Hi all,

I hope you are well. This forum and many like it have helped me cope with this disease so many of you are familiar with. I was diagnosed with CRPS 18 months ago, but it's really been closer to two years since the arrival of its symptoms. I've traveled to many hospitals since and have had them not believe or want to believe the excruciating, burning, shocking pain that I'm in every hour of every day. My latest doctors have brought up something none of my previous have: the concept of a lumbar sympathetic block. In fact, my first one may or may not be in 24 hours. They say it might be too late since it's often used as a diagnostic tool within the first 6 months, still, I'm willing to try anything. So I want to ask you, how did yours go? What was it like 1 hour after? 5 hours after? 10 hours after? 3-5 days after? A week after? Is the needle painful? I'm a teenager and extremely scared of these things. Did any of your pain go away even for a temporary amount of time? I'm scared of feeling relief for a couple of days and seeing it go away until the next procedure... maybe I'm thinking too far ahead. Mines will take place in a operating room, without anesthesia or IV: is this normal? If I didn't mention it already, my affected area is in my left upper leg muscle. When this thing is inserted to my back/spine, will I only feel it in my left side and not my right, or both? Does the limb warm up right away? How do I know or the person who's doing the sticking know if it worked or not, except for obviously me reporting success. I'll keep trying to walk, doing pool therapy, taking medication and need your prayers. Suggestions and comments are much appreciated.

Always,