[screwballpookie]

Hey everyone just I would drop you all a line to let you know I am still alive and kicking. The rsd is not getting any better. A couple of weeks ago I had seen Carol a medtronics rep and she reprogrammed my scs and I thought the way she had done it was fine because when I left the office I was feeling ok. She spread the stimulation out to get my entire shoulder and more of my arm as well as turn the amplitude up from 1.10 to 1.60. That night I went into muscle spasms like never before. I had no control over my left arm. It was like my whole arm was completely stiff and my hand would ball up and try to point down to the bottom of my arm. It was very painful and I had to hurry and try to get the thing shut off. I thought well i will wait a bit and try it againn and the same thing happened. I thought when I go to bed it might be better then so I tried it at bedtime and no sooner than I laid down i went to even more severe spasms so I hurried up and tried to get it shut off as soon as possible. I slept without it on and did not get much sleep due to pain. The next morning I turned it on and I immediately went into spasms and I tried to turn the amplitude down and it did no good. I called Carol right away and told her she said she could not do anymore for me to call Dr. Panozzo my pain doc and see what he could do. So I did and I talked to Kathy she talked to the doc and they said all they could do was try me on Slelaxin at 800mgs 3 times a day. I have yet to turn my scs on because I am scared of what might happen again. Has the Skelaxin helped me any? No not really as far as the pain goes but as far as the spasms I am not sure cuz I have not tried the scs yet because of fear. If that don't work I don't know what i am going to do but deal with the pain no matter how bad it gets. Even though I have not been diagnosed anyway I think I haven't I think the rsd has taken over my entire left arm and hand because I have so much pain all the way from my hand to my shoulder and it is front and back of my whole hand,arm and shoulder and a little bit in the neck. For now I just learn to live with it cuz I don't think I have much of a choice. If any of you have any suggestions please feel free to let me know what you would do in my situation. Thanks for listening to me rattle on about nothing but I at least wanted to let you all know that I am alive. Hugs to all of you and you all take care.


Sincerely,
Screwballpookie

[Summertime]

How are you doing?

[screwballpookie]

I have yet been able to run my scs since I was reprogrammed. I thought if I let the Skelaxin get into my system for a while I would try the scs again. I did that and it went directly into muscle spasms again and it was so far out of control that my hand kept bending down and trying to go towards my armpit. I could not get control of it again so once again i had to use my right hand (the non dominant hand) and find the unit inside my abdomin and try and get it shut off as quick as possible. That once again was not very easy. Ever since I have not used my scs and have been in a lot of pain. It seems like the rsd has moved from my left fingers clear up my arm, into my left shoulder front and back part of my left neck and now over to my right shoulder front to top. I feel like I am going crazy in the head am I? One good thing that happened is that I got to see my new psych doc Aug. 28 and she switched my meds. Instead of taking Clonazapam I am now taking 2mgs of Xanax XR in the morning and Ambien CR at night along with all my other meds. The Xanax XR has seemed to settle my anxiety down better. I don't get mad as easy and blow up like I use to. That is a great feeling for me because I use to blow up and be very moody while on the Clonazapam. The Ambien seems to be helping me sleep a little better which is also good. That doesn't mean that I still don't hurt. I hurt really bad almost everyday. Why have I not called my pain doc? Because last time I did they gave me the Slelaxin and said that would be all they could do for me so I am afraid I will get the same response if I call them. What would you do if you were in my shoes? It is very hard to function with this much pain. My sister did give me one good idea. anyways I thought it was, since my daughter and husband don't care to read anything about rsd I am going to make a scrapbook about rsd. Do you think that is a good idea or not? Please respond and let me know if you have any suggestions on what I should do with all this. Thank you to all.

Sincerely,
Screwballpookie