Can anyone out there tell me what constitutes a misdianosis/delay of diagnosis
in the treatment of rsd ? I contacted one medical expert and he said that 2 months is reasonable time for misdiagnosis in rsd. Where do they get this information ? I suffered a bad foot injury, had no work restrictions and ultimately lost my job, and wasn't diagnosed until 2 months by HMO. Lack of treatment and physical therapy has resulted in agony and suffering Thanks for your time

Hi. Well before I was DX I was put in an airboot for many months which very much worsened my rsd/pn. I can't say if it was a permanent worse because if that or this is the course it would of taken. I do know getting my leg mobile again took a lot of work and to even be able to wear a shoe. It was a lot of tears and extra pain. I'm still in a lot of pain and limited but can walk and wear shoes.
I think how this condition progresses or gets better varies so much from person to person. What are you doing now in terms of treatment and pain control?

It's likely that most of us have RSD because of misdiagnosis and/or delay of diagnosis and appropriate treatment. Welcome to our nightmare....

I can't tell you what constitutes the above (I'm not in the medical field) - but I would recommend that you immediately focus your efforts on getting to the best PM doc in your area ASAP. Often a combo of meds and blocks early on can help quite significantly.

So sorry about your job loss and terrible pain. Please take care. XOXOX Sandy

Hi electdon, and welcom to NT. I'm not suggesting that you get legal, but most states have a 2 year from injury or 2 years from diagnosis. For me, I wasn't diagnosed for 4 years and I could have taken legal action. I was treated during the 4 years for frozen shoulder and then spread to other frozen shoulder, then spread to a hand. Now have full body and internal.I, of course, didn't have a clue what RSD was or it's future consequences when I was diagnosed. I had gone to another state to see a sports injury group. The good hand Dr. knew in 1 minute.
My mother died due to malpractice and we did sue and won 100% medical compensation and large amount for personal loss. My mother was only 46 and have no regrets on the suit.
But litigation is exhausting and do not always get justice. My daughter is a court reporter-does pre-trial depositions-even malpractice for RSD. She would be the first to say, really take your time to determine if you want to go thru the process.
I also would be first to say, you may have a completely valid case, and the you may fall into a loophole to have the case dropped in middle of trial-for me-it was after 5 days in trial. Technicalities come up out of the blue and end the suit, there is not always justice in a suit.
Take care, loretta

This last paragraph was on a non medical case of a different nature, but shows there are so many factors than can even put a good case thrown out due to technicalities.--loretta

I understand your anger in that prompt treatment is critical in successful RSD treatment.

Unfortunately, prompt treatment seems to be a seldom occurence with RSD. To some extent, I can understand why this happens. There's an old medical expression....."If you hear hoofbeats, look for horses, not zebras" In the US, there aren't a lot of zebras....unless you're at a zoo. Doctors are trained to look for obvious answers to a problem......ie, if you've got throbbing head pain, take 2 aspirin and call me in the morning. It's assumed the issue is a headache until more information comes in to indicate it might be a brain tumor.

I don't know the specifics of your foot injury, but as a 'typical' scenario.....if you fall or have something fall on your foot and you complain of pain or swelling, a doctor would evaluate how severe it looked. If it seemed bad, they send you for an x-ray.....if that's negative they tell you it's probably a sprain or strain and treat it accordingly. They recommend RICE and possibly give you ace wraps or crutches or a boot and PT. Then you have to wait and see if it gets any better. I had an eversion injury to my R ankle 7/28/10 and it still bothers me. My instructions were to go back to the orthopedist if there wasn't significant improvement in 8 weeks and they'd do an MRI. Thankfully, it was finally improving by mid September, but if it hadn't been......that would have been the 2 months that you waited for the correct dx.

Because of that, I think it would be difficult to PROVE that reasonable medical care would require the dx to be made in under 2 months. That doesn't mean that malpractice didn't occur though. What exact symptoms you had would have a lot to do with it. Also what treatment you did receive is important. If you were treated in a way that was medically reasonable given your symptoms, then there was no malpractice.

That said, your post implies that your injury was obviously severe and nothing was done about that. If that's the case, it doesn't sound like the treatment was medically reasonable. Does that make sense to you ? That if a lawsuit is indicated you don't need to focus it on the doctor not dx'ing the RSD immediately, but what he did dx the problem to be and if he tried to treat that appropriately and investigated further when those first interventions didn't help.

How long ago was your injury now ? When your HMO figured out the problem, did they arrange for prompt treatment to try to nip this in the bud ?

I'm sorry that you are battling this RSD demon !

My personal issue is with RSD neck pain. That dx took about 4 years and then it was another 9 months before I had my first SGB to try to treat the problem.

A Huge problem with litigation, is the 'But For' argument.
As in, But for if you had been diagnosed timely, would you have been cured?
Highly doubtful.
I waited about 7 years for a dx.
I'm fairly certain to myself, that if I was DX'd the day after the accident, I would NOT have been cured. Then the spread, is after time goes on, reasonable to expect.
The best thing is to concentrate on learning to take good care of yourself, and your rsd.
Triangle of Care;
Keep Moving, Exercise.
Take the Proper Meds, (be sure you've got the best doctor you can find)
And, Your Head! This disease is a Big psych killer! Get some psych help when you feel you need it, it's a strength, not a weakness!

I wish you the best!

Pete
asb