeless i keep changing the dose of my meds hoping it will work and it does for about a week and then its back to me on the couch or in bed. a friend told me that again i am not on strong enough meds to control my pain iam on topamax 25mg 1 day oxycontin 20mg twice day and 8 hydocodone 2 four times a day. i am going for the ketmine on may 1 for the 1/2 dose and praying this will control my pain for awhile. i thank all of you for your support and advise i love this site, i feel i can talk to people who understand and they dont ask me what is rsd. michelle

I know about the pain, it's atrocious. I was undiagnosed for almost 3 years and didn't get any pain relief. Believe me when I tell you, I *know*!

Hang in there anyway despite that horrible feeling, but let me tell you, if your pain isn't controlled well enough, then you need to tell your physician. You need to be feeling better instead of worse. Your pain needs to be under control, so you can live with it and so it's somewhat tolerable.

Nerve pain is the hardest to deal with. They cannot make it go away totally, but they need to try as best they can and that is why you need to give the doctors some feedback on the subject. If the pain is still too bad to cope with, you need to tell someone so they know where you are and so they can adjust your medication.