My RSD has spread from hand/arm to feet and ?shoulder. My shoulder is painful/aching with movement and keeps me up at night but PT thinks shoulder may be from guarding arm since no swelling or burning. My feet burn and ache have turned red in the beginning but no swelling and not turning mottled and purple like my hand. They feel swollen. It is painful to walk at times or when i just begin walking. My pmdr said my feet dont have to swell. It just seems like everyone here has swelling when it spreads-is this true? Most of u know i have trouble with ortho believing RSD so how will ortho believe me if i dont have visable signs like swelling and mottled. momof4

I don't have swelling in my hands except when I walk and let them swing. I don't think I ever had the swelling except the way I just said. My right fingers spasm up and they are thinner then the ones on the left. My skin is thinner on the right due to having it worse in that arm. The pain has been so bad at times I have begged my Dr. to cut my right arm off. My hands also turn mottled quiet often. My right foot doesn't swell but it's really bad at times.

I definatly know why they stuck regional in the name. It calms down in one area for me and then starts in the other. Last night my pelvic area was bad. I finally took some Methadone to get to sleep. My right hip and leg started up last week and I finally got it calmed down. My chest started up last week and I finally got it calmed down. I use lidocaine patches and get shots to do it. Sometimes it takes several trips to the Dr. to get each area calmed down.

We all seem to have different symptoms and different degrees of pain so it's not unusual I don't believe not to have swelling.

Ada

It sounds like you need a more experienced Dr. in RSD to treat you. It would be difficult to have a Dr. who has problems believing in me having RSD. It's important to have an experienced Dr. who can recognize the variety of symptoms and the variety of treatments and adjustments in treatment that need to be made. Hope the best for you, loretta with soft hugs

The only swelling I ever had was in the beginning. My left knee/lower leg/foot swelled to gigantic proportions for about three months, then I learned to use my leg and walk again. Poof! The swelling went away and has never been back. It spread rapidly going up my leg into the hip over to the right leg up it, into the hip, then arms, etc, etc. LOL In almost 7 years I've had my hands and fingers swell slightly a couple of times due to major overuse and my feet when I had them "down" wayyyy too long. Other than that, I have every other rsd symptom except for swelling.

Swelling isn't a requirement in the beginning or at any other time. Our bodies react differently in the way it fights rsd and for some, swelling is major and doesn't go away. For others, it's there, then gone sometimes never returning, a few times it comes and goes.

Hugs,

Karen

Thanks Karen, Ortho made me question my pmdr. and myself b/c he initially said- dont have current swelling so it cant be RSD. My initial arm injury swelled. Why do people question people in pain. Its like they want us to have more physical/visual signs of pain to prove it is real. No wonder depression can occur with RSD.