Just doing research and wanted to know if you injured yourself how quickly did symptoms show that pointed to RSD? Was it days, hours, weeks, months?
Who diagnoses this condition, wouldnt it be a neurologist, as it is an illness of the CNS?
If you only have one symptom, how did you know it was rsd or were you lead down a path of many drs?

thanks. jess

I think you'd best visit a pain specialist, they are most knowledgeable about the condition. Knowledgeable neurologists, rheumatologists might help too. I wouldn't personally recommend going to orthopedists, they seem the least knowledgeable of all.

I had a dashboard injury, and consequently had constant swelling in both knees, redness and pain (burning, hot) that was out of proportion to the injury. I had to let it rest, because it could initially just as well be inflammation and a normal healing response, but I was told that if it persisted after 2 weeks, that I needed a specialist ASAP! This was good advice. So I went to an orthopedist after about two weeks, who then dismissed all the signs and symptoms of RSD and my complaints and told me that yes it's painful, yes it will last a long time, but that I needed to give it a year at least, a year of minimal pressure and mostly rest (no running, sports, just cycling, as cycling would be very good). He only caught the cartilage damage. As I got worse, I lost all faith in the first orthopedist. The next orthopedist put me in a cast, operated on me (while my legs had discolorations and my feet had turned blue by then), which made me get worse, and the third orthopedist described symptom after symptom as both my legs by that time slowly waisted away. It wasn't until I went to see a neurologist that RSD came up (that was amost 3 years into it), but yes the signs were there from the very beginning, and the pain and problems only got worse over time. I was later diagnosed by a neurologist, rheumatologist and 2 pain specialists from separate hospitals.

RSD can look like an inflammatory response in the very beginning, that doesn't mean you have RSD, but if it persists after that there's more to it than just inflammation.

If that first orthopedist had caught it, I could have been treated within 2/3 weeks!!! I probably wouldn't be in this mess now. I often think about that. I was 23 at the time. My life could have been saved.

In my wife's case she moved from doctor to doctor until one doc told her it sounds like RSD and told her in very nice words to hit the bricks. That took a year after she broke her arm and it took another 3 years before we found a doctor that would really and truly aggressively threat her, not pretend. The crazy thing about it is we live in an area loaded with doctors, Washington DC. I still can't get over that.

I had surgery for carpal tunnel and a cyst in my right wrist in Dec '07 and bout 6 months later the pain had returned to the point i knew i needed to see a doc. So i went back to my surgeon and he suggested RSD and referred me to a pain management doc for a diagnosis. I heard that the best way to tell if u hav RSD is to do a nerve block, and if it works, u hav RSD. But im no doc, thats just what i was told.
God bless u all,
Sarah

In 1991 crushed my hand. I had pain, color changes & temperature changes since. But I worked & went on with life. But in 2006 I had carpal tunnel surgery & a ligament repair. Immediately following surgery I had pain up my arm into my shoulder. I thought it was surgery pain & would go away. It never did. It has just gotten worse. It took several doctors & 10 months for me to get a diagnosis of RSD & it was actually my primary doctor that made the diagnosis after seeing several specialists. After his diagnosis all the neurologists & PM docs I have seen since have all agreed CRPS type II because I have nerve damage from the 1991 injury. I hope you find the right doctors & get the correct diagnosis & the help you need.
Have a low pain day,
Denny

What's your situation like?

for my self i had a foot surgery i had a tumor in the joint of my big toe and a bunion which i didnt know my thought was i am 33 why do i have a bunion? but xrays showed it .
i had symptoms days after surgery air would hurt i couldnt walk on my foot for weeks it hurt so bad, at 6 weeks post op my foot was blue sweaty swollen, no one could touch it.. socks would feel like i was crushing my foot. my foot dr put alchol on my foot and then it went ice cold 20 degrees colder then the other foot and so did my leg. i had atrophy in my leg also. that is when my foot dr said i had rsd in my foot and leg

for me i was one of the lucky ones i was dx quick my foot doc said i was text book had all the symptoms discolor sweat swelling atrophy even black hair growing off my toes.. that was a big yucky for me , and pain alot of it.

hope that helps, take care michelle

I had a work related injury on 3/24/07. WC delayed treatment until 5/22/07. I continued to work 10 hr. days in awful pain. They sent me to an Ortho dr.He had no clue;he did meniscus surgery on inside right knee. Immediately, I had discoloration and a constant burn. He gave me 4 cortisone injections. I related the symptoms and was ignored. He sent me back to work.

Knee kept burning, and I requested a 2nd opinion.They sent me to another ortho doc. 2nd doc did 5 rooster comb injections(painful). I did have PT between and after 1 and 2nd ortho, and PT ignored my symptoms,too.

I marked it up to a healing by-product; burn means I am still healing. 2nd doc sent me back to work,even though I complained about burning/deep cutting/throbbing, pain. 2nd injury occurred at work to same knee, within a month of full release.This time, lateral tear to right knee meniscus(all the way across to median meniscus..previous injury).

Since the 1st surgery, I had not been able to bend,squat,crawl, do stairs,etc. After 2nd ortho,I still couldn't do the above stated physical activities..ignored, he put me at full release.

After 2nd injury,2nd orthopedic doc sent me for arthrogram MRIs..there was an incident where the Radiologist doc injected fat pad of knee, me screaming..and he had to stick me again. Radiologist doc couldn't get needle in joint because the rooster comb injections and scar tissue.That MRI showed the 2nd injury tear..so 2nd surgery. Then, more physical therapy..and I did not improve..I got worse.

Also, started having panic attacks while in PT..that was it for me! I started seeing psychologist for depression and anxiety; and the fact that I pretty much was written off by doctors as this being in my head..no one listening to me..etc.

After second surgery, I never returned to work;retained an atty., terminated from my job because I was no longer able to do my job,lost my ins., and TTD stopped. WC fight is on. I was promised a PM doc 06/08,from 2nd ortho as he placed me MMI with possibile diagnosis of RSD/CRPS I( mild) and it took WC until latter part of 08/08 before I saw one. The 2nd ortho would only prescribe Darvacet and Motrin. Those drugs were not working. The only drug that seemed to work,some, was Lortab, and it was 7.5 mg., and stopped so I would not become addicted!!!

The only doc that did listen to me was my family doc and she referred me to psychologist to deal with the changes in my active life,depression and anxiety. I had to go to family doc for meds for the burning pain, depression/anxiety..hbp, gerd,ect.

I saw 1st PM end of Aug.,'08. I thought I would be getting pain relief from him..no, it turned out to be an evaluation for WC. He dx me as RSD. WC did not like that dx. They sent me to 2nd PM doc 11/08, after my atty. threatened court if they didn't get off the pot and help me. This is my current PM doc. He agreed with 1st pm doc.WC was not pleased at all. Currently, trial date is set for 5/19/09.

I started drawing SSDI 1/2009. All in all, there were 14 or 15 doc/medical specialist, and/or PT that I went through before my dx..over 2 yrs now from initiating injury.

I agree orthos don't have a clue, or they do and are worried patient might sue. PT's same thing...when I got an atty. and RSD was in the picture, my PT asked me if I was thinking the PT caused the RSD..geez! I wanted relief from pain, to be listened too..HEARD. I wasn't thinking about suing anybody.

WC made me wait 2 months from initial injury 2007, to get help for the injury. I and atty. believe that lack of prompt action initiated the RSD/CRPS I.

Sorry so long... See a neurologist or PM doc.
Dew

I crushed my hand in '98. I'm not sure it's ever been even close to right since. The treating nurse made a couple comments that suggested she suspected some sort of problem. When I said that it was probably a good thing that it wasn't broken she said that soft tissue injuries could be much more serious than broken bones.

At first the thing just hurt. It wasn't really severe but it occupied my consciousness when it hurt and the pain always came with a deep pessimism and sense of foreboding. It was tearing my guts up since that's where I experience stress but I didn't know it was my hand causing it. It was causing a few other minor problems which I didn't associate with the pain either but I didn't know. As time went on I learned that the pain was closely correlated with how much I used the hand. I had a fairly strenuous job but just worked one handed so as to reduce the pain. Of course I kept complaining of the pain but no one would tell me what the problem was.

I guess I actually started getting a partial remission after about three years and was able to get off the medications and was regaining some function. I was limited to about fifteen minutes use of the hand per day but after working one handed so long, fifteen minutes was a lot of use. It was still hell since I still had flares but these flares tended to be very mild compared to more current times. Then I reinjured myself in '03 and things went sharply downhill from there. The second injury was mild but it was enough.

The docs still have never really settled on a Dx but I think there's little doubt in most minds. Just about every single thing else has been ruled out. I really have all the symptoms except for me the pain seems to be secondary to all the other problems. The pain just utterly disappears frequently and sometimes I get the sensation that my hand feels so good that I couldn't hurt it with a sledge hammer. This has proven to be as good a time to leave it completely alone as when I get pseudoparalysis: Any activity at these points will most probably lead to a flare. I don't get the obvious physical changes though the knuckles are apparently swollen slightly and I do get a little of the chamelion effect on rare occasion. Pain comes and goes and oftimes comes with anxiety now rather tham pessimism. Sometimes I'll go months or years experiencing the pain and then the anxiety and other times the anxiety comes first. I greatly prefer the former since there seems a tendency for me to blame myself for the RSD if the anxiety comes first. Of course there's no real basis for this but it's a sort of reflex.

I know a few people here experience this condition similarly to me and I suppose I find this reassuring somehow.

I hope everyone is having as good (or better) a day as I am. It's the first warm day of spring here and it's busting out all over.

I got a knee injury at work. The ER diagnosed a "badly bruised" knee but on my first bone scan 5 months later I was told there was a healing fracture of the kneecap. If I'd only known it was broken, I sure wouldn't have been walking on the leg a week a half after the injury!

My rsd started 2 weeks after. I was injured on February 5, 2003 at 7am and rsd hit February 22, 2003 when I woke up. For the first 5 days I had horrible pain and swelling, skin on leg and foot was freezing cold to the touch. On the 27th-6 days, the color changes started. When I put my leg down it would turn purple/pink/blue and swell twice the normal size within seconds. As long as I elevated the leg the color was still too white, but looked normal and swelling was still there just not as bad as when it was down. I couldn't even touch my big toe to the floor and exert the slightest pressure on it or I would almost pass out from the pain it caused.

I was diagnosed a month and a half into it by an Ortho I was referred to. Being a work comp case I was then passed around to many docs who bowed to wc while I worsened rapidly. In the end, I had 2 Ortho's, a physiatrist, physical therapist, pain management doctor and a Neuro diagnose me with rsd. I had rsd in all 4 limbs and hips by 11 months into it and was "stable" for a bit over 3 years. It's now been 6 years and I'm full body.

RSD is different for everyone and while you may not have many symptoms at first, it can progress quickly, or at the very least have more symptoms show up one after another over a few weeks. The diagnosis of rsd should be based on the medical history and after ruling out everything else it could possibly be. This is often why doctors will order MRI's, x-rays, bone scans and EMG's. The key is which doctor can diagnose, but finding a doctor who is knowledgeable about rsd. A doc who really knows rsd and isn't full of myths and half-truths, such as it doesn't spread or it'll go away after a year or two. *snorts* Yeah, sure it does! LOL The doc most often gone to when rsd is suspected is a pain management doc. This is because they are usually the ones who are most knowledgeable about rsd and nerve blocks are the first thing done and they are the only docs who do them.

Why is it you think you might have rsd based on only one symptom? Has a doctor said you might have it? Please tell us more of your story.

Hugs,

Karen