[aj822]

Been out of touch for a while but I think most of you remember me and know a little bit about me – Feeling really sorry for myself, fighting horrible pain, trying to find some relief from my stimulator implant (NOT!!), and dealing with the spread of RSD from left leg to right leg and right arm/hand along with having to tolerate my PM Doctor who has turned out to be more of a hindrance than help. I guess I should save all this for another post…. I am drowning and I never really felt I fit in here but I am in desperate need of some feedback from veteran RSD sufferers.

Anyway, 3 weeks ago I had a spell that first appeared to be a mild stroke. After days of EKG’s, labs and CT scan nothing was found that could explain things except for Bells Palsy. I had never heard of this before so I had to do some research. We determined that several days prior, I had a round of severe pain with my RSD limbs, was not sleeping at all and had a personal situation that really had me stressed out. My primary doctor feels that this is probably what triggered the Bells Palsy episode. He also said that because I was on such a strong daily dose of Lyrica that the severity of the episode was suppressed otherwise he feels I would have suffered a more severe case. As luck would have it, the left side of my face was affected but it was nothing like the pictures I saw and what my doctor described he had seen in the past. I am regaining the use of my face and eye slowly but surely. I can feel weird sensations where the nerves are regenerating. Doctor feels I should fully regain function over next several weeks/months. He won’t rule out that I won’t have another episode because of the physical and mental stress my body is under with such an active case of RSD. I worry that RSD may spread to my face since I have had nerve damage/trauma. I know different nerves were affected and not the sympathetic nerves but could this be a possibility??

Questions:
Has anyone heard of any correlation between RSD and Bells Palsy?
Has anyone ever had this happen to them or heard of any RSD patient having this happen?

Any feedback you could provide would be greatly appreciated… Thank you!