Hi again Brandon,

Geez. Poor foot. It has been through a lot.

I am always concerned post procedure about the possibility of nerve injury, especially with hardware in and out. I am skewed by personal experience in which a minor ortho procedure injured my calcaneal branch. My foot felt like it was made of broken glass and was worse after surgery than before. Many months later I finally saw a plastic surgeon who specialized in peripheral nerve repair. He suspected a neuroma and was right. I had a positive "scratch collapse" test as well as 40% reduction of signal on a nerve conduction study. We decided to go in - I ended up with a 3.5 hour nerve repair and neurolysis and major releif. My CRPS came after a later, different procedure. I ALWAYS believe it worth checking for nerve injury after surgeries. Sometimes they can do something about it.

On general info I like Dr. Pradeep Chopra' video "CRPS Diagnosis and Management". He is highly regarded, gives lots of info on treatment, therapies, etc. It's 2 hours long so just take it in chunks. http://youtu.be/s3LKhOZ8mAM

Also a thought for new diagnoses when the case is not super florid is the following article. "Peripheral Nerve Blocks Relieve Symptoms Mimicking CRPS"
http://www.pain.pitt.edu/paincontent/news/PMNews.pdf

This may or may not apply to you but I am for anything that potentially gets someone out of this mess. I myself have had quite a bit of relief with local steroid shots specifically aimed at reducing my scar tissue.

On sympathetic blocks, first I have not had one personally but I am not sure how it would tell you what kind of CRPS you have. Did the doc mean figuring out 1 or 2? I don't see how it could show peripheral nerve injury but maybe that's not what he meant. BTW, a "positive" response in limb warming does NOT necessarily diagnose CRPS. Anyone's limb warms with a sympathetic block. The important thing is if it brings pain relief. If it does and allows you to start rehab then great!

I am with Lit Love on the pool. I spent many months walking in the pool after my procedures and credit the water for a lot of my recovery. Non-painful weightbearing is important. I also spent time on an exercise bike and on an elliptical since that doesn't stress the heel to toe motion but does allow weightbearing. It is okay if your recovery is slow and starts out low-end. The important thing is gentle gradual increase. A lot of us get over-aggro about getting better and that can just make things worse with CRPS.

I too would have no pain if I would just sit on the couch all day and not use my foot. Like that's gonna happen. Do as much as you can but minimize flare. Go for a bike ride instead of taking a walk if that keeps you active. Maintain muscle strength in alternative ways. Remember that the foot is exceptionally complicated. You have had major mechanical changes and those take a long time to adjust to. I don't know if orthotics might be helpful for you. If some of your pain is scar related on the socks, sheets etc. discomfort you might try a topical.

I hope some of this helps. Come see us and let us know how you are doing. I hope you find relief soon.
Sending Healing Love,
Littlepaw

Welcome Brandon...

Little Paw
Where will find the forum or responses on Nerve Injury and Nerve Compression. My latest doctor is leaning toward this as a diagnosis rather than CRPS based on my symptoms. I will be going for EMG later this month but was looking for more resources.

Hi Blue,

Just scroll down the threads, right now it's 3 pages in. Last entry 4/23 by Enna. title is Nerve Injury Resources. That website for Washinton University has a link for doctors to technical info and surgical training.

Good luck! Littlepaw

Had my sympathetic nerve block done this am. I can say the pain hasn't gotten any better today if anything my foot hurts worse, and I am having strange spasms and pain in the outaide of my upper thigh.
Anyone else? Any ideas, will it be better tomorrow... At this point not sure if I should have had it..

Sorry, but if you haven't experienced pain relief yet, I've never had it increase later.

You might consider scheduling a massage asap, especially if you feel you might be in worse shape than before.

http://www.rsdrx.com/massage_therapy.htm (Not everyone is a fan of Hooshmand and some of his info is definitely outdated, but in my experience massage is beneficial after blocks.)

Taking a long soak in a warm bath with Epsom Salts might help.

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

Welcome Brandon,
Don't get too excited yet. I have had my leg swell up from steroids before and just because it felt like it, lol. Muscle spasms are typical for me too after procedures. Just give it a couple weeks and don't use ice, use a refrigerator pack and only cool it if you have swelling and elevate. Use a support sock if you can stand it, that also helps swelling.

I experienced pain in my upper thigh, hip area after all of my sympathetic nerve blocks for my ankle, i am guessing it is normal?

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...