[rory47]

Hi everyone. I have a couple of questions. I think I have read somewhere that sometimes needles can cause a flare? The reason i ask is that the day after christmas I woke up hurting in more places than usual and with alot more pain than usual and am still feeling that way. I just remembered that I had gotten blood drawn at the dr 2 days before christmas. Even though both arms are bad, my left one has been more so in the last few months and thats the arm they used to draw blood. Even though I am undiagnosed at the moment, I have just about every symptom and have had them for some time. I still have a 3 month wait for my neuro visit.

My next question in about fingernails. I just noticed that all but 2 fingernails have very defined grooves in them. Im not sure about my toenails as I dont think I have the energy to take the polish off. Do alot of you diagnosed with rsd have the grooved nails?

Maybe all of my symptoms dont mean rsd, but something tells me they do.
thank you

[Nanc]

Originally Posted by rory47

Hi everyone. I have a couple of questions. I think I have read somewhere that sometimes needles can cause a flare? The reason i ask is that the day after christmas I woke up hurting in more places than usual and with alot more pain than usual and am still feeling that way. I just remembered that I had gotten blood drawn at the dr 2 days before christmas. Even though both arms are bad, my left one has been more so in the last few months and thats the arm they used to draw blood. Even though I am undiagnosed at the moment, I have just about every symptom and have had them for some time. I still have a 3 month wait for my neuro visit.

My next question in about fingernails. I just noticed that all but 2 fingernails have very defined grooves in them. Im not sure about my toenails as I dont think I have the energy to take the polish off. Do alot of you diagnosed with rsd have the grooved nails?

Maybe all of my symptoms dont mean rsd, but something tells me they do.
thank you

Hi Rory!
To answer your questions...1) you can experience spread from a simple needle stick, so I would say it could most certainly cause a flare. 2) brittle or grooved fingernails is one of the signs of RSD. I have a couple of them that have deeper grooves than the others. They are brittle and have recently started growing like crazy!
Nanc

[zookester]

Originally Posted by rory47

Hi everyone. I have a couple of questions. I think I have read somewhere that sometimes needles can cause a flare? The reason i ask is that the day after christmas I woke up hurting in more places than usual and with alot more pain than usual and am still feeling that way. I just remembered that I had gotten blood drawn at the dr 2 days before christmas. Even though both arms are bad, my left one has been more so in the last few months and thats the arm they used to draw blood. Even though I am undiagnosed at the moment, I have just about every symptom and have had them for some time. I still have a 3 month wait for my neuro visit.

My next question in about fingernails. I just noticed that all but 2 fingernails have very defined grooves in them. Im not sure about my toenails as I dont think I have the energy to take the polish off. Do alot of you diagnosed with rsd have the grooved nails?

Maybe all of my symptoms dont mean rsd, but something tells me they do.
thank you

Hello rory47,

It is not uncommon to feel pain in areas that you might not notice when one is worried about an unknown condition/disease/syndrome. You will naturally pay more attention to things, this is good to a certain point. My advice would be to jot everything down in detail. Where the pain is exactly, what type of pain it is (being as descriptive of the pain characteristics is very telling to the doctors), what triggers it, what alleviates it (if anything). Is it constant or come and go? Take pictures of your limbs if you notice changes in skin color. Make a list of all the meds you are taking and how they help (or don't) and what you are doing daily to help cope with pain (ie, epsom salt baths, daily therapy, distraction, brain games, mirror therapy, etc.,) in addition to any meds.

As hard as it is please try not to dwell on pains throughout the body.. make a note of them and then move on. When they become constant and not relieved by distraction then you can almost assume it is part of the CRPS/RSD. I would try to remain as optimistic as you can about what is going on and while keeping track and learning as much as you can HOLD ON TO EVERY OUNCE of HOPE you've got that this is not what is going on with you. It's hard.. I know.. but you will only make yourself worse off by worrying too much. Please don't take offense as the words are only meant with kindness and compassion.

Regarding the nails. Yes, it is common that nails become ridged in the CRPS/RSD affected limbs but.. this can also happen due to dietary deficiencies and arthritis, inflammatory issues and even thyroid issues can cause dry, brittle, ridged and cracked nails.

Are you on the cancellation wait-list at your Neuro's office? Making a call first thing in the morning daily can often get you in early. Especially on Monday's and Friday's when people tend to cancel appt's. Worth a shot if you haven't thought of it.

I do hope you get answers soon - in the mean time what are you doing daily to get through this?

Hang in there!

[rory47]

Thank you Nanc and Zookesterfor your responses. The first dr office I had a wait of 9 months and now my dr found another that has a 3 month wait, with not much hope of getting someones cancelled appt. There are many many on the wait list. In fact, the 3 months is the best case scenario I have been dealing with this for over 5 years, so 3 months is not bad.

I do jot down things when they occur. My notebook goes back 5 years and it is pretty thick. This is some thing I learned to do long ago. It will be 2 yrs in april that I went in for a acdf c5-6, 6-7 and woke with the exact pain in my left arm that I had in my right arm when i went into surgery. That was after 3 surgeries 5 yrs ago that failed to help my right arm. Now both arms are EXACTLY the same as each other in pain and lack of ROM. I honestly had come to the realization that i was going to live with these arms, as well as my bad back and neck, foe the rest of my life and that was ok. I have been on meds for this and have learned to just deal with it. But when the same pains that i had in my arms were suddenly in my legs now and now the burning I started putting 2 and 2 together and decided something is going on. I had noticed the temp differences in my hands and feet for years now, but when all of that together with this fatigue, thats so bad but yet I cant sleep at night, I know something is going on. For 5 years now I have been saying that as long as someone could tell me whats wrong, I could deal with it. I just want to know. I had never even heard of rsd until I visited with my old pt, who i worked with for 3 years during my 3 shoulder surgeries and I asked her ifs he had any ideas at all, and this was one of them. I just want to know what is going on. I go about my daily life as usual just like everyone, and love it when i get home and can take a pill and feel some relief!!

Like I said I am on different meds. Lyrica, er morphine, oxycodone. the pain meds I have been on for the last 13 years for my neck problems. Since x mas I have had to take an extra pill every now and then. This is the 3rd nerve pain med I have been on through the years and it seems to help a little. At this moment I have pains in both arms, both hips deep inside , both wrists, right side of my rear, my whole right leg front and back, the tops of both feet, a little twinge in my left leg but not bad at all, my right eye, my jaw, both shoulder blades. And i have patches of burning sensations on my legs and my arms. As soon as I finished this I noticed I am having the burning in the tops of my feet, which is new for me.

While I try not to focus on all of this, its kind of hard not to. I would love to go back to my arms not working very well. When my right arm went bad, i told myself things could be worse. Then my left started acting up, and still i knew that i was better off then some.

thank you for your reply