I am new to this disease process. My brother has rsds and is on a lot of pain medications. I love him very much.
I am becoming concerned because i keep finding him passed out in the house, example laying in the kitchen floor with the fridge open, or sitting on couch completely bent over with his face on his thighs, my water company called me to tell me i had a leak, a $100 worth of water leak, but i have no leak, he turns the faucet on and forgets that he did it, etc. This has been going on for quite some time now. There is no family able to stay with him 24 hours a day and i am becoming concerned for his safety and the safety of my home. Any comments or suggestions, experiences would be very helpful. Thank You.

Hi brlove,

Nice to meet you.

Well I would say your brother is taking to much medication. Or he is having sometype of reaction to whatever he is taking. But my instinct tells me it's the first. I'm assuming he is seeing a doctor of some sort for his medications? If this has been going on for some time as you said it's not going to be easy to find out what's going on. I would first ask him straight out what's going on, I feel the honest way is the best, then I would check his meds and see what he is taking the dosage and write it all down. I hate to me negative but if he's abusing he will not take well to someone trying to intrude in his habit. So walk softly. Then if you think he is abusing then he will have to be confronted. I have had RSD for 7 years and have learned the less medication the better at least in my situation. Medications for the long term with make your pain worse. My PM doctor is big on not to much meds. and really made me and helped me get get off all medications once my RSD was under control. I did 3 - 5 day inpatient ketamine treatments, no fun either. But it did do the job so I was able to get the medication situation under control.

I hope this helped. Keep us posted.

Gabbycakes

First of all, thank you for coming to this forum for help as the group of people on this forum have a wealth of information (more than 90% of the Dr's I have seen) and are always quick to provide any assistance they can.
I have had CRPS for 4 years and I have never experienced the random passing out that you have described. With that said, I agree that it could be a medication issue. While it is possible that he is taking too much of his medicine, it is also possible that his medication is causing his blood pressure to drop to low levels which may explain the random passing out. CRPS does mess with a persons blood pressure and I monitor my on a regular basis (as mine reaches incredibly high levels) but I have heard of the opposite happening. Also, I have heard one medication that causes simular passing out issues and that medicine is in the neurontin family. I would definitly address your concerns with your brother ASAP as each fall can potentially cause additional issues with his CRPS. Eitherway it does sound serious. Thank you again for visiting the forum and please don't hesitate to ask any questions that you may have as this disease is not easy to understand since it is rare and has only had what I consider minimal amounts of scientific research.
Sarah

Thank you so much for responding. I am a nurse and firmly believe in adequate pain control, but my brother was an addict before his dx and i feel that he is going beyond the point of just attempting to control his pain. I have addressed my concerns and yes he does get defensive, i will check into the bp issue, but he never c/o lightheadedness or dizziness upon standing or changing position. I have suggested that he see a psychiatrist for the depression, and the possibility of certain other meds helping with his pain,but he won't hear of it, just says all antidepressants,sleeping meds, and the epileptic meds make him sick. he is on lamictal (the only one he will take) neurontin, oxycodone,oxyycontin, and xanax just to start.
He sees a general practitioner that is very well educated, but i am in the process of finding a neurologist that is well educated in rsds in the nashville area, he has never had an official diagnosis,but the symptoms definately fit.

Dear Brlove

Welcome...Im glad you are a nurse, you can help him a great deal with your compassion and understanding of how much pain he is in.

where is his RSD in his body? I have abdominal RSD caused by surgeries i had. i am bedridden. i often pass out siting up in bed. drives my hubby crazy. i dont abuse meds but i get so tired and i dont sleep well. anyway i found out that neurotin makes me SO sleepy so i only take it at night now and that has helped my passing out episodes. I cant be left alone, i can still walk to the bathroom but afraid if i lose my balance and am left alone, i cant get back up. So is there any way to get family members to take shifts being with him? Im afraid to be alone, is he afraid too?
i understand you being worried that he was an addict before rsd...you cant hold that against him., because the pain is so real and burning and horrible that it takes courage to want to stay alive. Not just chronic pain but horrible
debilitating, why am i living pain??? I keep pressing on because i have awesome twin girls that are 19 and need me to guide them through their life experience. I am still needed by them, My hubby is 58 and loves taking care of me. he needs someone to love him and we have been together 29 years..so i have to stay here for him.

you need to give your brother reasons to want to be alive. reasons to get his meds under control. im sorry i have rambled...i was trying to say something useful and i think i got off track. well just let him know how much you love im and need him here!
Blessings
Lori

Brlove,

Sorry that your brother suffers from this it make it very hard on all family members.

I had this problem while taking cymbalta for 8 weeks with all the other meds that I was taking at the same time. Once I got this out of my system the passing out stop.

If you know where he always take his meds bathroom, bedroom ect I would set up a hidden camcorder so you can see how much meds he is really taking. By doing this this should get answers to alot of what is truly going on with his passing out problems. This all could be side effects from the meds. Just a thought. Good luck with your brother and I hope he gets better.

So sorry you are going through this! It is hard enough to have this disease, but to be a family member of a loved one who has it who is also an addict makes it double hard. My heart goes out to you. I am a sibling of a bipolar addict. I used to have to drive ten miles one way to bring my sister her meds 2 times a day because she was not taking them properly and could not remember her name. It beat me up pretty bad, but I was the only "stable " person left. This was in between me having ten hand surgeries and working full time and taking care of an epileptic dog! UGH!!! Needless to say I mentally crashed, but she still found a way around my help!!! But any ways, my point was to say, if you have any help...maybe for now someone could bring him his med's 1st to see if it is truly a reaction (as long as he is not throwing something else in the mix) or maybe have some one spend a full 24 hours with him to see where things start to go haywire to the point where he passes out.

I am so sorry, but this is a great place to come to, we all understand the hard times and the pain of RSD. I was just DX about 8 weeks ago!

If you are looking for a well educated doctor in the Nashville area there is one at Hermitage at Summit Hospital the name of the practice is The Center For Spine Joint and Neuromuscular Rehabilitation. The doctors name is Benjaman Johnson he is super doctor and great person he's helped me so much with my rsd. Hope this helps you

Hi Sarah,
Sorry to hear about your brother. You are an angel for getting involved and helping him before something real bad happens (as you are a nurse and I am sure have seen it all). I think the combination of oxycodone, oxyycontin, and xanax just to start...is a bad one. Plus, neurontin. Both oxy's together really scares me. I had a hospital overdose me a few years ago...and send me home. Don't remember 4 days. Thankfully, my son recognized something was not right and carried me back to the ER where they re-admitted me (again). I was thinking maybe you could go with him for his next doctor appt and see what is said there. And you might have to talk to his doctor without him there. He may be taking other meds you don't know about and all together is too much for his body. You are a great sister for being involved and caring about him. I am also worried about him going asleep and hurting himself or others. Good luck and let us know how it works out.
kathy d
P.S. I just thought to ask you maybe he has two or so doctors and each one doesn't know what the other one is prescribing. Something to look in to. Together all the meds may be reacting with the other. I know from myself in the past that sometimes the pain is so bad you almost wish you could just go to sleep and the pain would stop. It is the nightmare that never ends. best of luck.