Thanks! I'm in Colorado Springs, CO.

I most definitely and sensitive to touch. I have a little 6 pound toy fox terrier. He put his paw on my leg yesterday...and I screamed out in pain. It felt as though his little tiny paws were Freddy Krueger hands with razor blades piercing my leg! It was so painful that I checked to see if maybe I neglected to trim his nails -- I hadn't...they are short and smooth. (Even if they had been sharp, the pain was totally disproportionate to what I should have experienced).

Also, the other night my shirt sleeve touching my arm caused unbelievable pain. I was told on an earlier post to not protect those areas...and my doctor wanted me touching them as much as possible. It's very difficult to do.

Hi Sam, So sorry for your symptoms you are having. So you had a RSD diagnosis in Oct? sensitivity to touch was one of the symptoms I had. I've had RSD 16 years now. Was diagnosed 11 years ago. I had an an excellent orthopedic dr. and his physical therapy group helped me a lot. My left hand was frozen solid like a board with no movement and extremely painful and sensitive to touch. A tens unit helped. But what helped most was the pt treatments 3 times a week. plus they had me do my own 7 days a week to desensitize my hand.. I got 6-7 plastic containers. Put different things into the containers. like cotton balls, coffee grounds, popcorn kernals, sugar, beans. then run my fingers thru the containers to feel the different textures. Doing that dailey desensitizes the hand. I don't remember how long it took, but have no sensitivity now. I still have the burning, pins an needles in feet and legs-have full body rsd. For years had electric shocks and uncontrolled tremors and jerks, but have years of neurotin and later lyrica those are gone. Still have BAD dailey headaches - body heat or cold- blood pressure issues high and low, heart rate-high and low, If you look up autonomic nervous system, it will help you understand rsd better. It is a disregulation of the sympathetic nervous system, parasympathetic nervous system, vegas nerve. the website, www.rsdrx.com has a lot of good information under puzzles there are 146 questions answered by a rsd specialist. he was in florida and I almost went there but didn't. I believe he is retired now. but in information under puzzles is very good.
Hope this helps and hope you get a good knowledgable dr. I underwent at least 150 pt treatments for my original rsd in shoulder for frozen shoulder -first the left one then moved to the right. Then 4 years later had injury to left hand. It was after left hand injury that was diagnosed with rsd. It used to sometimes be called hand shoulder syndrome.
The RSDSA website is also good. You can go to that site and put in your town and it will tell you the closest support group. They are very helpful as the members already have good rsd drs. in the area. Just an idea. sincerely, loretta

Loretta,

Thank you so much for sharing your story. I will check out the sites you suggested. I was doing OT 2x a week for a 1.5 months before we realized I have RSD (the course of treatment they were doing seemed to make things worse). I was unable to move my fingers for 2.5 months. I went to a new ortho (when the other insisted there was nothing wrong with me) and he is the one to give me the RSD Dx. Unfortunately, that was the extent of his knowledge...and he quickly told me he would not be able to assist with my treatment.

He put me on gabapentin and I was able to fully move my fingers again within a few days (the pain started to subside almost immediately). However, my hand broke out in a rash and the ortho was concerned that I was having a reaction to the med and pulled me off. My pain has increased and spread since then.

I am interested to learn more about the nervous system...so I appreciate you pointing me in the right direction as to where to start researching.

Thanks again,
Sam