[mjl1261]

This is my first post. I am here because my husband has been diagnosed with CRPS 2. He ran his hand over his table saw and chewed up his radial and ulnar nerves. No bone damage, just nerves, arteries and muscle. All has been surgically repaired, part of which required a nerve graft from his leg.

Post surgery he was confined to a splint and not allowed to remove it for two weeks. Then he was sent to PT and allowed passive exercises only which he did religiously every hour, as instructed. About two weeks into the therapy he started complaining about swollen and stiff fingers that made his exercises very difficult. I told him to show the surgeon at his next appointment and my stoic, ex-marine husband said, "He knows they're swollen."

When the splint came off two weeks later, the surgeon said, "Hmmm. Your fingers are really stiff. Looks like you have CRPS. Go see our pain management doctor." Husband comes home extremely upset. All he wants is for his hand to be usable.

Long story even longer, he had a ganglion stellate block which did nothing. Five minutes in the recovery chair and he was already complaining that the pain was still there, not even minimized. This past Monday they did a brachial plexus block. Five minutes in the recovery chair and he swore he could still feel burning right at the end of one of his scars. I told him that couldn't be true since his arm was numb from his neck to his fingertips. About an hour later he insisted that there was pain although minimal. I decided a 50-year-old man ought to know when he was feeling pain. In spite of that, we had 18 hours of relative bliss, toasty warm fingers, an awesome PT session where they twisted his fingers and wrist into pretzels, and then the block wore off and we're back to the way he was before the block. His range of motion is still better than before the block, which is encouraging, but most of it went away when the block wore off. Our follow-up with the PM Dr. is this coming Monday and I'm anxious to hear what he has to say. We assume the block was a spectacular failure since the pain resumed right away and we also want to hear his thoughts on my husband still feeling the burning. Strange. I plan to ask about the possibility of compressed nerves and neuromas as well as his position on alternative treatments.

In the meantime, my sweet husband has not responded to Lortab, Percoset or gabapentin. We are struggling to remain positive but he's just sure his options are dwindling to near-zero. I keep reminding him that we are only ten weeks (since the initial accident) into this and are still extremely early stages. But he wants his results now. I think he would be much more reasonable had any of his treatments worked even a little but but so far we're batting .000.

I have no words to express how relieved I am to find this thread. Nearly everything I find on the web is negative, negative, gloom and doom. I love hearing stories of people who have beat this, especially with non traditional treatments. We haven't tried a single one of them yet so still have many options ahead. As head cheerleader of my little team, I need all the ammo I can get!

I just cannot wrap my mind around the idea of him having this pain for his whole life. I feel in my bones that his solution is out there, we just have to find it. Do I trust this feeling or am I simply in denial and everyone goes through this...?

Speaking of alternative treatments, I've found a site for a pain center in Corpus Christi, TX where they use a painless, non-invasive treatment that stimulates accupressure/accupuncture points. A Dr. Rhodes runs it. They supposedly get great results but they don't post testimonials from people who were disappointed. Has anyone out there heard of this place? Are they good or a bunch of quacks? We live in Oklahoma so the drive down would not be difficult for us. Any ideas how much they charge for these treatments? We have some money saved up and are currently debt-free but are plain, working folks like everyone else. Still, I would mortgage everything I own in order to pay, if it works.

Anyway, I just want to say again thanks for the positive posts. They have done more for my husband than any of the drugs or the nerve blocks! I understand that people out there who have dealt with this for a long time may think I'm being a whiner and if so, I apologize. I don't mean to. I don't feel whiney. It's just that this is brand new to us and right now we're pretty much just terrified.