My wife's doctor has suggested that she should receive Sympathetic Nerve Blocks. My wife's concern is she doesn't like invasive procedures and above all feels strongly that Sympathetic Nerve Blocks after 8 years with RSD is asking for trouble. Both her and I have read somewhere Sympathetic Nerve Blocks are most effective in the beginning stage of RSD not years later. Can anyone elaborate on this or can point to literature that states this, or other wise?

Thanks

jim

Hi Jim.

I've had rsd for almost two years now. My new PM gives me epidurals with Lidocane. He gives them right over my tail-bone as my rsd is in my leg. I get about a week of relief. Very good relief. I am unable to walk for a day or so right after the injections and I feel like I have the flu (all sore and just crappy feeling). But, I do get relief, which is just incredible. My old PM gave them to me in the L5 area and I got no relief. Just the flu symptoms. My new PM said that if I had been given those in the begining, I would be cured. I agree with you and your wife about the invasive procedures, but I am just desperate enough to get ANY relief that I was willing to try them. I know this is not very helpful, but I wanted to share my experiences.

Hope you get the answers you are looking for.

BTW - thanks for the info on the attorney.

Kim

Hi Jim, My PM doc had me do a series of blocks when I started treatment with him. I have had RSD for over 6 years, and was not diagnosed until very late. My first PM doc would only use drugs for treatment. After she got frustrated at my lack of progress, she told me that if I did not respond soon, she would put me at MMI. By then I had done some other research and learned that there were other treatment options available so I found a new doc. I did get relief for very brief periods of time following he blocks. The first one I had some complications with, so I wasn't able to realize the full effect of the block, but for a little bit of time, I felt like a puppy!
More important was the information that the doc got from these blocks. He told me that since they did work for a very brief time, he knew that it was very possible that I would be a good canidate for a SCS, and that there was still room for improvement. He is very frustrated with dealing with WC on this but continues to advocate for me so that I can do a trial with this device. I wish your wife luck if she decides to go through with this procedure. I had concious sedation while I was having them done which helped a lot with my nervousness. Lisa