Thanks Buckwheat....

With your permission, I'd like to copy this link to our PN forum.

To Millerprof -

Hi. I can't find where I first saw it, but a few years back I came across an article that suggested that when folks were already under high stress - that is carrying a heavy load of C-reactive proteins, among other things - they were at greater risk of getting CRPS from injuries, analogously to how they would be more likely to develop recurrent colds and other minor infections. That said, the research on autoimmunity takes this one step farther, to one of a number of mechanisms whereby CRPS may actually be maintained in the body.

And anecdotally, a number of women of this and the old BT forum have reported that their CRPS went into remission during pregnancy, which is consistant with research showing that the body changes it's immune reponse during pegnancy so as to avoid attacking the fetus as a hostile "other." As an example of the general concept, take a look at:

"Autoimmune disease during pregnancy and the microchimerism legacy of pregnancy," Adams Waldorf KM, Nelson JL, Immunol Invest. 2008; 37(5): 631-44.

Division of Clinical Research, Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, Seattle, Washington, USA. adamsk@u.washington.edu

Pregnancy has both short-term effects and long-term consequences on the maternal immune system. For women who have an autoimmune disease and subsequently become pregnant, pregnancy can induce amelioration of the mother's disease, such as in rheumatoid arthritis, while exacerbating or having no effect on other autoimmune diseases like systemic lupus erythematosus. That pregnancy also leaves a long-term legacy has recently become apparent by the discovery that bi-directional cell trafficking results in persistence of fetal cells in the mother and of maternal cells in her offspring for decades after birth. The long-term persistence of a small number of cells (or DNA) from a genetically disparate individual is referred to as microchimerism. While microchimerism is common in healthy individuals and is likely to have health benefits, microchimerism has been implicated in some autoimmune diseases such as systemic sclerosis. In this paper, we will first discuss short-term effects of pregnancy on women with autoimmune disease. Pregnancy-associated changes will be reviewed for selected autoimmune diseases including rheumatoid arthritis, systemic lupus erythematosus and autoimmune thyroid disease. The pregnancy-induced amelioration of rheumatoid arthritis presents a window of opportunity for insights into both immunological mechanisms of fetal-maternal tolerance and pathogenic mechanisms in autoimmunity. A mechanistic hypothesis for the pregnancy-induced amelioration of rheumatoid arthritis will be described. We will then discuss the legacy of maternal-fetal cell transfer from the perspective of autoimmune diseases. Fetal and maternal microchimerism will be reviewed with a focus on systemic sclerosis (scleroderma), autoimmune thyroid disease, neonatal lupus and type I diabetes mellitus.

PMID: 18716941 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/1...ubmed_RVDocSum

That said, I am also a firm believer that reversable changes in the brain itself play a significant role in the maintenance of CRPS, a view the is supported by the success of a number of treatments including mirror imaging therapy, high dose NDMA-receptor antagonists (ketamine) and even - I would still dare to submit - RUL ECT.

Mike

[QUOTE=fmichael;501786]To Millerprof -


And anecdotally, a number of women of this and the old BT forum have reported that their CRPS went into remission during pregnancy, which is consistant with research showing that the body changes it's immune reponse during pegnancy so as to avoid attacking the fetus as a hostile "other."



so you think that the women that went into remission that their immune system changed with pregnancy. then my question is what would be the difference for me since with both of my pregnancy my rsd DIDNT go into remission and after the csection my rsd spread internally and got worse after each child? as i havent found any research on RSD and pregnancy that is even worth the read

carrie

I have read somewhere (think it was a text by Dr. H. Hooshmand) that some women do get better with pregnancy (was it due to the hormones?). But: some.

That doesn't mean it's the same for everyone and that pregnancy is the solution.
There are women who have developed RSD from pregnancy!

Dear Carrie -

Point taken. I'll try and get you the article cited above (Autoimmune disease during pregnancy and the microchimerism legacy of pregnancy) which I may have added to my post after you replied, and will, in addition, look for anything directly pertainent to CRPS.

Mike

thanks.. i know that some women do get remission with their rsd but as my luck i never did .. i suffered with out meds so that they would be fine ... so i would love to see any research that they have done on this.. and i have seen hooshmands puzzles but i dont agree with everything that he says and i think that its becoming out dated

carrie

I now have a .pdf copy of "Autoantibodies in complex regional pain syndrome bind to a differentiation-dependent neuronal surface autoantigen," the article that I started the thread with. If anyone wants to see it, just drop me a PM with your email address, as the file is too big to post here.

Unfortunately, as to "Autoimmune Disease During Pregnancy and the Microchimerism Legacy of Pregnancy," even though the site that it's on states that it is an "Open Access Article" not subject to U.S. Copywrite law, the only way you can get it is by paying an outfit called informa heathcare $43.00, which is an outrageously high price for a journal article - let alone an Open Access Article that should be available for free - and then you have to agree not only not to post it online (which is typical) but to not share it with anyone else, which is outrageous! For anyone who is interested, you can check it out at http://www.informaworld.com/smpp/con...20130802205886 but to get to the pricing details, you have to do the free online registration. Sorry about that.

Mike

Mike,

Just my 2 cents,

Numerous hormones, including human chorionic gonadotropin (hCG), estradiol, and progesterone, are produced by having a baby.

This could explain maybe why pain leval are lowered for some.

A lot of hormones are produced by having a baby, true. But then how about women who are on the BC pill? BC makes sure the body gets tricked, by hormones, into thinking it is pregnant. Maybe the exact composition of the hormones isn't the same, I don't know, and maybe really being pregnant does something else to the body than the BC pill does, but... it kind of makes the theory that pregnancy helps RSD sound a bit weird to me. How would it help if a woman has to suddenly (from one day to the next) stop all her medication. Meds that in some cases have to be brought down gradually, esp. the anti-convulsants who are very detrimental to a foetus.

I think it is the increased cortisol that appears in pregnancy that reduces autoimmune diseases.(2 to 3 times higher cortisol)

It is well known that RA also decreases during pregnancy in many women:

http://www.endotext.org/female/female14/female14_2.htm