Hey guys. New to this forum. Briefly: my story is that I was in a car accident in may 2010 and a year after that I had emergency surgery for a ruptured disc at L5-S1 on the left side. For some time after that I had numbness in my left foot, which turned into burning, aching pain. It has gotten worse in the last few months, with allodynia, coldness, and muscle spasm. It has tracked from my foot to my leg on the lateral side. I have had 2 epidural steroid injections, which did nothing for me. Recently I had a lumbar sympathetic nerve block which was very helpful fr 2 days. Now the pain has returned and it seems worse. I don't have a formal diagnosis of CRPS yet as I haven't seen my PM yet. I think we've determined that it's a standard peripheral neuropathy vs. CRPS. Any thoughts or experiences with sympathetic nerve blocks? Did your pain get worse shortly after?

Yes, I have had a Lumbar Sympathetic Block and within 24 hours of the block my CRPS spread from my right foot (original injury site) all the way up my right side. Please proceed with caution...everyone is different. Good Luck and Gentle Hugs!

oh my god, what a nightmare! You poor thing! Thanks, I know I should proceed with caution. It was just amazing to have relief for those two days! I always have back pain, but I can live with that. This pain is something different all together. Hope that you feel better!

Welcome to the forum. This is a great place to learn different things about the disease and the process. It is also been a great learning tool for me on what to do or not to do. You will meet great people and friends here as well.

As far as sympathic blocks, it is a good standard first step and it will also help the dr. determine whether it is pn or crps. For me the first set was 3 weeks apart and I did not get any long term results only a couple of hours. But when we did it one week apart I had more long term results.

It is scary but for me it was worth it in the end. Again, welcome to the group.

I had 13 stellate ganglion nerve blocks in several series - CRPS after shoulder surgery mid 2010. I made sure that the pain management specialist was one of the best and he helped me - so it was worth it!! It did not get rid of the CRPS, but I am grateful for the improvement. We reached a point where there was no further improvement so we have stopped them, however I may be needing to do another series one of these days. Good luck. The sooner you get on CRPS, the better for most people