[toepain2013]

First, let me explain how it all began. In January of last year a man broke into my home while I was sleeping. I woke up, approached him and was immediately attacked by him. I'm a big guy, so I fought him (successfully) out of my house and onto the street in front of my home. My then live-in girlfriend called the police, who showed up shortly and arrested the individual. I was only in my pajamas, so I had no shoes on and suffered considerable damage to my poor feet! They were bashed and bruised, and I had a displaced fracture of a pinky toe. I also had a considerable amount of blood from that individual make it's way into my mouth (I'm not a violent person but I will say I at least delivered that jerk a serious beating!).

Within a month the weird nerve pain set in. My feet would ache and burn -- and it was worse at rest. I was in nearly constant pain, and my world quickly took a tumble down the rabbit hole. I lost my girlfriend, quit my job, stopped playing sports -- at 28 years old I felt totally crippled. Doctors couldn't tell me what was going on, so I theorized that I had somehow contracted some sort of horrible neurological disease and that I was on the fast-track for intractable, chronic pain. I felt like life had been yanked right out from under me.

Fast forward a year and I finally saw an amazing pain specialist in Seattle. He quickly diagnosed with me "sympathetically mediated pain." He said I'm borderline CRPS, but he actually thinks I haven't yet hit even stage I of the disorder. For this I am immensely grateful. He said he "hopes" we can beat the pain into remission by aggressively treating it -- the hard part is -- aggressively treating it involves quite the medical roller-coaster ride.

That leads me here, as I'm frankly feeling a little lost and unsure of my prognosis. I've got a few questions I'd like to ask each of you:

1. I'm 28, young and healthy despite my "sympathetically mediated pain". I've actually recently started exercising again and noticed a benefit, so I'm going to continue to do that. I used to love to run -- which I've tried doing again, but sometimes it actually seems to hurt more. Am I doing damage by running "through the pain" -- should I look for a more low-impact exercise routine?

2. My doctor says I'm early stage since I only have pain, some vasomotor instability, and increased sweating in my feet. Does this sound accurate to you guys?

3. My doctor's treatment plan is the following:

6 lower lumbar sympathetic blocks (3 in my right, 3 in my left). I had my second block yesterday and it totally knocked out the pain for a whole day. Today the pain is back and at a 3-4 (better than usual). That leaves me pretty optimistic.

He wants me to take Cymbalta and Lyrica. He says it should provide immediate relief and help get my nervous system back to the proper state. I'm a little worried about side effects? Anyone here taking these? What has your experience been?

Pain psychology to help treat the underlying anxiety and depression accompanying this mess, as well as teach me pain coping skill and resolve any degree of pain which may be created by my (poor) emotional state.

What do you guys think of this treatment plan?

4. What do you guys think my chances are of beating this thing into remission and getting my life back? Will I ever truly feel 100% again? Do you guys know anyone who has beaten this bad boy?

5. Anything else you would suggest to me to help get over this / cope with this?

I really appreciate any advice you can provide.