Still new to this and learning how to use forums. I had a Left LSB and epidural block on wednesday for CRPS in my left foot and sciatica (radiculopathy?) on my Right causing hip, thigh and right foot pain. I believe my MD used bupivicaine as well as steroid for the injections. I was told that I had an 8* increase in temperature on my Left foot. Immediately post procedure my foot looked and felt wonderful, warm and dry,blue discolored area reduced to faint, and no pain (my foot is usually cold and achy). My Right sided symptoms were relieved as well. about 6 hours or so after the procedure I noticed some faint symptoms returning to my R foot although they were minimal. Now today, my foot is again feeling excessively cold with faint tingling although not painful as before. Is this normal so soon after the block? What significance does that have as to the successfulness of the block? Thank you

Hi

As far as I understand it (I haven't had one myself, and I'm sure others will know more ) it's not unusual to experience only a short period of relief from a first block. I think they work best in a series of them over the course of several weeks.

I think the main purpose of them is as a diagnostic tool. If your symptoms are relieved by the block, then it shows that your pain is sympathetically maintained, and therefore still might have a chance of being successfully treated by a series of blocks. If the block hadn't done anything, then it would show that your pain was no longer sympathetically maintained, and therefore you wouldn't benefit from blocks as a treatment.

Hope I've got this right! I'm sure someone will be along soon who knows about this in more detail

In the meantime, take care and do some reading about it online. Try RSDSA.org and similar sites with some sense lol.

Hope you have a good night.

Bram.

Hi st1rn! Bram is correct! The fact that you received good results in the ffirst block is good. When that happens it is best to have them regularly for the best results. I had them weekly. Do you have anymore scheduled?

Thank you for your reply. I don't have anything else scheduled as of now. I haven't talked to my Dr since the procedure. I think I am supposed to get a call from his nurse in two weeks to see how I am doing according to the paperwork they gave me when I came home. I really liked the way my foot felt that first 6 hours or so. I want that feeling again. I didn't really realize how much pain / discomfort I had until I didn't.

I had four. The first three were one week part. The doc hoped to get me in remission with the three, but no go. The fourth was three weeks later. My foot felt great after the first one, but the complete relief only lasted a few hours. The pain when walking returned quickly, but the coldness and pain at night did not. After the fourth one, my doc and I agreed that I wasn't benefiting anymore. It has been about 8 months, and my foot still feels better than before the blocks, even though I felt that I didn't get great results in the beginning. Some of the pain at night is starting to return, so I am thinking about trying again.

I agree about wanting the great feeling I had right after the first one. I was disappointed that the relief didn't last longer. The doc warned me that the pain might feel worse for a short time when it wore off, because it might reset the brain's coping mechanism or something like that.

Sounds like yours rsd was more responsive to the blocks, so hopefully additional blocks will give you even better results. Good luck!

Thanks, I appreciate the info. I haven't talked to my Dr again yet, but hopefully he will offer another go at the block. My symptoms are returning but so far not as bad as before. At least I am sleeping now. The true test will be when I am back at work tomorrow. I tend to hurt worse when on my feet for a long time and work keeps me on my feet for 10hrs.