KS -

Good question! In "The Brain in Chronic CRPS Pain: Abnormal Gray-White Matter Interactions in Emotional and Autonomic Regions," Neuron 2008;60:570-581, reference is made to a couple of studies that have shown differences between the (abnoral) brains of people with CRPS than those with fibro or chronic low back pain. So the short answer is this: chronic pain causes physical changes in the brain - some of which is apparently reversable with sucessful treatment - but different conditions effect the brain differently.

And in fact, some of those changes, specifically with respct to "Regional Cerebral Blood Flow (rCBS)" are believed to assist in maintaining the condition, especially in chronic (or "cold") CRPS. See, E.G., Fukui S, Shigemori S, Yoshimura A, Nosaka S, Chronic Pain With Beneficial Response to Electroconvulsive Therapy and Regional Cerebral Blood Flow Changes Assessed by Single Photon Emission Computed Tomography, Reg Anesth Pain Med. 2002;27(2):211-213, FREE FULL TEXT AT http://www.rsds.org/2/library/articl..._Yoshimura.pdf


I've got at least one other study locked up in the c-drive of my currently defunct old computer, which I hope to get to soon.

Mike