Pain can be good...right?
 

Please tell me how you deal with the health of the rest of your body - the part that doesn't have rsd/crps?

About a month ago I started having numbness on the left side of my face. I blamed rsd/crps because I blame it for everything now. After 2 weeks, at my next pm visit, I told her about the numbness. She said we'll address it at the next visit (3mos later). I started to wonder if I had a tumor or something so I went to my PCP. He had me get a brain scan and found mastoiditis, an infection in the mastiod bone behind my ears. Apparently, I've had bilateral ear infections for some time. Left untreated, the infection traveled to the mastiod and could have spread to the entire skull and then the brain. :eek:

So, the wonderful Lyrica that lets me function by taking away the pain in my hand, also masks the pain in other parts of my body. Normally, I would have had pain in my ears, or dizziness telling me to go to the doctor. Now I have a nasty infection to deal with.

What experiences have you all had like this? Do you go to the doctor more often just for check ups?

Sally

Hi Sally,
 

Sometimes we tend to blame everything on RSD.

It's good that you went to your PCP and he did address other issues. We can't blame everything on RSD. We have to separate what is going on and deal with them seperately.

I think the key to is getting in tune with your body. When you do you can tell that there is something going on besides the RSD.

I knew that my other pains I dealt with weren't RSD. Such as the TOS, Rotator cuff, triggerfinger and ulner nerve. I am now dealing with stomach issues and they are not from the RSD.

I'm glad he found out what was going on with you and was able to help you get better.

I pretty much live in Drs. offices. I had 3 appts. last week and I have 2 this week and 2 next plus going into PT.

We just take each issue as it starts acting up. We do get one thing calmed down and something else starts though. Sometimes I feel like I am fighting a war and losing.

You were smart to figure out you had another issue going on.

Ada

Exactly. I agree. There's not much else you can do.

Blaming your treatment isn't the way to go. It's even dangerous. You need treatment for your RSD, period. Who's to say the ear infection would have been discovered early *without* the RSD treatment? You'll never know.

Hope you recover well from the ear infection.

Wow, good thing they caught that! What do they need to do to treat the infection? Antibiotics?

im glad that they caught this as this is a moor infection and can cause hearing loss if you werent already told..
but like dreambeliever told ya please be careful blaming everything on RSD as this is dangerous as i know. this past thanksgiving i started to have stomach pain but thought nothing about it since i have pelvic pain problems bladder and stuff like that . so i wasnt unreasonable that i would sometimes have horrible stomach pain well what i thought was a virual infection for 2 wks turned out to be my appendix that came very close to rupturing.. please listen to your body its telling you some thing..

carrie

I have had a lot of health conditions seperate to the rsd and spread of rsd too. I don't have good pain control through meds but have heard this happening to others. I guess for myself when there is a side effect or a possible problem with a med or treatment I try to weigh the positive vs negative. There sometimes will be no perfect. Usually with most conditions there is a sign that is something wrong and I would think most conditions would not be covered completly by a med but of course I could be wrong. Did you tell your doctor about the concerns you have of this because they may be able to comfort you that really the chances are slim again to this happening. I hope you feel better

Hi Their,

My million dollar question is, could they pin point it so you will be ok?

Hugs, Roz

Given the inflammatory profile of CRPS, it was natural to consider whether an infective or autoimmune process underlies the disease. Thus attempts have been made to link CRPS to specific preceding infections. Although a few cases of CRPS have been noted to follow Borrelia infections (23) and spirochetal infections (211), no links to other pathogens have been reported, nor have antiperipheral nerve antibodies been identified in these patients.


Hi,

I am not sure weather this is the case for you or not. But Lyme is very expensive and difficult to treat. The Lyme tests are not accurate. Here is the link.

http://physrev.physiology.org/cgi/content/full/82/4/981

Hang in their, Roz

Hi Roz
 

They think it started with an ear infection. I'm on antibiotics and will have another brain scan in a couple of weeks to make sure it hasn't spread. I do feel better. :D
Thanks
Sally

Hi Daniella,
My doctor isn't up on rsd/crps. He has told me that I should be glad my pain is controlled even with the dizziness, constipation, fatigue, and inability to concentrate. Now that I've had this major infection, maybe he'll listen a little better. The thing is I never had any pain with the earache. They think I had it for three months or more. Ear infections hurt - why didn't I feel it? Luckily my face went numb!
Sally