All day today I have been touching my ankle, to see if the pain is really gone. To my amazement it is totally gone. Three days ago I was crying rubbing raw rice laced baby lotion on my ankle, followed by drawing yarn over my calf that felt like knives. My leg felt as though it had been set afire. Even the breath of my cat was unbearable.

Although extremely fatigued I am so very grateful that the spread, and or fresh CRPS has been thwarted.

When my husband asked me how I wanted to celebrate I decided I would dig into a cheesecake with a serving spoon. YUM! (Tomorrow I will be back on track with my CRPS diet)

Wishing cheesecake celebrations to all!

If anything is worth a cheesecake celebration...THIS is...I am so happy for you!

Ballerina -

A little late, but let me add my congratulations as well. Congratulations!!!

What you have accomplished is HUGE. If, based on the stuff in my last post here, and other (far more reliable) sources, "spread" to a new extremity is in fact a fresh case of RSD/CRPS, then it follows that your protocol should be generalizable to all fresh cases of RSD/CRPS!!!

Seriously. Or as put in the land of pedantry, Q.E.D.

What more is there to be said? You rock!

Mike

Hello everyone, I'm from the UK

My sister has had CRPS for a year now from banging her foot against something hard by accident. I don't know the specifics of her CRPS and I don't know if it's spread either, she's been keeping quietly to herself about the condition and only recently I've learned how horrific this condition actually is. I don't know if it's spread anywhere recently (she seems to be in ache/pain moreso lately)

I want to help her get better so I suggested to her she ask her doctor about tDCS and TENS machines (and perhaps low dose ketamine infusions athough I don't know specifics about these and I'm not sure she can actually afford all of that). Maybe just tDCS and TENS will be good enough... I hope :/ Maybe even mirror therapy? I've read that it has caused spreads and such so I'm not sure if I want her to risk it. Now knowing that spreads are a fresh case, I'd prefer if she got her tDCS and TENS first I suppose

One thing I'm definitely curious about is if TENS units (sorry, slightly off topic) have ever caused spreads or whatnot although generally they seem like they're safe?

Are there good online stores that you guys who have had success used that ship tDCS and TENS units internationally (to UK ;p)? I would love to know, I just want to help her and get her life and happiness back

I use a TENS unit with much success and I have never heard of any issues with them causing spread. BUT...they do not work for everyone and for some people using a TENS unit can actually be more painful (maybe cause a fare but not spread...at least from what I have heard). That tends to be how things go with CRPS...but considering how non invasive it is and the possibility of success I definitey think it is worth a shot for everyone...much as I feel tDCS should be tried by everyone before doing anything more invasive.

I don't know what companies might ship to the UK or if there are any UK based medica supply stores where you might get a TDCS unit. It might help in your search to know that the unit that is used for tDCS treatments is an Iontophoresis Delivery Unit...and you will have to buy different lead wires and electrodes to convert it for tDCS treatments.

Thanks for the response. I'll try checking out more stores first, she's going to get a Bier's block which had worked for her before so I'm going to urge her to use tDCS and TENS as early as possible too

This is a report for anyone interested in tdcs trials.

Upon reading of ballerinas success with tdcs, and then doing considerable research on the subject (I live in a town where I can go to a university to get access to this the published scientific literature) -- I obtained a similar tdcs system as ballerina uses and have done a couple 10 day trial periods. I did one 20 minute session a day, at 2 milliamps.

I have experienced no discernible change whatsoever in any of my symptoms. In the 1st ten-day period, I placed the anode over and a little below the EEG C3 location, and the cathode on my forehead above my left eye. I experienced some significant sleep disturbances, which caused me to stop and reevaluate.

In the 2nd 10 day period, I placed the anode over the EEG C3 location and a little above and behind towards the rear of my head, and the cathode on my forehead above my left eye. I did not experience any sleep disturbances in this trial, but nor did I experience positive changes in my symptoms.

I have a very angular head -- and using the square rather inflexible electrodes is rather frustrating for me -- because the C3 location is right at where my head does about an 80° bend!! I may purchase a those round flexible electrodes & sponges.

Almost every session I do experience some flashing in my eyes -- which settles down within a few minutes, and my forehead sometimes is a bit irritated/burning under the electrode.

Just fyi for you all! I will continue to make adjustments to see if I can make any progress in reducing pain/alleviating some of my symptoms.

PS> I found FMMichael’s references to Dr. Llinas’s groups research and theories to be quite fascinating -- thanks a lot! And thanks to ballerina!

Hi Voner,
Glad you are trying tDCS. I am a little confused. It sounds like both electrodes are on the same side of your head. Is that correct?

crpsjames,

sorry i wasn't clear. I'm following standard tDCS for pain protocol. anode on one side, cathode on the other. So far, In my case, anode on the left side.

regards.

voner

So...just to be clear, you then have the anode on your left side and the cathode above your RIGHT eye? I know I personally had to really think about it the first few times...I was overthinking it I think.

I started doing treatments twice a day starting Sunday and so far so good I think. I believe I have noticed some pain reduction...though to be honest I don't notice the pain level dropping so much as I notice that after a few hours it goes back up again. I think it's just because I have gotten so used to the high pain levels all the time that it's throwing me off. I'm going to continue with this current electrode placement for another week and see if there is any significant difference over time and if not I will try a different protocol.