Dear Nigel,

I am sorry that you are still having such pain in your knee, how awful for you!! The first few years of PT were a disaster for me, they very likely contributed to my RSD, too. I had extremely aggressive therapists who worked for my orthopedic surgeon that had my shoulder and neck spasming out of control. Then, after my RSD diagnosis, I had someone I liked, but who used to hurt my head once in a while just to experiment I think - curiosity about RSD no doubt, and how much pressure it would take to make things spin out of control. Only the head was connected to me and I had to live with the horrific pain when he was done! Ugh..never again!!!....

Have you tried heat? And a muscle relaxer? I use Skelaxin and a heating pad and its been a good combo for me.

My pain improved over time after my ketamine infusions. I noticed I felt somewhat better right away, but then I noticed steady improvement day after day. And with each booster it got better. I have had definite setbacks with the long hours and stress of a full time job, and the nasty weather patterns we get here in the northeast. And I do need to use my arms occasionally, which will cause bad flares. But you should give the ketamine some more time to work....it is still early for you.

I truly wish you the best and please keep in touch. xoxox Sandy

Thanks for all your comments and suggestions guys! I really find hot packs and warm showers relieve my pain. I think the main reason i was improving well in malta was not only down to lyrica and mobilization, it was down to my tendon slowly healing after the rough ride it had which helpt "calm down" my rsd and together it was only uphil for me as i was able to walk long, bike harder, swim etc etc. Stretching was the worst thing for my rsd as it would inflame my tendon without me knowing that would trigger my rsd pain increase and symptoms. For some reason i feel as though if my tendon had to fully heal and i would have no physical restrictions then my rsd would automatically go. I could be wrong though.

Last night was bad and got up at 4 as lying down is putting too much strain on my tendons as it is again so badly damaged. It sucks as today i had my second ketamine booster 600 mg and i feel as thoigh they work better that the inpatient infusion for me however my tendon is really messed up amd keeps getting pulled which dosent allow the ketamine to work.

Im in a dimela as although my rsd pain is more relaxed when resting the tendon, all this rest is causing my foot/ankle to really spread and go red and cat put my feet up as it hurts too much to lye down or put any kind of stretch or activation on my hamstrings. moving my neck downwards also gives me shooting pains just to give you and idea..

Will speak to the doctor tomorrow to see what we can do about the tendon but as far as i know a tendon takes time to heal and there is no quick fix. Apparantly its only managing to control the tendon pain to be able to tackle the crps pain but the only was to contor it is to sit down for hours and relax my hamstrings, everything else causes damagin cutting shooting pain. That causes my swelling/discolouration to get worse....its a vicious circle and i might just need time and patience for my tendon to heal and then be able to tackle my crps. I really hope it didnt have to be this way and there was a different approch to how i could possibly tackle them at the same time instead of resting for weeks causing more muscle wastage (which i curently have alot of and cant affory any more) swelling etc...the thing that sucks the most is that i cant even have bed rest to help my back and posture and possibly elevate my knee for swelling...

If anyone has any suggestions or ideas of a better way please let me know. Have been thinking of one for a while but the only thing i could think of is a brace to speed up the tendon healing, hot pack, hot showers, volteran cream, glucosamine, omega 3 and will look into buying a home ultrasound to use at home twice daily once im back in malta.

Thanks for listening,

Nigel