Hi all!! This forum has been such a wealth of information and support for me already along my relatively brief road with RSD. I respect your wisdom and experience in so many ways and thought it would be interesting to hear from everyone as to what you each find to be invaluable in your day to day life as you deal with your RSD.

I know many of you have mentioned Epsom salts, heating pads, down pillows in car rides, etc.....but are there specific brands or types of things or fabric contents that you find most soothing or beneficial to you??? I would like to start acquiring an RSD "survival pack" of items (preferably finding things on sale a little bit along) that might help and come in useful when the need arises (or better yet......BEFORE the need arises!).

I thought it could be useful to read each others experiences and what works for them, and perhaps we could ALL pick up a few tips we hadn't thought of before.

Thank you all in advance for responding!!

Thanks for that MominpainRSD! I can tell by your posts that you are truly one who genuinly cares about people. I know I felt welcome the moment you responded to my first post!

I was a member of another forum before I found this one where people were not so nice. The information I have gained from all of you on this site, has been invaluable for helping understand issues that frankly, I didn't think of before!

I'm reading a lot about epsom salts, I have been through the whole jeans ,shoes, socks dillemas, but I never heard of epsom salts. Does a hot bath with the salts help that much ? I HOPE IT DOES BECAUSE I'M ON MY WAY TO THE DRUG STORE!!

it has helped me alot and i have used them since before rsd for injurys from gymnastics and they helped then and they help now with alot of the cramps and muscles pain i have in my legs

carrie

This response to epsom salts has to do with magnesium.
Some magnesium is absorbed thru the skin.

When you have swelling you have a back up of blood in the small capillaries and this prevent NEW blood from getting thru with its nutrients.

Magnesium reduces swellling by improving circulation to tissues that are clogged up. Also magnesium works against calcium in the NMDA receptor, which can lower pain responses.

Many of us on PN use epsom salts all the time.
(including me)

I wear the Dr scholls socks too. But I found that if you look for the Diabetic socks of any brand they are really soft, and dont cut off the circulation. I love them!!!!

Great thread all, thanx for all the ideas!!

I only wear Crocs Mammoth...they are fully lined and are so warm. I wear them all year round... the lining comes out and can be machine washed and air dried.

http://www.crocs.com/products/women/mammoth/

I have 5 pairs now....

They also make these for men and children...


I know...they are not the best looking shoes but they sure are comfy.


Abbie

Do you need to soak for the full 20-30 minutes to get the benefits?? The water gets cold, which makes me add more warm, which makes me add more Epsom salts (to not dilute it)......and they recommend using 2 cups per gallon of water. Do you use that much each time???

I never use 2 cups!

I use about a Dixie cup amount in the tub.

I have also made compresses with a very concentrated solution on vacation. We don't have a tub or running water there.
So I got a dishpan and put about a Dixie cup of epsom salts in it and used
a thin cloth (I think it was a HandyWipe --you know those towels you buy to clean with --they don't have any chemicals in them. They have holes in them tho.) I folded it over for several layers.

I'd sit on the dock and refresh it every 10 minutes or so. For about an hour a day. I did this for my bad knee which was terrible at the time. The water was never really warm much and that didn't seem to matter...the temp ...since it was only compresses. The epsom salts worked really well that way too.

Be careful in the tub with Epsom salts... things seem to get very slippery with them!

What do you do when you can't stand heat on your CRPS site. I have to keep my foot out of the water when I shower, because the temp of the water causes me severe pain.