My RSD started in my left wrist/hand almost 6 years ago. Saturday night I was putting towels in to wash, and for some stupid reason my left hand decided it needed to help. As I reached down into the basket, I hit my pinky in the area just above the hand and bent it all the way to my palm...with the finger still being straight. I felt and heard it pop. Let's just say I had to stay in the garage for a bit longer to compose myself. There's a good chance I broke my hand...have all the symptoms of a Boxer's Fracture...but haven't been to the doctor yet. I have an appointment Wednesday for a new primary and really don't want to (and can't afford to) pay the ER co-pay.

Anyway, RSD is making it such a challenge to tell if circulation is an issue. It's really frustrating. Has anyone else done anything like that or am I the only one stupid enough to let my lame hand try to help??

I promise you are not the only one. And I can almost assure you that circulation is indeed an issue. My rsd is in my right hand/wrist and my bones are loosing density due to lousy circulation. Our hands want to help, they just don't know how sick they are. It's not your fault, you're just being human. But get it checked as soon as you can, and wrap it up if you feel it needs it.
Just be careful and keep us posted. Best wishes.

Yes, I've often explained over the years that having my left hand try to help is like letting a 2 year old help...they try hard, make a mess, get in the way more than they help, and cry when they hurt themselves. LOL

And, yes, circulation with the RSD and the original injury were already an issue...so makes it hard to tell if the new injury is "causing" more circulation problems. I thankfully kept all my custom-made splints, so used one of those Sunday to keep it protected at church (from others and myself). Unfortunately, the swelling got worse and I couldn't put it back on Monday to go run the computer & sound for a funeral, so I had to quickly improvise. I pulled the metal bar out of one of the useless wrist braces, turned it around so the long part extends to the tips of my fingers while the curved part still goes over the ball of my hand, and taped the pinky and ring finger to it together and taped the rest of the bar to my hand. Sadly, I'm finding any movement in that hand at all is excruciating. Almost made myself sick trying to carefully bend the middle, forefinger, and thumb gently with my other hand...a technique I had to use during rehab after the last surgery, so I know it well. I go to my new doc tomorrow, so I'm really trying to hold out until then so she can order the x-rays. The ER here is a joke, so I don't want them touching it!

Sorry to hear about your reinjury. I would wrap it if you can, I hope it is just a sprain and you get into the dr. quickly. Best wishes!

Saw my new doc yesterday. Still waiting for official x-ray results, but it's most likely broken. She told me to keep it braced and in a sling. The x-ray tech can't really say anything, but I saw her putting arrows on several x-rays pointing to the same spot.

On a positive note, though, my new doc seems pretty good. She's going to contact my sleep specialist (who I really like) to coordinate medications because there are so many things I can't take with the Narcolepsy medicine I'm on.

Hi,

Sorry you re-injured or your RSD area. Most important is to right away get
on vitamin C at least 1000 mg. Studies have shown doing so prevented
RSD from developing in wrist fractures. My daughter had broke her arm
which was afflicted with RSD and the first thing her surgeron told her
was to get started on vitamin C. I believe you can find verifcation of this
vitamins protectiveness on pub med. More than one person on this site with
RSD who have been reinjured have taken Vitamin C to ward of a new case of
RSD or to prevent spread. Take Care.

Phyllis -

Very sorry to hear of your predicament, just logged on last night for the first time in months. There is, however, one simple, effective and too often overlooked means of "first-aid" for those CRPS patients with fresh injuries.

I put this up a few months ago but it bears repeating: I lost my balance early one morning, only to trip of a stand-mounted fan, and thence to fall sideways - hard - striking the edge of a nearly 15" wide pounded metal temple bell, breaking two ribs in the process. A few hours later, I made my way to the hospital - quite concerned about spread - and the ER doc called my pain physician, who immediately suggested putting lidocaine patches directly on top of the injured area, before any secondary pain complications could set in. In fact, the first lidocaine patch was put on right in the ER. I then kept it up for two week, changing them twice a day, and guess what? They greatly cut down on the pain [read: afferent nerve signalling to the dorsal horn of the spinal cord, they genesis of both CRPS and spread].

It may not have been continuous regional anesthesia, but it was as good as anyone could come up with off-hand. And think about it: when was the last time you heard of lidocaine patches being used essentially as first-aid?

In fact, a good argument can be made that each case of "spread" secondary to a new injury, is in fact a fresh immune-modulated case of CRPS, on account of which treatments that may have long since lost their effectiveness, such as nerve blocks delivered under fluoroscopy - may have a new lease on life with respect to combating injury-induced spread. Please check out my post from February, in Ballerina's t.D.C.S. Update Could remission be within my reach and your's too? , which appears as Post No. 145.

And finally, speaking of tDCS, Ballerina had SPECTACULAR results in actually reversing injury-induced spread using incredibly inexpensive tDCS. Please check out her Post No. 148 of February 28th. It's a keeper!

And it's now my understanding there are now an ever increasing number of pain clinics/physicians that are adding this to their regime. And with literature out there like the following, who could blame them?

Anodal transcranial direct current stimulation of the motor cortex ameliorates chronic pain and reduces short intracortical inhibition, Antal A, Terney D, Kühnl S, Paulus W, J Pain Symptom Manage. 2010 May;39(5):890-903; and

Efficacy of anodal transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) for the treatment of fibromyalgia: results of a randomized, sham-controlled longitudinal clinical trial, Valle A, Roizenblatt S, Botte S, Zaghi S, Riberto M, Tufik S, Boggio PS, Fregni F, J Pain Manag. 2009;2(3):353-361.

I hope this is helpful. Bottom line: please call your MP doc in the morning. And if you don't have one, now is the time to move on it. In the meantime, an orthopedic/hand surgeon should be high on your list as well. If you have to go through a PCP, so be it. But for goodness sake, make sure whoever you see is cognizant of the risks of immobilization (casting) with CRPS, and do whatever you can to get a hold of some lidocaine patches: this one may be worth betting the farm.

Mike