You are such an inspiration to follow on this thread. Keep up the great work and let us always know how you are. Question for you, did you ever find any problems with tDCS whether you used water or saline to treat? I assume you are still using the treatment but where do you place pads at this point? We all want to be in as good a shape as you are someday. Love to read about your days. Have a great day Thur. and let it be pain free.

I am currenty using the M1 and S2 protocol: cathode over right eye and anode over left ear. Every other week I switch it so that the cathode is over my left eye and anode over my right ear. I do this because I have RSD on both sides of my upper body and I have noticed improvement on both sides.

As far as saline...I just used what I got at the pharmacy. I might try it with just water given the above discussion but I've never noticed any issues with it. I do make sure the sponges are thoroughly soaked though...so except for the first few times I didn't have any issues with burning or anything either. I feel like once I got the hang of it, it all feels like second nature now. I feel lucky that the second electrode placement worked out so well for me.

Also...so far I have still been able to do two treatments a day but Friday, Saturday, and Sunday I will be working the closing shifts (2pm-11pm) so I think I will only be able to do one on those days. I don't expect it will set back treatment at all...but I will let you guys know if I experience any difficulties with the change in treatment schedule.

I am so blessed. I hope to be back to work in the near future. I have been spending just about eight hours a day conditioning myself.

Now that tDCS has eliminated some of the symptoms that landed me in the wheelchair I have been building up my strength and tolerance for activity. I never would have believed this last January, but now I am tending a vegetable garden!!!!!!!!! Last week I transplanted some sun flowers that I had started in small pots. About 75 of them. I have planted them everywhere I find a space. Sunflowers are so cheerful and tenacious, and start out small but persistently quickly grow despite the heat and scorching sun. They represent my journey from recovering from the devastation cause in my body by the Boston Scientific spinal cord stimulator. Most people do not recover from spinal cord stimulator induced spreads of neuropathic pain and in fact, they become worse over time, losing more function.

Although I would not recommend a spinal cord stimulator to anyone who suffers from CRPS due to the high risk of spread tDCS may be an effective treatment for those CRPS folks who have had developed spreads from stimulators.

My family thinks I am a little nuts. At a family cookout I was being quizzed about why I didn't just plant four or five sunflowers. Didn't want to go there with the whole family so I just said, "because that is how many seeds were in the packets, pass the potato salad please."

Everybody here knows why I did it. Right????????

I definitely get it! Sounds a lot like me...I've planted TONS of flowers this year and love walking out into the backyard and on the deck and seeing all the pretty, cheery flowers everywhere. My boyfriend gets it too...but he still laughs and teases me. I have all sorts of grand plans for the back yard and how I want to make MORE flower beds. I even bought a perennial garden book for Illinois and have started plotting out what I want to do next year.

I'm so happy to hear that things are going so well for you James. I think you are doing the smart thing trying to condition yourself with the activities before jumping right into the working. That's what I tried to do while I was off when they wouldn't let me back at first and I think that things worked out better for me because of it. If I had just gone back right away I don't think things would be going as good as they are right now. I tried my best to simulate the activities I do at work...but of course there's only so much you can do when you aren't actually AT work. Still...thanks to the conditioning and the work I did to build up my endurance I really haven't had any trouble being on my feet for 9-10 hours a day at work with little to no sitting during that time. Well...my feet were a little sore the first couple days but that was bound to happen...they've adjusted already.

I am so excited for you though. I'm doing a happy dance for you. Keep up the great work!

Kudos to you both. We just love hearing about the great strides you've made. You both deserve the tremendous improvement and feeling of pride in what you have accomplished. Great job. BUT, how is it possible that Deb and I have had no change what so ever? What are we doing wrong and what can we do to cause some kind of change? We're sticking with it and don't want to or plan to give up, but we are both very discouraged and disappointed. I guess we put so much hope into the treatment and are so hurt that it's not going like we envishioned. We're both thinking we're just not placing the pads correctly or not treating often enough or just using the wrong protocol. We're only on our second placement but is it the right one. Who knows? I'm even questioning do I use water or saline, is the placement tight enough. How critical is it having the pads in the exact spot? We are really at a loss and are keeping our fingers and toes crossed for the moment. I really am so happy for you both to have had the treatment work for you and you are able to make such changes in your life for the better. Goooo potatoe salad.

I would say that it's very possible that it will take longer for you to see the progress. As happy as I am about my improvement...I think it's important to remember that the greatest improvement in the pain was in areas that I had RSD for less than a year and it's only in the sensitivity. I still have the burning constant pain...but that just seems so much more bearable without the extreme sensitivity. Not that I want to minimize the success because I am so thrilled with it...but if you both have had RSD in the same area for a very long time then it may just take a while to see those sorts of results. The sleep is a big thing for me...but that took a couple of months before I saw any improvements. Fewer flares that last less time is another big thing but again...that took a while before I saw it.

I also think that for me it was easier to see some of the improvements with the pain because I am not taking any pills/meds to help with the pain other than the Lidoderm patches. I think if you are on lots of meds that have been keeping that pain level lower then maybe it would be harder to notice slight improvements. I don't know if this makes a difference or not but it could be another factor that impacts noticeable relief. I would say that my pain level now is normally around a 5-8 except when I get flares and then it's back up to that 9-10 level. If you already have something that is helping to relieve the pain then it might be harder to notice some of the changes because they might not seem as large.

As far as placements...I can't really address the questions there. I've been doing this all on my own so I couldn't even tell you if I am technically doing it right. I don't measure each and every time I place the electrodes...I just feel like I know the right spot from doing it for so long. Not very scientific of me but I figure if it's working then it's gotta be alright.

I would caution you and everyone else who is trying this to not stress out too much about the small details. Seriously...the more you stress and worry the more you're going to aggravate your RSD and possibly offset any improvements you might be having. We all know what stress can do to our RSD. I approached the whole thing as, "If it works, great. If not, then I'm no worse off than before." I was hopeful and optimistic but I never got myself too worried about whether I was placing the electrodes perfectly or whether I should use saline or something else or whether this protocol was the right one or if I should already be trying the next. I knew there were other protocols and IF it didn't work then I could switch (which I did) but I didn't stress about it.

And remember...even though I am back at work and all that...I am not 100% better. I still need to use the walker, I still have to suit up with lidoderm patches and all that before I go to work, I still have pain and balance problems. I still think of tDCS as a miracle and I continue to see improvements...but they're not always the ones that I might wish for. I would love more pain relief...but instead I am mostly seeing more sleep (which is awesome and I'm not complaining) and less flares (also awesome). James is seeing far more improvement in many areas than I am but he's also got a few months of treatment on me, as does ballerina of course.

So seriously...try not to stress out about all the small details and seeing improvements in the areas that you are looking for improvement. Give this new protocol a good shot and continue to be focused on your health. I was very involved in all my other treatments (physical therapy, hot baths in epsom salts, TENS, ultrasound, etc) all while I was doing the tDCS treatments. By pushing myself with those I was also able to see improvement. My pain wasn't really noticeably different sitting still on the couch. It was noticeable when I was pushing myself to DO stuff. If you can find other treatments or exercises to focus on instead of obessing over the tDCS details then maybe that will help. Take each day as it comes, track your progress, and hopefully you will start to see improvements in the coming months. And it might very well be months before you see noticeable changes so don't get discouraged if you don't see them right away.

Just my thoughts on everything...for what it's worth. I hope that you both see improvements soon but with tDCS it's the long term results that are most important.

Okay...time to get ready for work. I didn't get home last night until 2am from work and I'm afraid that it looks like tonight will be much the same. It's gonna be a long one...

Thank you sooooo much. You really did make a big difference. I will try to stress less and keep up the hopes of improvement. You really hit the nail on the head in covering all my displeasure. Your suggestion to focus on other activity goes a long way, and it does work because at times I am able to just turn off the pain mode and just push thru. By the way what do you do and where do you work? I don't think I remember you says what it is you do. It sounds exhausting and physically draining, how do you do it????? Again, thank you and I will keep you posted.

Hi everyone, I am a new member but have been reading consistantly the past few days and decided to join. My Mom has RSD stage 3, she's had countless doctors in a number of states that have tried nerve blocks, EEGs (several times, I think that's what its called, where they test the nerve), she is on a slew of narcotics (morphine, percocet, and the marijuana pill) with no relief, she also has fibro, seizures, and from my research I think gastropherisis.

I've done a lot of reading and followed a few of your stories with your success with tDCS, the next step her dr is looking at is radiofrequency neurotomy, which I have read the best results from this procedure.

She has a TENS unit, but from what im gathering the TENS unit and a tdcs device are two different things right? If anyone can point me in the right direction as to where I can purchase a tdcs device and the protocols for the certain placements for pain relief I would GREATLY appreciate it.

Thank you all and gentle hugs!