This is really very very wonderful! I am SO happy to hear it. I was outside weeding in the garden too.

I have to say that I am extremely happy with my progress so far with the tDCS. I've been doing it a little over a month now and the results so far are all positive. The pain and allydonia in my hands and arms is now so much less than it was before. It's still there and reacts particularly bad to the extremes in temperature and cold air...but SO much better. I haven't had any instances of my hands freezing up in several weeks. And outside of the flare that was caused by the minor car accident I was in (and that lasted less than a day...still blows my mind) I have not really had any flares in my hands or arms for the last few weeks.

I have also begun to notice a reduction in the pain and allydonia in my left ankle. This has taken a while...but I have started to notice that it IS less. I wasn't sure at first (was it just a few good days or was it really sticking) but now I feel comfortable saying that it is indeed a reduction in the overall pain level. I'm still using the TENS unit and doing all my other things...but where the pain level was never below a 6 before at its best...now I would say it generally stays between a 3-6 each day instead of a 6-10. Now...I did have a few instances of it flaring up to that level 10 level...usually if I misstep or bump my foot or anything like that. But even these flare ups are less often and last much shorter periods of time. All that said...I have started doing more walking without with a cane or a walker. Never far and never for long (always with the walker or cane in the room with me just in case...but I have been doing it more. The balance is still awfully shakey so I make sure than whenever I do this that there is something I can grab on to or lean against (like a counter or wall) because I don't want to fall and risk a bad injury. I need to be careful not to overdo it (I MAY have done this once or twice in the past couple weeks but I get over it quickly). I don't expect to leave the walker in the dust anytime soon...but I am now more optimistic that it WILL happen in time. I have really been able to build up a lot of strength back in my whole body.

Oh...and I have noticed that I am sleeping better these days. I went off of the amitriptyline that I was taking at bedtime to help me sleep and I am sleeping a little longer than I was when I was taking it. My sleep is a little more broken than it was when I was on the meds but now I might get 2-4 blocks of sleep throughout the night that last about 2 hours each (sometimes a little more and sometimes a little less). This adds up to more than the 3-4 hours I was getting with the meds so I am happy with it and hope that it just gets better and better.

I still have a ways to go but I am very happy with my progress in just over a month. Here's hoping it just gets better and better from this point on.