I have been suffering from chronic pain for over a year now. Had a neurosurgeon who didn't believe me & a pt who told me that if I would just work on my posture my pain would go away. Well...I hate to break the news to him, but the poor posture is because it hurts to hold up my head.

Anyways, I seen a new neurologist & he says I have chronic pain syndrome. I was told that this is not the same as CRPS, but all my symptoms are CRPS. I know this isn't just in my head. I hurt so badly.

I have had xrays on my neck & shoulder. Mri neck (2), brain w/ contrast, and my shoulder. All were normal except that the found small osteophytes on the left side of my neck & a slight narrowing at the right of the C3-C4. But they insist it is not bad enough to be causing my symptoms.

These are my symptoms: I can't sit or stand for long it causes numbness & tingling in my legs & feet. Using my arms HURTS, burning pain. Neck pain, sometimes burning sometimes sharp. Constant muscle spasms across the top of my shoulders more so on the right side. I have a lump on the back of my head that tends to swell occasionally causing headaches, it tends to get aggravated when I am hurting or stressed. My feet have a horrible itchy rash on the bottom of them that doesn't go away no matter what I try on it & they are really red on the bottom. My toes tend to turn purple & the tops of my feet are red & mottled looking. I am always in pain. I am on 10/325 of percocet...but that only puts a dent in the pain. I had to get put on Celexa because I was becoming very irritable, depressed and was having suicidal thoughts because doc's & pt therapists didn't want to believe me & I didn't want to live in pain for the rest of my life. The Celexa has greatly improved my mood.

Could this be CRPS & not CPS? I know none of you can diagnose me, just some helpful opinions would be greatly appreciated! Thank you for reading this & for your time.

Tamie

Hi,
Your upper body symptoms sound a bit like thoracic outlet syndrome {TOS}.
Here's a link to our TOS forum stickys so you can read about it.
http://neurotalk.psychcentral.com/thread84.html

For the RSD/CRPS , is your skin extremely sensitive & do you extreme burning or cold sensations?

I should have added that sometimes the pain/symptoms of TOS can spread to lower body also.
Some drs don't agree on this theory but quite a few long timers are living it.
I believe it is the fascia/myofascial connection that plays a part in the spread.

Is you skin extremely sensitive to touch? cold or hot temperatures?




RSD and Chronic Pain Syndrome do have some similarities but also many differences.

Here is a site that describes CPS:
http://www.thephysicians.com/chronicpainsyndr.html

From the same site describes RSD/CRPS:
http://www.thephysicians.com/complexregionalp.html
(I am in no way associated with the above web site or the physicians... just providing link as it has information on both CPS and RSD/CRPS.)


For more informations on RSD/CRPS:
www.rsds.org

I hope this helps you find the information you are looking for and you find relief for your pain soon.


Abbie

I do have sensitivity to touch, mostly in my arms. Cold seems to aggravate my pain as well as does using ice. well, yeah that was a smart statement. I do have burning sensations in the arms, sometimes the neck as well. One more thing...if I accidentally hurt myself somehow, the pain seems to be much more intensified then it should be.

Thank you for your help. I will read up on the TOS & bring it up to my neuro when I see him on the 16th.
Tamie

Good grief, I have so many dratted symptoms, I forgot to also add, that I have hand tremors & I occasionally have really bad balance issues. My left leg sometimes goes heavy & numb.

Again, thanks!

Hmmm, have you had a brain MRI? - oh I see you did..
Are drs?? {might take more than one to sort it out} still in the ruling in or out stages.

Have they tried any pain relief PT for you ?
Massage, ultrasound, heat, electric stimulation???
did it help at all?

The brain mri was normal... the neuro told me I had CPS...but I don't think it's just in my head.
I was in PT, they did light therapy which didn't help & neck traction which helped for ohhh about a half hour afterwards. I do my excercises at home now, as I have to drive 1/2 hour over a mt pass to get there (I live in the middle of nowhere). My bed buddie heating pad is my bestest friend in the world. Moist heat works wonders for me, unfortunately, as soon as I take it off the pain comes right back. I have had massage therapy helped for a day, but when they started putting pressure on that lil' triangle area in the back of my head it hurt really bad. they didn't do electric stimulation. Oh yes, & my emg test done about a 8 months ago came back normal.
Thanks again, I truly appreciate all your help!
Tamie

Did anything set all this off, that you can think of?
what kind of work have you done?
repetitive? desk work?
Car accidents?? whiplash??

any family history of any conditions?

Have you had a second dr look at all the films and xrays {fresh eyes so to speak}

It is a big issue sometimes with drs - if they can't "see" a reason for pain or sx they tend to blow you off instead of just saying - "sorry this is beyond my experience"...

When you run into drs like that sometimes best to just go elsewhere instead of wasting time & money on the same old run around. Try another dr & PT place.

I don't know how you feel about chiropractic??? Or exploring that option??
But here's some info links -
Chiropractic care info- a good one can help with many symptoms:
http://www.upcspine.com/self.htm
http://www.uppercervical.org/subpag...b/about_faq.php
http://www.spineuniverse.com/index.html
http://www.coloradochiropractic.org/.../glossary.html