can you please tell us what you think CAUSED the spread? Mine has gone from left to right hand, but my left ARM is still okay. It appears to be "creeping" across my chest, towards the left side, but at a very slow rate.

Also, when it spread, did it do so slowly, at a "creep" or was it just suddenly ther when you woke up one day?

I think this will help the current posters who haven't experienced spread, as well as those with "twinges" of weird feeling sthey may THINK are signs of spread, as well as NEW posters.

Please???

Hugs
LisaM

I think this will help the current posters who haven't experienced spread, as well as those with "twinges" of weird feeling sthey may THINK are signs of spread, as well as NEW posters.

**Lisa, I normally dont make a fuss about much...But, I think your comment above is some what rude!!! Appreciate your effort in trying to educate us "New RSD'rs"..Its just what you wrote, and how you wrote it, that people may take it offensively!!!

Also, you need not to forget that every individuals bodies are completely different! Therefore, when Tom, ****, and Harry all have a RSD spread, more than likely each person expierences something completely different! The way it spreads, and the way it feels! Those little "twinges" could be a spread in a person, how do we know? We dont!

Sorry if Im comming off as a jerk here...It is completely normal for a person that is newly diagnosed with RSD to be full of questions, ect...I know I am, and I will continue to be, and I do not think there is anything wrong with that...I have been having problems lately, and I see my Dr on Mon...It could be a spread, something else, or nothing at all...I wont know anything for sure till I see my Dr, but I thought I would try to help educate myself on here...Get some advice and ask questions...Didnt think that in round about words we would get ridaculed for doing so..Just because "Im not sure of what it is"...Does not mean I "THINK" and that it could be in my head!!!

i've spread from surgery, breaking my foot, and then also the whole "mirroring thing" with the surgery and breaking of the foot it was more like i just kept hurting when i shouldn't be ya know? but the mirroring is more of a creeping... its definately no where near as bad in my right arm as my left, and some days i don't really notice it because of how my left arm is feeling... or what i'm doing or how the weather is... but then other days i can tell that its there.

Lisa- I did not think your post was rude at all! Anyway-My RSD started to spread after a hip replacement in 2003. I would start having occl pain in the opposite foot- then it strated to mirror, then over time my hands started to hurt- feel stingy- then one hand got bad and the other mirrors at times- same thing with my wrist...So for me, the hip replacement seemed to put the gas pedal down on the RSD- Where it will stop- I dont know?

I wish there was something we could do but I havent heard many success stories...
Debbie

Hi there,

No, I quite agree, I didn't see anything rude or offensive in Lisa's post.
Heidi, we all have our own styles of posting, and the use of capital letters can easily be misinterpreted or misunderstood, I didn't read Lisa's post in the way you did, at all. But we're all on "funny meds", and are all a bit hypersensitive to things, ya know?....

Actually I've posted before asking exactly that question - what did the spread actually *feel* like, the same as when it started, different, what? It's very helpful to know other people's experiences...and spread usually affects those who've had RSD for some time, not really newbies.

I've got something going on in my right hand/arm right now, and not just me, but the doc's too, are trying to figure out what it is, because it's similar to the RSD but not the same. Personally I think it's repetitive strain thingy, my spiney thinks it's my spinal stenosis, my ortho thinks it's RSD.
(Maybe it's a combo of all 3 )

Anyway, yeah, it's very helpful to hear other people's experiences - remembering that we're all different - the more the merrier, please.

(Heidi, I've got a trick for delaying replying to posts if I'm not absolutely certain that I've understood right. I tell myself not to, until the next time I log in....by then I'm usually in a different frame of mind. Also, it's a good idea to read the poster's previous posts to see if they're in the habit of being "rude"...I'll save you the trouble, right now we have no one on this board who does that. Another way of dealing with it, is to gently PM - private message - the poster you think is being rude and ask tactfully if you understood their meaning right. Sometimes that helps a whole lot of grief...)

Anyway, guys, as Mark always says Chin up!! We've got a lovely forum going on here, let's enjoy it
all the best

Sorry again, Lisa, if I picked a fight here. That was not my intention. I mis-read the intent of your post as "calling out" new posters like myself who aren't sure how their own RSD spread to other parts of the body (or whether it is at all). I see now that you are legitimately asking people whose RSD has spread to other parts of their body how THEY noticed it.

Truth be told, I'm not 100% certain if my RSD is spreading. I get pains in my arm and my back, but they come and go. I guess that's a question for my doctor when I see him on Monday.

Again, sorry for the confusion here. Communicating on a message board is much different than communicating on the phone or in real life when you can hear the other person's voice.

Carry on, then.

Lisa -

Please check out the following article:

Author: Maleki A, LeBel AA, Bennett GJ, Schwartzman RJ.
Title: Patterns of spread in complex regional pain syndrome, type I (reflex sympathetic dystrophy)
Source: Pain 88. 2000.

Youn can link to it directly under the RSDSA Medical Articles Archive under the heading of "Treatment," at http://www.rsds.org/2/library/articl...ive/index.html

Mike

Mine spread through my whole body like hot budda very fast. Everyone here is right. We all have are own way of describing it, interpreting it and so forth. No one is right or wrong. I think the forums should be treated like AA meetings. At least I treat them that way. Take from it what you need and leave the rest behind.

For example: If a few of the ladies have gotten into a ladies topic I might not be so inclined to add my two cents worth. Unless of course it concerns the next road trip

So I have just thrown in my opinion. Everyone should feel a part of the forum always but if you don't agree with something you can either mention it to the moderator and let them handle it if it is that "bad" or skip it. I do. Believe me, my hands these days are like a pen trying to run upside down. There only going to last for so long.

But I love you all anyway!!!! Chin UP!!!!

Mark

Hi Lisa,

My initial (venipuncture) injury caused symptoms in my right forearm for ~9 months. Then one day, I noticed that I had the same symptoms in the upper part of my arm, in the tricep area, bicep area, and shoulder. About two months later, symptoms were all of a sudden evident in the right half of my neck, face and head, although symptoms in these areas are usually more uncomfortable than painful.

For me, both incidences of spreading occurred all at once in the new area, within a day. I always have symptoms in my forearm, and usually in my upper arm and shoulder, but don't always have the (less severe) symptoms in my neck, face, and head.

Good luck,
Ann

Heidi, I'm glad I read thru the entire thread before posting back to you because I was ready to defend myself. Certainly I did NOT mean to offend you or anyone else. Quite honestly, I think my RSD may be spreading, but more in a "creeping" sort of way, and I wanted to know if I was overreacting. That's all. I tended to do that in the past whenever I felt a "twinge" and I wanted to make sure I wasn't doing that now that I felt a "creep."

Yes, sometimes an emotion is difficult to convey on a messageboard, and I am thankful to those of you who know me well enough to explain the message I was trying to get across...as well as to those of you who shared your story and information.

Heidi, I would NEVER offend purposely. Truly I wouldn't. There is nothing about this disease that is to be taken lightly, there are no stupid questions, and there is no way I would ever in this lifetime purposely hurt a new poster. If you were even offended for the SLIGHTEST moment, I apologize.

Hugs
LisaM