Jimbo, I've had dizziness and vertigo for years. I've also tried 12,000 different meds. Ok, that was a slight exaggeration. Anywho--I stopped taking Pristiq a month or so ago, and it's a bit early to confirm, but I think SSRI meds were causing the problem. You might want to review the side effects of your meds. It's so easy to blame RSD for all the dysfunction in our bodies, that sometimes we forget the nasty side effects of the meds we take. One of your meds could also be exacerbating the problem.

And save your liver, and stop taking headache remedies. It's like slapping a band-aid over a gun shot wound... What about low dosage Morphine?

I do find the only thing that regulates my temp, is very warm water. I've been dealing with an ice cold foot since I was 12, after knee surgery. Once it's warmed up, it stays wam for a long while...

I'm sorry you seem to be having a rough week! Get out your dancing peppers if it'll make you feel any better.

Unfortunately, all meds are broke down by the liver in some percentage or another unless it is given IV or transdermal. Yes, asa biproducts are the worse, but usually we are lucky if we get 25 percent of the actual med in our system. Just a little FYI

This topic always reminds of Artie Lange, formerly of the Howard Stern show, who had a chapter in his book "Too Fat to Fish" called Heroin:It's Better for Your Liver!

ALT, I figure our livers are being abused enough with the meds that can actually make a difference--and aspirin is unlikely to make even a slight reduction in RSD pain... I freely admit to being a Mother Hen type btw.

I am so sorry Jimbo...sounds like not a good day at all. I know what you mean about wanting to leave the house and DO something to take your mind off the pain.

Dizziness, nausea, vertigo, blurry vision, ringing in my ears, and balance problems are things that have been bothering me ever since my RSD got worse. I was also getting hallucinations and running low grade fevers on and off. I went off of all my meds because my doc thought it might be seratonin syndrome and sure enough...the hallucinations and fevers stopped...but the others didn't. Sigh...we tried some headache medicines and antivert for the dizziness. Mild relief of the dizziness in the sense that instead of it getting REALLY bad 10 plus times a day it's only REALLY bad about 3 times a day. So far no luck with the headaches/blurry vision so we're trying amitriptyline and just upped the dose on that. I haven't had any blurry vision spells that lasted HOURS like I was getting before but I still get them a number of times throughout the day.

But I found an RSD puzzle about the visual and hearing problems of RSD so that's the next treatment that we are going to try. I haven't had problems with my blood pressure (though admittedly I never take it when I have one of my "spells") so it wouldn't have occurred to any of us to try a blood pressure med. But we're going to give the clonopine patches a try if this new dose of the amitriptyline doesn't help more. It's one of the reasons I love my new doc...she's always willing to try new things and to do research on RSD to help me with my large variety of problems.

My second pain doc had me taking 3000mg of tylenol a day for MONTHS and in retrospect I am not very happy about that. He said it would make the tramadol more effective...but I never got much relief even with the tylenol. Wonder what that did for the life of my liver. It scares me because it makes me wonder if these docs are even remotely concerned about the long term side effects of what they are telling their patients.

But anyway...I really hope that my doc (and everyone else's too) can find something to help with the dizziness, vertigo, blurry vision, etc because that's the reason I can't drive and why I am very nervous to do too much when I am alone in the house. When those "spells" come on me I am a total mess and usually fall down if I am standing (even when I have the walker with me).

Alt, Lit Love and Catra,
Thanks so much for all the helpful support. I really feel like I have friends.
Lit Love, I understand what you're talking about but my balance, vertigo and tremors are related to my cerebral atrophy. Not much med wise can be done. Sort of like that guy at the roulette wheel that says "round and round it goes, where it stops nobody knows". My neurologist is sometime in the future having another CAT Scan to try to determine the speed of the atrophy.
All I want is this RSD to stop spreading. The burning pain is now in my leg on a constant rate as well as my arm/wrist/hand.
It helps to vent. I'm sorry to keep going on and on...

P.S.: Lit Love, this one's for you.....

You shouldn't feel sorry...we all understand the need to vent and get things off our chest. The support of everyone here is really great...I know it has helped me get through all of my tough times. If we get helpful advice too that's just a bonus really.

I'm really very sorry about the spread. Despite the fact that mine has spread to my upper body and now includes everything between my waste and my neck...I feel so lucky that it's not in my face or right leg. Having even one "good" leg is such a blessing. Sending good thoughts and prayers your way that you get some relief soon and the spreading stops.

Thanks Catra,
Yes the support here is great and I'm glad to be part of the family....

I don't pretend that I know the answers. I know just enough to ask the irritating questions...

I have to find an icon that causes you to shiver... A project for another day.

You bring a smile to my face. As the Indian's say "You're good medicine"...

Back at ya!