Botox??
 

Botox?? I never would have imagined that something like that might help - Thanks so much for the information on it - This is something we're going to have to look into. :trampoline:

Tayla,
My pain doc doesn't want to give me any more "Pills" - and even though I'd rather not, either, I'd much rather take another pill than have these danged cramps! They hurt like heck! I can barely do my job, they keep me up at night, or WAKE me when I finally do get to sleep, and I break down in tears at home constantly cuz of them!

I see the pain doc again on Monday...I just have to get thru to them that this is something that absolutely MUST be taken care of!

Thank you so much for letting me know this isn't just a "me thing." Sometimes I wonder if I'm going nuts. :Crazy 2:

They did say I may have "a touch of raynauds" at one point. Not the pain doc, cuz they go by my dx and treat me. They WON'T dx. I forgot WHICH of the doctors told me that, I've been to so many...but I do recall one of them saying that. I will look that up. See how it's treated. Thank you :)

Yes, I do have my SO....and it DOES feel better with a massage. I've asked him to do it...but for some reason he just can't do it RIGHT. He never could give a good massage! LOL! I told him to only use his thumb...to put the rest of his fingers on the BACK of my hand and keep them still while he massages the inside of my hand with his thumb. But for SOME REASON, he just can't keep the rest of his fingers still! :Scratch-Head: I wonder if he can walk and chew gum at the same time? LOL!

Okay...that was mean...LOL! I love him to pieces and he IS wonderful to me. He truly is. He tries. He does everything he possibly can for me. But I CANNOT have him touching my hands like that. If he moves those fingers on the back of my hand, it hurts. It makes things WORSE.

Sometimes I will use the knuckles of my OPPOSITE hand to massage myself. When I'm driving, I can massage my right hand on the gear shift of my car, but my left hand I have nothing to massage it on. It's getting harder and harder to drive, too. I've been putting my hands thru the steering wheel, driving with my wrists...but now the spasms are moving into my wrists, and on my right side they are going into my muscle up by my elbow. Not all the time, there, but throughout the day about 4-5 times. So it's getting harder and harder. And I don't like it. It's getting more difficult, which means it's getting harder to go to work. That's not good :Sob:

Thank you Frogga. Others have mentioned the hot wax to me also. But that scares me. I'm SO sensitive to temp changes, that at PT they were AMAZED that I could tell the difference with only one degree of change. They would do that with me with the water. They would check the swelling of my hands by filling a container with water and having me insert my hand into it and measuring how much water came out a spout. If that water was not a precise temperature, it was PAINFUL to me. They figured out the temp it had to be, and started getting the containers ready before I got there, cuz it had to be exact. So the wax scares me. Anything not "room temperature" is painful. Which is probably why my pain doc keeps blaming "the weather" on all my issues.

Which reminds me. We've been pretty okay weather wise the past couple of days...and now we're supposed to have a big storm over the weekend. YECK!

So...can I borrow a 2 x 4 to smack my pain doc upside the head on monday????

Thank you so much.

I haven't tried either one. At PT they used to do manual manipulation on me, and it FELT really good. That's the part I LOVED about PT :winky: But as for massage therapy outside of that...no, I haven't. I'll have to give that a think, cuz I know it DOES feel like it needs massaging, and when I press on it for a while, the spasms feel a tad better. It would give me a feeling of being pampered, too, I'm sure.

As for botox...nobody has ever suggested that, but I will bring it up to my pain doc on Monday and see if that's something they use.'

Thank you for the suggestions.

As for pain meds...I work, and drive 50 miles each way. I am on the duragesic (75 mcg/hr) plus percocet 3x's day, and I'm not "high" or unable to drive at all. That's in addition to the effexor, topomax, thyroid meds, provigil as needed to keep me awake, and something else that I always forget LOL! If you have a GOOD pain doctor, they medicate you just enough to treat the pain, but not SO much that you feel "out of it." I've found that out - I've BEEN over medicated before and I hate that feeling. If that's how I was, I wouldn't be working. If you were to look at me, you wouldn't know I was on medication. Nobody can tell just by looking at me or talking to me. So if you need it, just start out at a very low dose and work up. That's what my pain doc does...always. He always starts at the lowest dose, for like 7 days, then ups it a little for 7 days, they up a little more for 7 days. I see him every month. By the 4th week, when I see him again, I'm at the dose he wanted me at...but I CAN stop at a dose that I felt okay at, without going to the max, if I want, and if I get relief, before then. That's a good way to find relief without being out of it.

Just a thought for ya ifit every comes down to that...k? :winky:

Thank you, Jo. Both of those are in there...But yep...they are made by different compaines. So maybe that's my issue? Sigh....

thank you so much :)

Hands
 

Hi Lisa,

I know the feeling you are talking about with your hands.

I didn't forget that you are stilll working and that does not help the situaton.

My hands hurt badly also, but my doctor listens to me.
I told him the pain is intolerable and I could not use my hands to do ..... and give your doc a list of what you are unable to do in the evenings.
Write it down if you think you'll forget all of this.
At the time this hit me, I could not lift a glass of water. It sat on the table
with a straw in it. I still have to do that on some days. Moving a finger hurts so bad - all the way up my arm. I know what you go through.
I use disposable soapy wash cloths and disposable cloths without soap because I cannot wring out a regular one.
I tried Botox and it did work well to relieve spasms.
I take a muscle relaxer but it doesn't help the hand spasms or arm spasm, they mostly help me to relax and sleep.

Lastly, I have had to switch pharmacies several times (4) because they have never been paid for 4 years and won't continue to service me.
I get different shaped pills all the time and I don't notice the difference.
Maybe because I burn and hurt all the time anyway, but still get a little relief from the strong meds I do take.
The burn comes through the lidoderm patches but if I take them off, I want to cut my arms off, so back on they go.
I am finding that nothing helps me to the extent I can do things anymore. My family can't believe how much I've deteriorated in a year.
Someday you may have to face the fact that working with RSD is causing you to get worse. Others believe working will help your pain and help you to keep going. Only you can decide which is true for you.
I am sorry you have to go through this too. I wish we both were in that small % of people who get better.
One thing that helps me when I feel soooo bad is to count my blessings and think of positive things. Then I take my meds and go to sleep. True story!
{{HUGS}} HOPE

[QUOTE=LisaM;73563]Tayla,
My pain doc doesn't want to give me any more "Pills" - and even though I'd rather not, either, I'd much rather take another pill than have these danged cramps! They hurt like heck! I can barely do my job, they keep me up at night, or WAKE me when I finally do get to sleep, and I break down in tears at home constantly cuz of them!

I see the pain doc again on Monday...I just have to get thru to them that this is something that absolutely MUST be taken care of!

Thank you so much for letting me know this isn't just a "me thing." Sometimes I wonder if I'm going nuts. :Crazy 2:[/QUOTE


:( I undersatnd what you mean by thinking you are going nuts and there is some comfort in knowing there are others who share your experiences.
As far as medication taking, I hate it too but I think we need to get it into perspective. If we were diabetic we would take Insulin, if we had heart failure we would take the appropriate medications if the end result is an improvement in our quality of life. Our disease requires some medications which do have some nasty side effects, it is a pay off really isn't it?
Wishing you lots of luck and less pain and cramps:hug: