So sorry to hear you are feeling worse instead of better. :( I recommend calling your doctor's office tomorrow. At least talk to the assistant or nursing and ask about your reaction. The sympathetic nerve ganglion are right on top of the motor/sensory nerve they feed into. On the spasms and pain my guess would be the area either got "buzzed" so to speak by the injection or there is some swelling in there in reaction to the injection or possibly because of displacement from the injection depending on how much volume was used.

If you end up with no relief it seems fair to ask if the doc thinks this means you don't have sympathetic pain or did they not quite hit the spot? Did your limb warm? That might give a clue if placement was good....

Hope you feel better soon,
Littlepaw

On a side note my left knee has severe arthritis, having an mri for it Thursday. On the off chance they want to do a TKR what are the chances of it being affected by the crps?
My knee is close to giving out so probably don't have a choice.. Just wondering. Apparently my knee is about 20 years older than I am...

Hi Brandon,

Feeling any better?
On surgery, Put it off as long as you can and get your current CRPS symptoms and foot issues more under control. Don't want to throw your nervous system totally over the edge. That said there are things that you can do to minimize risk of spread, Vit C 500mg daily, ketamine during anesthesia, a regional or epidural block, and 900 mg neurontin pre-op has just come out as a new recommendation to reduce the incidence of chronic pain after surgery. And this one is really important, a surgeon who is willing to take a little extra time watching out for major nerves and to make a point of protecting small cutaneous nerves during your procedure. They can work around the small ones and mark them sometimes so they don't forget they are there, cutting through those is a bad idea. When the time comes, post again or check old posts, there was one just recently.

Littlepaw

CRPS/RSD

I'm new to the group hoping to connect with others who live with CRPS/RSD.

I broke both ankles 5 years ago. The left was severely damaged but fortunately my right has healed nicely. After 5 surgeries, hardware removal, total ankle replacement,subtalar fusion and 2 screws due to reoccurring hairline fractures I developed RSD/CRPS. I take Oxycodon for the pain. I'm concerned about the impact of long use of narcotics. I get regular massages to deal with scar tissues. I also use a hot tub, and try to stay active although at times walking is painful. I also use a cane but not regularly... I've had a hard time accepting I need it.
Lately I'm having trouble focusing. Does anyone else have eye problems related to the RSD? If so any ideas. I'm considering seeing an ophthalmologist.
At times I feel hopeless and helpless but keep looking for ways to live with this. My doctor suggested instead of using fight I use acceptance when I express how I describe I my search for treatments to ease my symptoms. All if this is difficult physically and psychologically!
Thank you for "listening".


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Welcome VW,

Sorry for your reason for joining but you will find plenty of understanding here. Living with CRPS is a fine balance of fight AND acceptance. On the one hand is keeping up activity, strength, movement, and the never ending search for what things make life better and on the other is accepting our limitations so that we don't overtax our injuries and nervous systems. I push as much as I can while minimizing flare. I also try to take a long view of things. If using devices sometimes for mobility or curtailing/altering activity makes you better in the long term then that's what you do. Sometimes you have to judge this day by day and let go of preconceived notions about what you "should" be able to do at any given time. Sometimes it's just not up to us.

Forgive yourself for being the way you are, forgive others who may have inadvertently hurt you and come here when you need to vent. We all understand loss, anger and sadness. If it gets really difficult moving on consider a therapist who works with chronic pain and illness. That has been a big help for quite a few of us.

Maybe start a new thread to say hi and ask about the eye thing. You can search for this too. Seems like someone else was asking about that recently...

Sending Healing Love,
Littlepaw :hug:

I am also new to the forum and newly diagnosed with CRPS following a broken foot last summer. I am scheduled for my first nerve block this Thu. I cancelled 2 appts in Feb because the idea of it freaked me out. I take Gabapentin 100mg twice daily and 600mg at bedtime - any more and I can't function.
Might the nerve block also decrease the cold sensation or just the pain?

Welcome Jules,

Sorry you had to come find us but there is a great group for support here. I have not personally had a block so take that into account. However a sympathetic block by nature warms the limb in anybody. So it should theoretically, if they hit it right, warm things for the duration of the block. One PM told me he had one patient whose limb was primarily cold and after the second block that issue resolved. Obviously results will vary. I chose not to get one because I was progressing on my own and overproduce scar tissue pretty much everywhere for any reason.

good luck, I hope you find relief soon.
Sending Healing Love,
Littlepaw :hug:

So it's been a week tomorrow, not sure if I'm too far progressed or not, but the shot really only helped with the sensitivity everything else is the same. Swelling, pain, alternating from cold to warm foot, and the sweating from my foot.

So not sure what I gained from it. Another question can crps/RSD affect your breathing? Just had an onset a few minutes ago where it seemed hard to breath....ugh I'm falling apart

Just in case you haven't ran across it yet....don't ice it.

Of course after surgeries, icing it is always recommended. BUT DON"T DO IT. From what I've read, it can make things much worse with CRPS. After my son's surgery, they kept telling him to ice it when he couldn't get the pain under control (this was before diagnosis). He wouldn't do it for three months b/c he couldn't tolerate the cold or the weight of the ice pack. Finally, three months post surgery, he started icing it - and it felt better temporarily - but his pain overall became so much worse.

I kind of feel that way when I put my pain patch on it... Cold and hurts for a few minutes but then feels better... Only way to help keep sensitivity down.. But i haven't tried ice ever.