RSD spreads.
That's what it does. It's like "the blob".

I'd say that you're experiencing the spread, and your doctor simply doesn't know what to do for you, so, they send you to a psych.
What he's really saying is, "I don't know what the heck else to do for you, and I'm afraid, so go somewhere else. I've done all I can."

If you read it like that, he's doing you a favor.
Find a doctor who knows, and treats RSD!
No matter how many phone calls you need make.

And, don't forget the rsdsa.org !

They have a doctor finder! Put in your zip code...

I wish you the best!

Pete

Wolf
I feel your pain,,I agree with the upper replies to your post,,Alot of dr's , either beacause of their lack of concern and knowledge , they just want you to go away,,,This is hard to swallow but true,,im experinecing it now too,,keep looking for a dr who will listen and has knowledge and empathy,,,And as for the psychiatrist,,,they like to send you there , either he thinks its all in you head and he doesnt believe you ,or he thinks its starting to affect you mentally and wants to ease your depression,,,either way,,i think that is an insult,,,alot of us are going thru this as well,, your not crazy,,,rsd does spread,,it can go full body,,and i dont know you,,but i believe you,,,,thats why they renamed it crps[c] complex...meaning , no two people have the same symptoms or spread,,its a very unpredictable disease,,,,keep looking and research as much as you can,,,I pray that God gives you relief...............bobber

Hi Wolflarsen,

I'm sorry you experienced such unprofessional treatment with your doctor and nurse.

Considering that you indicated that you don't have insurance you will be best served if you can arm yourself with the most current data on RSD/CRPS. You need to educate yourself quickly and I would highly recommend the Medifocus Guidebook on Reflex Sympathetic Dystrophy. It starts out by quickly answering your most fundamental questions about Reflex Sympathetic Dystrophy, including:

What causes the condition and are there any recognized risk factors?

What are the predominant signs and symptoms?

How can you be sure that it's really Reflex Sympathetic Dystrophy and not another underlying condition that causes similar signs and symptoms?

What tests are needed to establish the diagnosis of Reflex Sympathetic Dystrophy?

What are the standard treatments?

What are your treatment options in case the standard treatments don't work for you?

What is the most likely outcome or prognosis after treatment has been completed?

How will the condition affect your lifestyle and what steps can you take to minimize the negative impact on your quality of life?

What are the most important questions to ask your doctor about Reflex Sympathetic Dystrophy?

Here is a link to a preview of the book.

https://www.medifocus.com/2009/previ...5581&gid=NR015

To answer your question about spread here is what the most current Medifocus has to say:

While there are times that I have RSD pains in other areas of my body I have never been able to have it confirmed that the RSD has spread.

Many people talk about having "whole body RSD" as the result of their spread (my heart goes out to each and everyone of you, I honestly don't know how you get through the day with this spread everywhere). I've never really understood exactly what that means as it has not been my experience. Of course every time my arm burns at the slightest cold temperatures or when the pain ping pongs from joint to joint along the left side of my body it scares the crap out of me. Other than those sensations I don't have the typical external signs of RSD anywhere for the doctors to be able to confirm the spread.

I think about this a lot and reading the latest Medifocus guide seemed to make the light go on for me.

I believe that there is a centralization of the pain that occurs in most of us probably right from the beginning. The RSD manifests itself differently in each of us depending on many many individual factors.

Here are a couple of quotes from the guide:

Personally I would fire your doctor and seek help from someone more experienced. Before you book the appointment and commit to spending the money make sure they treat other RSD patients.

Good luck.

MsL

Loretta; Interesting post.

My RSD started with an injury. At the time I knew it was serious but didn't really understand how or in what way. I'd never heard of a disease like RSD and the doctors were bending over backward not to tell me. My triggers were unknown and the only symptom was a pretty constant very low level pain in the hand. I was tired a lot and felt stress more keenly but didn't suspect this might be related. Stress manifested itself in bad digestion and this too wasn't connected.

As time went on the triggers started becoming apparent. If I used the hand or there were shocks to it then it would hurt more the following day. I bagan doing things one handed. By this time they were providing some medical care but I still didn't know anything. It was only after injuring my ankle (probably caused by the RSD) that it came out of the partial remission and started spreading. It seemed almost as though it first started creeping into the other systems and then up my arm until I had what seemed like a classic case of shoulder hand syndrome.

Since then it has tried to spread to almost any new injury site. I cut my ear a couple years back and it sometimes suffers severe high intensity pain but I do have means to control it and 250 mg of grape seed extract every third day seems to shut it up. I usually need to keep my hair off of it and cold sometimes affects it.

The right hand also shows some signs of RSD and the site of an angiogram from 2003.

It also is progressively expanding down from the shoulder as well as up into the neck and around to the front. As the area expands though it seems the problems become less "focused". It's almost as though this thing can cause only a set amount of pain at any given time and that can be all in the back of my hand or spread around a lot.

Of course the pain can be tremendous so avoiding the triggers still seems the way to cope. I do not want a spread but so far the spread hasn't been an extreme problem. It would become one if the right hand gave out or I couldn't walk. The spread is just now reaching down to a pre-existing back condition and this is very frightening as well. It seems to set off the pain in the back but I can simply ignore this now and it goes away. If I actually hurt my back it might prove more serious. I'm extremely cautious.

It feels like living on a bubble for eleven years sometimes but everyone here gives me a lot of courage to replace what seemed to evaporate with the disease.