I hate writing this. This morning Matthew woke up with stabbing pain in his right wrist. His CRPS is in his left ankle. I don't know a lot about spreading, but I think I've read that it can "jump". I'm desperately hoping it's just a fluke, that he slept on it wrong, that it's not what I'm afraid it is. Someone please tell me that it can't jump that far, or at least that there is a way to prevent spread.

He started Lyrica two weeks ago and it has taken the edge off the pain. Hopefully as he's on it longer, it will become more effective. He's on 50 mg 2x a day, they started him on a nice safe low dose to help reduce risk of side effects.

Swimtime,

I so hope it is something else going on. I do not recall what article I was reading but it had collated data of spread patterns. Diagonal spread was the least likely presentation and rare compared to other patterns. Same side spread was the most prevalent followed by mirror image.

Sending Healing Love,

Swim time,

I am so sorry to hear that! I really hope it is a fluke as well. My RSD has started to spread to my left arm now so I know it can be very scary. Make sure he keeps it in as much motion as he can, as in don't keep it straight or bent to help because that can sometimes be worse. To take some of the pain away, try to see if heat or cold helps, it used to help me a lot in the beginning. I hope it hasn't spread and I will be sending healing thoughts his way

Swimtime,

Here is the article. Diagonal spread only represents 14% of spread cases and is almost always (91%) preceded by a new trauma instead of being spontaneous. Definitely something to watch and ask his doctor about but odds are favorable against that pattern...

http://ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3162139/

Thanks for the info and reassurance! We're good, it didn't come back after that one morning. Phew.

How is he doing?
Sending healing love and hugs...

I would recommend keeping in an emergency box of Lidocaine patches so that when he gets bumps and bruises, he can put one on as a preventative measure against spread.

Overall he's doing fairly well, the wrist pain hasn't returned so I think he slept on it wrong. I feel almost silly for being so paranoid, but...Oh I think everyone here gets it.

He finally went outside yesterday (it's killing him that he can't run around and play outside like normal - 13 year old boy with spring fever!!!). He had a "water fight" with his 3 brothers, they let him stand and squirt them with the hose while they ran around with water guns. It was a huge thing for him to do. ))) Unfortunately, he's paying for it today, so we bumped up the Lyrica tonight. Pain dr. was going to do it anyway after a few weeks of adjusting to the Lyrica, and I don't feel like waiting till Monday to get the "official" okay. :P He's been on it for 3 weeks, so he's had time to adjust to the initial starting dose.

He tried the Lidocaine patches for a while and they didn't seem to help, he found the heating pad to be more effective. Would they still help prevent spread for someone who didn't get any pain relief from them?