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Hey All!
I can't seem to give the link yet,
because, it's not yet up.
However, I have it scanned, and if you email me, I will send it right along.
Asap!
I know how these things are.

Hopefully, all of us here realize and understand, that in a way, we're sort of "test dumbies", not dumb, but when a doctor treats us, we'd better be dam well sure to report back EXACTLY what the effect was/is on our bodies! (Or, how else may they study the disease?)

The ONLY thing I can say about the nerve blocks is to quote the article.

"One approach that Dr. Oaklander says patients should avoid is the nerve blocks that [*****] underwent. Not only is the relief temporary, wearing off when the anesthetic wears off, but repeated nerve blocks can result in even more nerve damage."

I think it's imperative, to take this short paragraph in the context of the entire article.

I've had nerve blocks, but they were ONLY to evaluate if sympathectomies might be indicated!
They were not!

It is only MY understanding, (not quoting this article) that nerve blocks are temporary, and diagnostic measures. Not curative.

Please, read the article,
I am NOT a doctor. I am a Sufferer, for 26 years.
I've have everything but the lidocaine "Coma", and have been advised, that I'm too far gone for that.

I wish you all well, and advise that
You ALL count your Blessings!


Love to all,
Pete
ASB

PS
AGAIN
just email me for a pdf of the article.
I've taken the time to scan it.
I'll sent it to you.
I will NEVER send you any Spam, or use your email addy for any other use.

Pete
ASB

Pete...a teeny FYI, this is a public forum. Anyone can read and get your email addy. It can also be picked up by search engines...you could get tons of spam by posting you addy. You might want memebers to PM you.

Thanks Curious for that.

I do have membership in many communities.
This particular email addy is very private.
I thank you for your warning.

So, if anybody wants a copy,
tell me,
then I'll take it down.


Thanks again curious.

And, I don't make ANYBODY's email available.
You can PM me!
I guess that's the way I should have went....

pete
asb

Hi

I got the article from Pete last night (thanks again Pete!)

(My interpretation only) ..

I think that the audience that the author was directing her recommendations towards was more the adolescent and teenaged years rather than adults. I have read about the intensive occupational therapy program before that she discusses, where kids with full body RSD have successfully been rehabilitated after a few months of treatment. Her article didn't address this approach with adults, just older children.

I know that the blocks that I have had have helped me, I just wish that I could have had started them sooner than I did - my RSD spread because mine were started too late. Now I am starting to have serious trouble with my feet.

Sandy

Sorry it's spread on you Sandy! :hug:

Nerve blocks should never be used as a diagnostic tool. They only work if the pain is still SMP, Sympathetically Maintained. If the pain is SIP, Sympatheticallly Independent, they won't give any relief at all. This is why as a diagnostic tool it is of no use. There are some docs out there, unfortunately, who still use it this way. They see a patient get no relief and say "Oh, well you don't have rsd then!". NOT true! All it means is that patient's pain is SIP. I've read many papers that say blocks shouldn't be used diagnostically.

This was the case with me. WC decided to make me get a block over a year later. I got no relief at all. As a matter of fact, I was in a horrific flare for over 2 months because of it. I have rsd and I can only be very thankful that my doc at the time knew better just because the block didn't do anything for me.

Right now blocks are the first thing to be done simply because it interrupts the pain signals of the nervous system. It doesn't work for everyone but at least there is a little chance it may lead to remission for some if done in the first few months. I know someone who did go into remission because she got blocks.

I think you mean the ketamine coma pete. There are lidocaine infusions but it's not the same thing. I didn't want anyone to get confused. :-)

Hugs,

Karen

Thanks Karen!

What little I know about the nerve blocks, was that Dr Schwartzman used them on me, and when I say "diagnostically", I mean, that he gave me a nerve block, which took, it was given in my neck, and half of my face, and one arm went numb, but it did nothing for the pain.
So, he knew a sympathectomy would be useless. (That's what I meant by diagnostically, to show if a sympathectomy is warranted or not). He KNEW I had RSD.
Please, Know that I'm NOT a doctor! I've just been spending half my life with them. Hah!

Later, as the RSD spread from my left arm, then mirrored to my right, then it spread to my feet and legs, which I suppose is now full body.
Then, he had me get the nerve blocks in my low back. I don't think they were the same type of "blocks" though. I don't recall the same "Numbing effect" that the nerve blocks had on my face and arm. I just don't recall a numb leg. I think that second block, was more "treatment" oriented, rather than a "temporary, chemical induced sympathectomy".


Anyway, I wanted to say that I've sent out many copies of the article.

If you requested, but did Not receive it, kindly PM me again with your email address?

Or, if you'd still like to get a copy, PM me and do the same.
I'd be happy to send it out.

Pete
ASB

Karen -

Not sure that I completely agree. While I too had one arrogant doc in LA tell me strait out that I didn't have RSD when I failed to respond to "one of my [his expert] blocks" a year into the thing, I had a profound response to my first set of blocks, a few months after getting CRPS in the summer of 2001.

It is, I believe, common understanding that in the acute stage, when the pain is sympathetically maintained, that the blocks do the most good, and should be used. I know that in my case, the fact that I responded well to blocks 3 months after becoming ill was significant information for my future treatment. So should blocks be used diagnostically at 3 months? For me that information was incredibly useful. I think the point should be that if they are to be done for a diagnostic purpose, they have validity only within a narrow window of time, one that's sadly lapsed before many people are referred to someone who can make the diagnosis in the first place.

Mike

LOL Yeah, we just loooove spending our life with docs don't we? It's what we all aspired to I'm sure. *hear the sarcasm dripping from the words?* LOLOL

So your pain was SIP when you got the block too. I hadn't pm'd you yet for it but I'm going to. I seem to have a compulsion to collect medical articles and other stuff. LOLOL They are always interesting to read. At least I think so. :-)

Hugs,

Karen

Well,
C'mon
Ms Karen!

Just PM me!
I'd love to send it out.

And, this goes for anyone else.
There is NO NEED TO BE SHY!
(I Really have no need for your email addy, other than to send you this).
I'm not a spammer!
(Just ask any of my 2,500,000 plus email buddies!) joke!

Pete
ASB

That's what I mean though. A doc who says you don't have rsd just because you didn't get pain relief from the block. You did at first and then didn't because the pain had gone from SMP to SIP. This is what docs, especially those like the one you had in LA, need to learn. It doesn't mean we don't have rsd, it just means the pain is now independent.

I agree it is, sadly, a very limited window for some. Being we are all different and our bodies function different, some have the pain stay smp longer than others. I've forgotten if I read how fast yours spread or not? I know mine must have gone sip rather quickly. I know others spread faster than I did, but for me 11 months full body. Even if it takes years to spread it can still seem like the blink of an eye. It's our individuality that prevents finding an effective treatment because we don't react the same.

Hugs,

Karen